An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”
He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.”
And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
“But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’
“Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
He said, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (New Revised Standard Version)
Let’s establish upfront that the chief point of Christ’s parable is mercy shown from one person to another. Mercy is at the heart of Holy Scripture. Mercy is the very heart of Christ – even more than routine obedience:
“Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” (Matthew 9:13; 12:7; Hosea 6:6)
The message of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible continually reinforces mercy to those who are in need – mercy to immigrants, strangers, the poor, the infirmed, and foreigners.
Therefore, any system – no matter whether church, neighborhood, or government – which seeks to ignore, round up, or get rid of those in need of mercy, is in direct contradiction to the instruction of Jesus, the message of the prophets, and the consistent teaching of the early church fathers (and mothers).
We get in trouble whenever we distinguish between people who “deserve” our help from those who don’t. In truth, there is no such thing. Everyone needs mercy and deserves mercy, simply because they are created in the image and likeness of God.
There are no exceptions. And if we think there ought to be, we are playing the judge and trying to take the reins of decision-making away from God, so that we ourselves can execute our own standard of who deserves mercy and who deserves judgment.
In today’s Gospel lesson, the expert in the law started out by testing Jesus. Then, he changed tactics by trying to justify himself as one who deserves to be recognized as worthy of mercy. He believed that, as one who strictly observes the law and obeys the commandments, he is more deserving than others who are less observant.
It’s this privileged mentality which continually connects adjectival words to humans, and even Christians – when, in truth, there are no adjectives to being a human and/or a Christian.
But, in order to justify ourselves, many people like their adjectives, so they can make sure to distinguish before God who is worthy and right, and who is not. The following are just a smattering of adjectives I’ve heard in the church throughout the years:
- Backslidden Christian
- Lukewarm Christian
- Weak Christian
- Liberal Christian
- Conservative Evangelical Christian
- Real Christian
- Born Again Christian
- Committed Christian
- Fairweather Christian
- Christmas and Easter Christian
- True Christian
- Baptized Christian
Yet, in reality, a Christian is a Christian. If we feel the need to add adjectives in describing how less or more of a Christian they are, then we are no longer describing Christianity at all.
When it comes to the word neighbor, there are a plethora of adjectives that we might use to describe our neighbors. Again, all the words are meant to distinguish between “us” and “them.”
I once lived in a very diverse neighborhood. One day I was outside praying, and looking at all the various houses. I prayed for my neighbors by affixing adjectives to them: my black neighbor; my nerdy neighbor; my lesbian neighbors; my single neighbor; my agnostic neighbor; my mean obnoxious neighbor.
On and on I went, until I heard that still small voice of God whisper to me saying, “Tim, these are not your neighbors with adjectives. They are just your neighbors.”
I got the message. I was praying on my holy hill for all these other folks who were different than me, using my adjectives to keep separate from them. My neighbors, however, are simply my neighbors. We live together in the same neighborhood. We are neighbors – nothing more, nothing less.
Even though my neighbors have many differences about them, we all share the need for receiving mercy and giving mercy. Without mercy, neighborliness vanishes.
My sacrificial offerings of prayer for my neighbors didn’t make me better. But both my attitude of mercy and my actual extensions of mercy toward my neighbors, no matter how little, meant a great deal to them.
The priest and the Levite who passed by the man in need, likely only saw that they would become unclean by helping this needy person. “Besides,” they may have pondered, “there’s nothing in it for me.”
There was no way for the man lying in the ditch to reciprocate or pay back the priest or the Levite. A Samaritan (despised by both priests and Levites) ended up being the one to show mercy to the man.
It didn’t matter who helped the victimized person – whether it was a priest, a Levite, or a Samaritan. It didn’t matter how any of them might describe the other. Only mercy mattered.
I admit that I desperately want to see my national government have at least a little neighborly sense. When I observe the opposite, it’s hard for me to live with. I find myself not wanting to see any mercy extended to them, to the current administration.
Yet just because politicians may not show mercy, doesn’t infer that I should withhold it from them. I really do want to take my cues from Jesus by loving my enemies and doing good to them – even if they ignore, mistreat, or oppress others.
God will sort out the judgment thing. As for me, I’m called to a gospel of grace, not a gospel of judgment.
Nobody can justify themselves. In Christianity, only God can justify the person.
Christ’s mercy is not dependent on what kind of people we are but is based simply on need. God graciously gives us the gift of faith and the mercy of deliverance.
Divine Judge, You framed the earth with love and mercy, declaring it good. Yet we, desiring to justify ourselves, judge others harshly without knowledge or understanding. Keep us faithful so that we may be filled with the knowledge of Your will, and not ignore or pass by another’s need, but plumb the depths of love in showing mercy. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 