Community Engagement and Love For the Other

Bible Passage: Luke 10:25-37

Sometimes when we think about what discipleship looks like, our minds can go to the individual choices we make and practices we do. But in the New Testament, these are only part of the picture, and much of what we see about discipleship formation is about how we relate to other people (notice for example in Ephesians 4 how many of the instructions about putting on the ‘new self’ are to do with community life). One of the most striking things about how Jesus engaged with those around him is how willing he was to extend love and fellowship to people who were on the margins of society and excluded or looked down upon by those in power. In this sermon we explore a parable that Jesus told that makes clear that he expects those who follow him to engage in just the same way.

The Story of the Story: At its most simple level this is a story of helping a person in need. A man is hurting beside the road and two people have the opportunity to help but choose not to. We are not told the reasons they had for making this choice, but it is easy to speculate: perhaps they were too busy, perhaps they were worried about the potential of ceremonial uncleanness from touching a dead body, or perhaps the second man was even influenced by the choice that the first man made. Whatever the reason may have been, we see that the third man made a very different choice. For him, the need of the person before him was more important than any argument to overlook the need, and so he chose to help at his own expense. The punchline of the story is Jesus saying ‘go and do likewise’, and so it is clear that a big part of discipleship is engaging with the needs of those around us, even when we might have all sorts of plausible sounding arguments not to help.

The Story of the Conversation: Jesus shared this story as part of a conversation he was having with a teacher of the law in order to make a particular point. They were talking about what a person must do to inherit eternal life, and the man had summarised the law as ‘Love God and love your neighbour’. Jesus affirmed the man’s answer as correct, but this was not enough for the man, who wanted to justify himself and so asked “who is my neighbour”. He clearly expected the answer Jesus gave to make him look good, and so it was unlikely that he thought Jesus would say ‘the person who lives next door’. Part of the religious practice of the pharisees and teachers of the law was to help the poor and needy, and this would include people exactly like the man in the story who had been attacked at the roadside. Listening to this story from the perspective of the teacher of the law, it is likely to have started out in familiar terms. In fact, as the priest and levite passed by without helping, it is entirely possible that the teacher of the law judged them for their unwillingness to show mercy, and expected the hero of the story to be somebody like himself. The scandal of the story was that Jesus chose a Samaritan as the person to commend. In doing so he exposed both the judgementalism of the man he was speaking to in his attitude to those who didn’t help, and his xenophobia towards the person who did. The story invites us to question our own hearts towards other people, and particularly to those who are not like ourselves. Will we judge, dismiss or racially profile, or are we willing to see the best and cheer on people whose background and way of life is very different from our own?

The Story of the Gospel: The story Jesus told is both a framework for how he wants his disciples to engage in the world, and a visual picture of what he has done for us. Each of us was once in the same situation as the man: utterly helpless to fix our own brokenness, and our only hope being the mercy of another. The priest and levite representing the law cannot help, but then an unlikely individual passed by who could bring us to health while bearing the cost himself. Jesus doesn’t ask us to do what he has not been willing to do himself. The very gospel message and the mercy we have received fuels our own response of showing mercy to others.

Potential Applications:

• This is a powerful passage that invites us to search our own hearts for where there is prejudice or discrimination towards others. Create space for people to reflect on these things and where necessary repent.
• You could invite the Holy Spirit to lay on people’s hearts one or two people in their worlds to whom they can show mercy today like the Samaritan in this story did.
• Having shared how this story is a picture of the gospel, you could invite people to put their trust in Jesus and receive his mercy for them.