Luke 10:25-37 “The Neighbor”

An old Jewish saying goes something like this: “Life is the greatest bargain, it does not cost you anything to be born.” I think that for all of us there have been times when life has become so burdensome that we begin to think along similar lines. We question why we were even ever born. We wonder what possible purpose our lives serve. Don’t you ever ask yourself: “Why am I here?”

I believe that the man who came up to Jesus was in that kind of a state of mind. He asks how he can inherit eternal life. So, he is not so worried about the life that he is leading right now. That life is not important to him. He wants to know about his next life. However, we must be really clear in our belief as Christians that we do not believe that this life will end and that a new life will begin. We believe that the life we have now will continue into the blessings of heaven. In other words, our life eternal has already begun the moment we accept that grace through Jesus Christ. We are born again in this life--not some future life.

Remember that Jesus was on the Cross, and He died. Remember that He rose again from the dead on the third day. He came to His Disciples then and showed the wounds that He had had on His body. Thomas touched the wounds. Jesus’ life was not erased and started over. His life continued into eternity. Because Jesus suffered and died, and then rose again, we have this promise ourselves of eternal life.

Last week in our sermon time, I pointed out a true reason for rejoicing. Jesus in heaven rejoices because we can see what others cannot. Jesus has chosen to reveal himself to us, so that we may believe in him. Jesus says: “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” Jesus was standing before them, and they saw the Kingdom of heaven, the eternal life, God incarnate. This morning we see Jesus and the eternal life before us and we rejoice!

On that day so long ago, however, one man stood up as Jesus was rejoicing with his Disciples and said that he could not see what the others were seeing. He was not part of the rejoicing. He did not see the reason for the celebration. He did not understand that right before him was the person who could give him his eternal life starting in that very moment.

Jesus says to him that if he wants eternal life then he must follow what is written in the Law of Moses. The man then quotes verbatim from that law. He 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.” (verse 27) Jesus congratulates him on his correct answer and tells him to “Do this” so that he will live.

This is not enough for the man. He has to challenge Jesus. He asks then who is his neighbor. One has to assume perhaps that he did not get along too well with his neighbors, and so he wanted to make sure he would go to heaven even though he had been a bad neighbor to some. He did not understand that his life really depended on loving his neighbors. Our lives depend on loving one another and God.

When I was thinking about this, the story The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck came to mind. In that story, there is a family during the Dust Bowl Days that is kicked from one corner of this country to the next. They are starved, beaten, put down, trampled on. By the end of the book, you have to wonder if the spirit is all but beat out of them. In the final pages, Steinbeck has the family completely destitute. They have but only the clothes on their backs. They are walking through a rainstorm, not knowing where they are going. One of the characters, Rose of Sharon, has just lost her baby. The family sees a barn ahead of them. They go in to get out of the rain. Once there, they discover a boy watching over his father who is about to die of starvation. The father had been giving his son all of his food. The boy runs up to the family and asks if they have any money to buy milk—the only thing that could save his father from dying.

Of course, there is no money for milk. There is nothing. But, Rose of Sharon, who has just suffered a tremendous loss of her own, realizes that within her own body is the means to save this total stranger who is about to die. Her breast is filled with milk that should have been for her child. She asks the others to leave the barn. She lays beside the dying man and lifts his head to her breast. The very last line of the book states: “She looked up across the barn, and her lips came together and smiled mysteriously.”

So it is that the story of the Grapes of Wrath ends quite literally with the milk of human kindness as if that were all the world ever really needed!

We need each other’s kindness to live! We need each other’s kindness for this world. We need each other’s mercy to gain eternal life. If we are looking for life, then we need to show mercy to one another.

In our reading for today, in verse 33, I wanted to point out the use of one particular word in this text. At the end of the verse, we read the line that says the Samaritan was “moved with pity.” Other Bibles might translate this as “moved by compassion” or simply “had sympathy for the man.”

I want to share two ideas about this particular word and how it used. First, the word is σπλαγχνιζομαι (splangchizomai), and it is used almost exclusively in the Bible to describe God’s compassion for humanity, but then there is this one verse in the Gospel of Luke. I believe that this shows that we are to understand that the Good Samaritan had what we would have to call a good “Godly compassion” for the man who was laying on the side of the road. He did not have just a human pity for the man. He had feelings that came from God that made him compassionate. These must have been amazingly strong feelings if they were from God.

Second thing about this word has to do with how the Greek-speaking world at that time understood how feelings were actually felt. They believed that the feeling part of the soul resided in the stomach rather than the heart. And, if you think about it, we do feel things in our stomach when we are emotionally upset. So, this Greek word actually refers to the pit of the stomach. This is very powerful and physical word to describe what the man was feeling. But, we have to read this as saying that he had both a Godly and physical response in compassion for this man.

Now, if I am reading this text correctly, we are to understand that eternal life starts with our feeling Godly compassion in a physical way! We need to feel mercy in the same way that God felt mercy for us.

Look what the Good Samaritan did for the man on the side of the road. He bandaged the man’s wounds (verse 34). He anointed the wounds with oil and wine. He picked up the man and put him on his own animal, meaning that he would have to walk as the injured man rode. He took him to a place where he would be safe (at the inn). There were no hospitals back then as we know today. He stayed with him to help heal him. He then paid in advance for his continued stay at the inn. He came back to check on him later. This is way beyond our just dialing 911 when there is an emergency! There was a showing of mercy that had the power of life in it.

Listen, here is another point in the Bible where this word is used just before our scripture for today in the Gospel of Luke. Turn to Luke 7:11-17, “. . .As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with hew was a large crowd form the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘young man, I say to you rise!’ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them.; and they glorified God saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ and ‘God has looked favorably on His people!’ This word about Him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.’”

Here we see again how it is that the Godly compassion, this mercy from Jesus, has the power of life in it.

We know through scientific experiment that this life that we lead right now is contingent on compassion. We have all seen the experiments that have been done on, for instance, animals that are raised in isolation that eventually die from lack of companionship. We know that plants grow better if they are spoken to. We have even seen the experiments done with prayer that showed that grass that was prayed over grew a third taller. We know that people who attend church are happier and live on average two years longer. Even the major hospitals and healthcare providers are now paying for chaplains when once they were considered expendable staff. Therefore, we know that compassion gives life in this world.

We must also therefore know that compassion and mercy are needed to gain the life everlasting as well. The last thing that Jesus tells the lawyer is what we need to hear ourselves this day. “Go and do likewise.” We cannot be like those who avoid getting involved. This in the end will lead away from life everlasting. We must get involved. We must feel the Godly compassion in the pits of our stomachs as this is the beginning of the life everlasting as we shall know it.

We are all looking for life. We are heading down that road like the Priest, Levite, and Samaritan. We all have the opportunity to be affected by Godly compassion or not. We see what God would have us do. We must look for life in others first—we must have compassion. When we see that life in others and are changed by it, then we are accepting the life eternal in ourselves.

Finally, I remember God’s call to Isaiah in Isaiah 40, “Comfort, Comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her. . .” This is our call today that we have offer compassion for one another. This is the start of the life promised by God for all of into the eternity of eternities. Amen.