Luke 10:23-37
13th Sunday after Trinity • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 360 viewsNotes
Transcript
Introduction:
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”Jesus spoke these words to his disciples nearly 2,000 years ago. I speak them to you today and they are still just as true! Blessed are you, dear saints of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Curtis, NE! Blessed are the eyes that see what YOU see and the ears that hear what YOU hear!
Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, God’s people had hoped for the future coming of their Savior. They didn’t know what he would look like. They didn’t know exactly how he would save his people. They had the promise, but in shadows. They had the Gospel to be sure. But there was still a veil over the eyes of God’s people when it came to the full revelation of the mystery of God’s Kingdom.
The disciples who followed Jesus saw God’s kingdom! They received the full revelation of the mystery of God’s Kingdom. They saw their Savior. Knew his name. Heard his voice. Touched him. This goes for every one of you as well! You have heard the Gospel. You have heard your Savior’s voice. You know His name. You have seen him in the Breaking of the Bread. You have touched His very flesh and blood in this Breaking of the Bread, in the Lord’s Supper. Before Christ’s incarnation, God’s people only saw this reality in shadows of things to come. In prophecy, in sacrifices, in the priesthood, in all the ceremonies and rituals of the Old Testament. Now that Christ has come in the flesh, died for us, been raised, ascended, and sent His pastors into all the world, we see the fullness. Blessed are you! Many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it!
Today’s Gospel account is such a rich parable of Jesus. Jesus has packed the entire message of salvation into just a few verses! The Parable of the Good Samaritan shows us that we are dead by the work of the devil and his demons, cannot save ourselves, and neither can the Law. The Parable of the Good Samaritan shows us that our only hope is that someone has compassion on us, saves us, and serves us. Our Lord teaches all of this, and much more that I can’t cover in my time this morning, in just one short parable!
I. You are dead by the work of the devil and his demons, cannot save yourself, and the Law can’t save you either.
A lawyer comes to test Jesus and asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Since this man is a lawyer and has asked what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus leads him down the path one must go if they think that they will receive eternal life by what they do, that is, that they will be saved by works of the Law. This is why Jesus asks, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” The lawyer gives the right answer. That is what Jesus says. The lawyer says, “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.” Jesus says, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
I’ve heard great things about y’all from Pastor Kahle. He says y’all know your stuff. So since I know you’re all good Lutherans, I’m sure you already see a problem brewing. What Jesus says is true. Keep the Law and you will live. The problem is that we cannot and do not keep the Law. Neither does this lawyer, but he presses on, undeterred. You see, he wants to justify himself by clarifying who exactly his neighbor is. This lawyer is hoping that Jesus will say “Well lawyer, your neighbor is every person just like you. Your neighbor is anyone that you think highly of and get along with. Don’t worry about anyone else. Those unclean outsiders and sinners aren’t your neighbors. You don’t have to love them.” Instead, when Jesus answers the question of the lawyer, “And who is my neighbor?”, Jesus tells a parable. “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, 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.” In case you are missing the irony here, Jesus has put good buddies of this lawyer into this parable. The priest and Levite represent the law that the lawyer has set his sights on as the way into heaven. “Surely these figures would be the heroes!” is what the lawyer would think. NOPE! That half-dead man, beaten and bloody, is not helped one bit by these “upstanding citizens.”
This is our state as well. We are dead in our trespasses in sin. We are even worse off than the beaten man in this parable. We are in a terrible state. We cannot help ourselves and neither can the Law. This priest and Levite see the man and KNOW that he must be unclean. That is all they do. They show by their action that the man is unclean and should be avoided. That is all the Law does for us when we try to use it to justify ourselves and gain salvation by our works. When we do this, the Law only accuses. It exposes just how unclean we are. The Law apart from faith in Christ exposes the fact that before we were brought to faith we were no different than this lawyer who is testing Jesus. We can’t save ourselves and neither can the Law.
II. Your only hope is for someone to have compassion on you, save you, and take care of you.
After the priest and Levite leave without helping this half-dead, beaten and bloody man, “A Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. Here is some more irony. It isn’t the priest or Levite that saves the man on the road. It is a Samaritan. Samaritans were seen as a lower class of humans by Jews like this lawyer. Think about the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in . There John tells us that Jews had no dealings with Samaritans. In John chapter 8, the Jews insult Jesus by saying he is a Samaritan and has a demon. A Samaritan, the lowest of the low in the eyes of this Jewish lawyer, is the hero. The Samaritan is the one who saves. The one who is despised by those who would be justified by their own works.
This is Jesus. Jesus is the Samaritan. The one who would be justified by their own works despises Jesus. But it is Jesus, and ONLY Jesus, who has the power to save. While you were an enemy of God. While you were dead in your trespasses and sins. Jesus willingly allowed himself to be despised, humiliated, tortured, and nailed to a cross to save you. By His death and resurrection, Jesus bound up your wounds, poured oil and wine on you. Jesus died for your sins and was raised for your justification.
Jesus has done even more than this. The parable ends in this way: “Then the Samaritan set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying ‘Take care of him and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’” Jesus died for your sins. He anointed you with oil by baptizing you, by washing you with water and the Word. He gives you wine that is truly His blood of the new covenant which is poured out for the forgiveness of all your sins. He continues this work by taking you to the inn, which is the Church. In Christ’s Church, an inn for beaten and bloody sinners, He leaves you in the care of an innkeeper. This is the pastor. Christ gives him two denarii, a double-portion of forgiveness. The Word and Sacraments to give to you until He returns on the Last Day. That is what Jesus wants for you here. A full-time innkeeper to care for His flock here in this place. To bring the rest of those people who aren’t here now into this same inn so that they will see and hear what you are blessed to see and to hear.
Conclusion:
Blessed are you! You have a faithful pastor who comes to serve you in the Church just as the Good Samaritan left the beaten man to be served in the inn by the innkeeper. Pastor Hildebrand is a faithful minister that you should thank God for each and every day. Pray for him. Also, pray that God would send you a full-time innkeeper. That is God’s will for you. This Church is the Lord’s Church. This is the faithful inn. This is where Jesus brings beaten, half-dead sinners. This is where he brings them so that He can anoint them with oil in their Baptism and give them wine that is the Lord’s true blood for the forgiveness of sins. This is the place where Jesus leaves those whom he has redeemed to be cared for by a faithful innkeeper, a faithful pastor. May the Lord be quick to send you a full-time innkeeper to care for you until that great and glorious day when Christ returns to raise you up and bring you into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.