Parables from the Back Side

Sermon 07.11.10
Parables from the Back Side

The words “Good Samaritan” have come into common usage, even among unchurched folks. We understand the phrase to mean a person who is good hearted and goes out of his or her way to help others.

Usually, when a sermon is preached on this subject, the focus is on the Good Samaritan himself, or possibly the priest and Levite who pass the man who is dying before their very eyes. And there’s very little that I could bring to the table on such a familiar subject.

But one way of looking at this parable is from the back side, as J. Ellsworth Kalas has done. He is a Methodist minister who has made a habit looking at the time-tested Bible stories, but adding his own little twist.

So let us look at this well-know text from the back side of the parable. A young upstart lawyer asks Jesus about the commandments, and receives Christ’s answer about love of God and neighbor. He agrees with the correctness of Jesus’ replay but he’s looking for a way out.

Perhaps, like many of us, he wanted the law to be cut down to manageable size, and he knew that the key to doing so would be the limiting of the definition of “neighbor”. We can love some people without too much effort, so it would be convenient if the commandment were to apply only to such persons.

Jesus then tells the memorable story of two folks who pass by the man, only to rescued a Samaritan.

But what about the victim, the man who was robbed, beaten and left to die? What story is there in a man who came to within an inch of loosing his life, only to be saved by a Samaritan?

We need to remember that we’re talking about someone who had NEVER associated with a Samaritan, not even in passing encounters. Perhaps he had not even spoken to one. Furthermore, he hoped that it would always remain that way.

But now, in his deepest moment of need, it is a Samaritan who cleans his wounds, who dresses them with a balm, who murmurs reassurances to him on the way to an innkeeper, and who makes final arrangements for his continued care. A Samaritan. A hated Samaritan has show mercy and compassion,

How do you think the victim felt about this? That’s easy, you say – he was just glad to be alive. Not necessarily. There are times when I have done pastoral counseling when I have suggested that the person being counseled see help from a particular source, have maybe suggested that the person needs to discuss his or her problem with an employee or family member, only to have that person say to me, “I’d rather die, before I go to so-and-so.”

So how do you think that this Jewish victim felt when he realized that he was getting all of this help from a hated Samaritan? I wonder if he whispered to God, “Thanks for the help, Yahweh, but why couldn’t you have sent someone else, so I wouldn’t feel so bad about my rescuer?”

Kala tells the story of running out of gas in one of the most despicable parts of the city he was living in. When car finally coasted in on fumes, he found himself in front of the storefront of a strip club. Two men were standing outside, the bouncers. Kalas explained the problem and asked where the nearest gas station was. Instead of giving directions, one of the men suggested that he siphon some gas out of his car into Kalas’ vehicle, which they did. Kalas tried to pay them, but they refused, saying they were heading out for a late breakfast and just happened to be there, and that it was no big deal. Kalas even volunteered to buy the men their breakfast, but they refused and moved forward to a restaurant around the corner.

After getting his care back on the road, Kalas reflected on what had happened – he had been rescued by bouncers from a strip club who cheerfully helped him and then went on their way. The self-righteous man of the cloth, the minister, had been assisted by seedy characters who exhibited a sense of duty and obligation, despite the circumstances.

Kalas searched for a way to explain his delay to his wife. He said that it would have been much easier to tell her that he’d been aided by someone from the Rotary Club, or a person who was a board member of the United Way, or even an ordinary blue-collar worker of any reputable profession. But it was hard to tell the truth: he was home because of folks with shady characters in a scandalous environment, He had been helped by people he would normally never associate with, talk to or meet. He had been helped by truly Good Samaritans.

The Good Samaritan is so often bad news to our preferences and prejudices. And surely as I’m standing here, I can tell you that someday, you will be helped by a person that you do not expect to come to your aide. God will allow that person to come into your life in a strange but helpful way.

You and I will travel the route of the man who was left beaten and robbed along the roads of our own lives because of the way that our salvation has come to us. The road from our Jericho to Jerusalem is just as perilous, the journey that we make from life to death. From time to time, thieves will appear and attack us. Thieves such as despair, unrelenting loneliness, unreasoning fear, lust, anger, crushing defeat. We face our enemies on a daily basis sometimes, leaving us broken and bleeding by the roadside.

Travelers may come to our aid, but their help is only temporary. They offer momentary solace, but no tried and true solution to our problems. Then a final stranger arrives, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are sometimes angry to see him arrive. We are embarrassed by this Good Samaritan. We try to pay our way out of the situation, to keep our dignity intact. But Jesus answers, “No one can give purchase what I offer, and it is freely given.”

The Eternal Samaritan gives to us only when our need is desperate, only when we confess that we are helpless and require salvation, and when we recognize love in action.

The Good Samaritan binds our wounds, tends to our care, and places us on a donkey called grace. Let us be carried with ease and confidence to God’s safe lodging with gentle kindness.