Luke 10:29-37 tells the familiar story of the Good Samaritan. A lawyer asked Jesus how to earn eternal life. We know that such is impossible. It is given as a gift. The lawyer says that one can gain eternal life by loving the Lord God with heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving the neighbor as oneself. The lawyer tries to show that he has done what is expected. So he asks Jesus to identify the neighbor. One would expect it to be the people who share life with us at work and where we live, those who are close to us. But Jesus gives the story a different turn.

The bitterness between the Israelis and Palestinians today would match that between the Jews and Samaritans in Jesus' day. A Jewish man is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and falls among thieves. First a priest walks by - on the other side! He thinks to himself: "The man who has been beaten up must have done something wrong and God is punishing him. Why intervene?" Or maybe he does not want to become ceremonially unclean by touching someone who might be dead. Then a Levite goes by - on the other side! He thinks to himself, "I do not know the fellow. I have enough on my plate already." Then a Samaritan happens by, dresses the wounds, puts the man on his animal, takes him to an inn, and pays the charges for his care. He looks at the man's need, not his status. Jesus asks the lawyer who the real neighbor is. NOTE CAREFULLY: Jesus asks: WHO IS THE INJURED MAN'S NEIGHBOR? not: WHO IS THE WALKING MAN'S NEIGHBOR? Who cares for us when we are down? That is our neighbor!

But the story does not end there. If it did, this would be nothing other than a story about people who are nice to us, who act "neighborly," and who care for us when we are hurt and need help. We read in Exodus 21:18, 19 that if two men get into a fight and one hurts the other so he cannot work, the one who inflicted the injury would have to pay for the care of the wounded man and replace his salary. The Samaritan acts as if HE had hurt the injured man, as if he were at fault, as if he had been "unneighborly." How are we cared for by someone we might blame for our troubles?

Jesus gives us a window into his own heart. He is "neighbor" to us in that he loves us. He took our guilt right to the cross, as if he is the guilty party. But the cost was high. Not with gold or silver, but with his holy and precious blood! This text tells us nothing less than that we are neighbor to the person in need when we love them with Christ's forgiving love, when we love those who might blame God for their troubles. We need not ask how someone got into trouble. We are all in trouble (with eternal death as the future) until we are picked up, wounded and dying, by our merciful God, our "good neighbor."

Who is neighbor to the wounded in heart and to the dying of this world, even though they might think they are well? We are, in Christ. Let us keep our eyes open for those who are heartsick. Let's really listen when we ask the question about how others are. Let's bring the wine and oil of Christ's forgiveness by carrying others on our hearts. Let's help people express how they feel hurt and wounded. Let's make our life more complicated, more filled with people in need. That is how we praise God with our lives and offer thanks for our healing. The Holy Spirit will touch people through our love and heal them forever. It does not get any better than that!

In Christ our Lord and Savior,
Pastor Thomas Trapp