When a preacher talks about a Gospel that is unique from the others, they are often talking about The Gospel of John.
Today, however, it is Luke’s Gospel that does something different.
There is little doubt that Luke takes a number of things from Mark’s Gospel, and makes changes.
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” is a question from Mark’s chapter 10, asked by a wealthy man. Luke changes the man to “an expert in the law,” and then asks the man what is written in the law. His reply is what Jesus says in Mark’s 12th chapter, where it is Jesus answering the question of a faithful scribe.
Luke then tells us that the expert in the law wants to vindicate himself, and asks “and who is my neighbor?”
This brings us to the well known story found only in Luke’s Gospel. It is so well known that it has firmly settled into our language.
A good Samaritan had a set of jumper cables to restart my car.
A good Samaritan helped me carry things inside.
The word "samaritan" generally refers to a person who is compassionate and helpful, especially to someone in distress. It has become such a part of our culture that we don’t even need the adjective “good”.
A Samaritan called a tow truck for us.
A Samaritan kept us safe.
The lesson that we teach our children around this story is a reminder to be good and kind to others. Become known for your compassion by acting with care and concern.
But that’s only part of the story.
The word “good” does not actually appear in the text, but at some point became part of its historically known title. “Good” is the necessary adjective needed for the story to make sense.
It remains hard for us 21st century people to hear and understand this story as 1st century Jews and Gentiles would have heard it.
So I’ve come up with a little exercise to help us.
I want you to think of noun that stands in for a person, and I want you to think of the worse one that you can.
Here are a couple of examples: liar, scumbag.
But try to find the worse one that you can think of.
Have you got one?
Ok, now put the adjective “good” in front of it.
The Good Liar. The Good Scumbag.
It should be enough to make your head explode because the two words challenge each other and don’t belong together.…
That is what the people hearing Jesus’ story would have heard. The hated, despised enemy, showed mercy to someone. Furthermore, it is likely that this Samaritan would have been taught, and might still believe, that the person he was helping…was the hated, despised enemy.
Jesus asked the questioner, “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.” And then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
It is good to walk away with the idea that we are to “go show people mercy.” But the real driver of the story…and what those hearing it would have heard… is the challenge to the idea of the original question “who is my neighbor?”
First century Jewish persons…including Jesus…would have been taught by everyone they had trusted and loved that Samaritans were liars, scumbags, and every other terrible noun for a person we thought of this morning, including being murderers and people who hate and want to do violence to us. No one would have ever been taught that a Samaritan was our neighbor, even if they literally lived next door.
That is the incredible, society challenging message of this Jesus story. Whether the source of the message of hatred is our family or our government, our presumed enemies and the people we have been taught or have come to despise are our neighbors.
It is not that priest and Levite were bad people, and the Samaritan was a good person. It was that the person from the hated and despised group treated and cared for someone of the opposite group as a neighbor, and that was the focus for Jesus.
The text says that the Samaritan “was moved with compassion” to care for the person in need…and thus was a neighbor to someone from the other side.
…and that we should do likewise.
Amen.
(This sermon was preached on Luke 10:25-37 at St. Paul's Episcopal SLC on July 13th, 2025)
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