There was a time when Jesus had many followers.  The tenth chapter of Luke is an account of Jesus sending 70 of his followers out into the surrounding countryside to announce that Jesus was coming to town.

In the 1920s my grandfather had the job of going ahead of a Wild West show and nailing up posters on utility poles and porch posts announcing that everyone should gather on Saturday afternoon to see remarkable shooting and roping.  He was supposed to talk to the townsfolks and get the word spread so, when the show wagons rolled into town, people would be ready. 

Seventy went out in pairs to announce that Jesus was coming.  They were to gather up all the sick and the outcast and get ready to meet the Son of God.  And, as they did that, they met some who were too desperately ill to wait until Jesus got there, so they prayed for them and they were healed.  Some even cast out demons.

When they got back to Jesus, they told him of their experiences, and we read that Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit as he prayed to the Father, thanking God that the wisdom these humble willing servants had attained was still hidden from those who thought they knew it all.  Jesus turned to the 12 disciples and said, “Do you have any idea the joy in your hearts from what you have seen here today is what many kings and prophets prayed for and longed to see?

Just then a lawyer who had seen the whole thing stepped up.  He was given the charge of not only obeying the law but making sure society held the law in the highest esteem.  What was this Jesus doing?  Who was he?  What were his credentials? 

The lawyer could not just stand by and let Jesus lead the people in some new direction.  He was obligated to see if Jesus passed the test of being a true Jew.

Jesus taught with such authority.  The lawyer wanted to know what Jesus said about the way to eternal life.

Jesus could tell by looking at him and how he was dressed that he was a man of the law.  Jesus knew the man believed in the law.  Just how far had the law taken him? 

To answer that question Jesus posed a law question.  “So, you believe in the law as a means of salvation?  How is that working out for you?  What does the law say about this matter?”

This man claimed he had gone all the way with the law.  He had lived the law since he was a child, hoping to justify himself and the way he lived.  (Now you know what justified means.  It means he wanted to prove the fact that he measured up.)

Printers used to work manually at spreading out words and shrinking words and adding spaces so the left edge of the printing and the right edge of the printing made a straight line.  Today we have computers that can automatically justify the print on each line.

Look there in your pew Bible.  Open it to any page.  See how the columns are even, both the right and left edges?  That means the page has been justified.

This teacher of the law hoped to show all his good points drawn out and his bad points shrunk so he would come out even in the eyes of God.   He was using the law to justify himself. 

He had followed all the laws all his life.  “Love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and then love your neighbor as yourself.” 
 
He got the “love God” bit, he had read and memorized scriptures, he had studied the law and lived within it, but he needed direction on this neighbor business.  He asked, “Define neighbor.”  Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus put a case study forward as an illustration.  In this story a man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, a terribly steep road that wound down through huge boulders where robbers often hid waiting for someone traveling alone.  The traveler, it was assumed, was a Jew; after all, we are talking about the Jews’ laws and the Jews’ God. 

Everyone knew not to travel the Jericho road alone.  Either this guy didn’t know where he was going and hadn’t been there before, or he thought that perhaps in the daylight he was safe, or maybe he thought he was tough enough to face any challenge along the way.

I remember the night I was examined as a new seminary graduate before the Kansas City Union Presbytery meeting in a not-so-great neighborhood, deep in the heart of the city. It was announced that once it got dark, you were not to leave the building to go back to your car unless you went with a group of at least five others.  Someone had been murdered in that neighborhood the week before.

Perhaps you have been in such places.  Well, the Jericho road was a well-known hideout for robbers, and the best location to get mugged.  This guy not only traveled on the wrong road; he was traveling in nice clothes and with money, alone.  You guessed it.  He was jumped and beat up.  They even took his clothes and left him for dead.  Some time passed and a priest was on that road.  There was a colony of priests living in Jericho, and this priest evidently finished his duties at the Temple and was on his way home.

Have you ever had a busy day, and at the end of it all you wanted to do was just go home?  You didn’t want to stop at the grocery store, or go by the bank, or anything else, just go home.  Maybe you have been on vacation or at the General Assembly for a week—which is not the same thing—and you pass some interesting tourist attractions, some fine restaurants, a water slide or two, but they don’t mean a thing.  You just want to get home.

Well, this priest must have been feeling that way.  Besides it would soon be dark and then he would either have to stay another night in Jerusalem, or try to wait for a group to get home safely.  The priest came across this wounded guy.  He could have helped him.  He was not on his way to the Temple.  Had he been on his way to serve, he would have had a reason to ignore the wounded man. He would have been in danger of becoming unclean by touching someone who might be dead. 

If the man had been dead and the priest had touched him, the priest would have been ceremonially unclean for seven days and therefore would miss his turn to serve in the Temple.  That was understood by everyone listening to this story.  Those listening to Jesus would not have expected the priest on his way to Jerusalem to stop to help. 

