07/25/2021
Reverend Dr. Nelson McCall(Sermon)
7/25/2021
Subject: “Wake Up”
Scripture: Luke 10:25-37
How would you feel if you woke up battered and bleeding, looking into the face of a stranger whose dress and accent indicates that he is not like you! He is one of them, meaning people of color, different religion, or different values? They are the people we love to hate and people we detest from a distance. Your first reaction to waking up close to one of them might be to get away as fast and as far as possible. Oh, but you’re injured and you can’t move. This stranger begins to give you first aid, then takes you to a local hospital and pays for your care. Whoa, but they are supposed to be bad people, what do you make of it? Is he a good Samaritan? This is how the story is reported to us in today's text. Just think about how this must have affected the people who heard Jesus tell this story. We automatically attach the word good to Samaritan, but the Jewish audience would not have made the same connection. Quite the contrary, they most likely would attach terms like; unclean, mongrel, heretic and even worse. Jesus tells this story in response to the question; who is my neighbor? It is difficult for His hearers to call a Samaritan good, that meant calling a Samaritan, neighbor. Jews kept their distance from Samaritans and they certainly would not want one living in their neighborhood. Jesus is the one telling the story and He is the one who asked a Samaritan woman for water. This is Jesus, the one who invited himself into the home of Zacchaeus, the hated tax collector. This is Jesus, the one who permitted a pr******te to wash His feet. This is Jesus, the teller of shocking stories. This is Jesus, the one who lived the stories that allow Himself to be served by an outcast of His society. He is the one, who demonstrated that living upside down is really right side up. He is also the one who told us that we should go and do likewise. He is the example in this story of who we should follow? The Samaritan or the man who fell into the hands of robbers? Maybe both? Let's start with the Samaritan, that is the most obvious application of the parable. The Samaritan saw the need of a fellow human being and went out of his way to help him. That is a good example for anybody and it is certainly the loving neighborly thing to do. We could somehow be like the other man, who fell into the hands of robbers. Would Jesus want us to take a trip and be injured? Of course not, but on the other hand there are many instances in life in which we find ourselves totally helpless. It might be because of disease, as was the case with the Naaman the l***r (2 Kings 51). Naaman was told by the prophet to dip seven times in the dirty Jordan river. Naaman at first refused because it sounded so absurd, but later he followed the instructions since he had nothing to lose, it was only then that he was healed by God’s power. Nothing to lose perhaps went through the mind of the injured man on the Jericho road. I might as well let this Samaritan help me, I have nothing to lose. Your situation of helplessness; might be a spiritual problem, or an emotional problem, or perhaps a problem in a relationship where you find that you have nothing to lose. So you turn to God and God's people for help. Sooner or later we all find ourselves in the nothing to lose category. All too often we realize that we will be in that category every day of our lives. Then we begin to recognize people and events that bring us to the grace of God. When we begin to understand the true love of God and what a neighbor is all about, then we will be able to be a good neighbor to others in need. This is possible because we can finally see ourselves as people who are lying helpless by the roadside. Can somebody offer us help and healing? The parable of the good Samaritan is really a parable of the grace of God. Yes, we can see the grace of God in it! But only by seeing ourselves as helpless, as a result of an attack of sin can we begin to appreciate what it means to be served and to be saved by a gracious Samaritan. When we “wake up” and appreciate the God who has pulled us out of the ditch, we can freely serve others because of the example of the good Samaritan. We all need to “wake up” and see the needs of others. If I can help somebody as I pass along this way, then my living will not be in vain!
