The temptation when hearing the parable of the Good Samaritan is to put ourselves in the wrong place in the story. Our flesh wants to be the Good Samaritan either because we think that we would actually be the ones to stop and help the poor man or because we think Jesus is telling us that showing mercy and being kind is how we get to heaven. But that is not Jesus’ point. The point He was teaching the self-justifying lawyer is that the lawyer couldn’t justify himself. He already had the answer to his question. The Ten Commandments lay out very clearly what we are to do – love God perfectly and love his neighbor perfectly. But that is precisely the problem. We don’t do either of those things as we must in order not to suffer the judgment of eternal death. The Ten Commandments can only make clear to us that we haven’t loved God or our neighbor and therefore confront us with the righteous wrath of God. The only way we can live is if God has mercy upon us and pulls us up out of death, forgiving us our sin and filling us with His Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Good Samaritan who does just that. He has washed us clean, born our sin, and brought us to the Church where we continue to receive the life-giving care of His Word and Holy Communion. We cannot save ourselves any more than the man in the ditch. But Jesus has saved us. He has had mercy upon us. And He continues to pour out that mercy in the inn of His Church because He knows that we continue to suffer the brutality of sin and the devil’s attacks and daily receive fresh cuts and scrapes and bruises. What joy to receive such rich mercy from God and to show that same full and free mercy to all those around us. I look forward to seeing you this coming Lord’s Day.
Pastor Ulmer