But this priest was most likely on his way home, yet he passed by on the other side.  He didn’t want to bother, so he pretended he didn’t see the wounded man.  Besides, there was no one around to see the good deed and give him the proper recognition for helping.  He had already served God in the Temple back in Jerusalem; now he was on his own time and he wanted to just get home.

Next we see a Levite, another official who served in the Temple, keeping things in order.  Since the Levites were so helpful in the Temple, those listening to Jesus may have seen the Levite as the most likely hero. 

He followed the priest’s example and did nothing to help.

Those listening to Jesus wanted him to get to the rescue scene.  They were all on the edge of excitement waiting for someone to come and help this poor wounded Jew.  Someone did, but it was an unlikely hero. 

Jesus said, “Then a Samaritan came along.”  The Jews knew how this was going to end.  Their traditions taught them Samaritans were no good.  The poor Jew has had such bad luck already, and now a
Samaritan comes along? 

Was this a story of a hungry wolf coming upon a wounded chicken?  Everyone expected the Samaritan would most likely check to see if the guy was dead and leave him to be eaten by birds and carried off by wild animals, and if he wasn’t dead, he’d roll him off the edge of the cliff.  Samaritans were considered the most worthless of humans.

Jesus said, “The Samaritan found the man wasn’t dead, treated his wounds, and then put his cloak around him and got him on his donkey and took him safely down the Jericho road to the safety of a hotel.  He stayed with the wounded man all night and got him to eat a little and rest comfortably in a clean bed.  The next morning he told the innkeeper to let the wounded man stay until he was stronger and make sure he had whatever he needed.  The Samaritan paid from his own pocket for two extra days and said that when he returned he would pay the bill if there were more due.

Jesus ended the story with a question.  “Which of the three who discovered the wounded man along the road was a neighbor to him?”

The lawyer had to say the answer.  It was obvious.  There could be no debate.  “He replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Jesus answered him, “Go and do the same.”

The lawyer thought the fact that he wore a fine robe and recited the right prayers and knew the scriptures made it obvious to everyone that he loved God, that he was connected to God. 

Jesus said, “The obvious sign of a person who knows God and is connected to God is the one who shows mercy not just in the obvious places, but when no one is looking and across all kinds of human dividing lines.”

So that brings us to today.  Here, in this place, what has God’s word got to say to us?  What instruction is there for us?

First of all, those who have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in them can hear the message, for these words printed on the page are God’s Word to us.

This past week at The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America, a meeting that happens nationally every two years, I went to be a commissioner from the Des Moines Presbytery.  Various dignitaries from all over the world came to bring greetings from their nation and their particular branch of Christianity. 

A Bishop spoke from Belarus, which is a landlocked country in what was once a part of the USSR.  He told us that in his country twenty years ago under communism there were 370 churches.  Today there are 1,500 and new churches are being born quickly.  People are so eager to hear the Gospel, so eager to hear about Jesus Christ.

He said that he credited the Holy Spirit for working among his people, keeping the church alive in the midst of trouble and calling it to new life.  He said he was surprised that Presbyterians believed the Holy Spirit was leading them when they were getting far away from what the Bible teaches and yet lament the loss of membership.  While we claim to want to discern the will of God, he said he was surprised that we would be debating matters of morality which the scriptures clearly outline.

In his country they believe that the Holy Spirit calls them to stay true to what was put forth two thousand years ago as the way to live.  Then he quoted this scripture Romans 12:1-2.

He said he had to wonder if it was the same Holy Spirit leading us.  Then he sat down.

Friends, the truth is there are many voices, many spirits speaking in our ears today telling us we are central to our existence.  The reason we are here is about our happiness.  Yet the written word of God says that, because of God’s love for us, we are called to be looking out for our neighbor.

There is no debate in what Jesus said.  You and I are not exceptions to the rule.  Unless we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit into what God has in mind, we are being conformed to fit into the world’s plan which says we must provide the best for ourselves, while others go wounded, sick, hungry and uncared for. 

Maybe you believe you don’t come across anyone who is wounded, bleeding, beat up, naked, and in trouble.  The simple fact is, if we did, we would call 911.  We would call for help.  We would stay with that person until help arrived.  We would be calling the hospital to see how he was doing.  We would be trying to notify his family and do anything we could to help.

The truth is there are many walking among us who are wounded.  They have been run over by the truck of whatever brings them to the point of despair.  They may look okay and say they are fine, but most everyone you meet is brimming over with a story that begs for some sign of hope.

Again and again as I sat at a meal with various Presbyterian leaders this week, I heard story after story of the challenges even Christians face.  Even the Christians so want to hear some word of Good News.  They want to hear again that they are loved by God and that God has a plan bigger than their troubles.

Jesus tells us to watch for the wounded, remember the Samaritan and go and do the same.

                                                          Amen.

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