These illustrations are based on Luke 10:25-37
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Sermon Opener - The Good Samaritan - Luke 10:25-37
The parable of the Good Samaritan arises out of a discussion between Jesus and a Pharisee. Here is a religious lawyer and he is asking a question on the nature of the law. The stage is set by Luke with these words: “Behold a lawyer stood up to put him to the test.” Well, it's not the first time and probably won’t be the last time that a lawyer phrased a trick question. It was the kind of question in which any kind of an answer would pose still further problems. It was a test question: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life.” Now right away we know that this man was a Pharisee, because the Pharisees believed in eternal life and the Sadducees did not. Jesus could tell that this man was an astute student of the law so he asked him: “What is written?” In other words, use your own mind to discern the essence of the law. Jesus, like a good discussion leader, throws the question right back in his lap.
The lawyer had a good answer. He said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul and mind and strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This was a direct quote from Deuteronomy 6. It was part of the Shema, a confession regularly made in Jewish worship. Jesus says: “Excellent. You are correct.” If he were a teacher I suppose he would have said: “You get an A+.” I have no complaint with this says Jesus. Do this and you shall live. You have not only penetrated to the essence of the law but you have worded it succinctly.
The question had been asked and the answer given. You would think that the man would be pleased and go home. But lawyers are never happy. A lawyer’s responsibility is to define the limits of liability. “But he, desiring to justify himself, asked ‘Who is my neighbor.’” In other words, where does my responsibility stop? Who exactly am I responsible for?”
At this point, instead of further defining the question, Jesus tells a story. A way of indirect teaching.
A certain rich man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho…
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Being Neighborly - Luke 10:25-37
As a campus pastor in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I served on a committee that supports the local Lutheran Social Services Ministry foster care program. One Thursday, we heard about a young girl who had run away from home at age fourteen. By the time we heard about her, she was sixteen, and LSSM was trying to get her some help by putting her into an independent care program. She’d lived on her own for two years, so it seemed too late to put her into a foster care family. She would receive money for living expenses and get life skills training from a case worker. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t receive her first check until the end of the month, and she’d already moved into her apartment. She needed immediate help: pots and pans, soap, toilet paper, and food. The case worker wondered if we could help set her up.
I offered to go to the food pantry at a local Lutheran church and get some groceries to tide her over. But when I got to the church on Friday, the food pantry was closed. Fortunately, the pastor was there, and he offered to help me load up a bunch of bags that I could take back to LSSM. I said, “Well, I don’t know. We’re both pretty busy writing sermons on the ‘Good Samaritan.’ Do you think we have time to help out a stranger?” God has a way of preparing pastors for their sermons — and a very good sense of humor!
As an English professor, I teach my students to try to approach everything they read with fresh eyes, as if they’ve never seen or heard about it before. I want them to look closely at what is on the page. In this way, they can best understand what the writer is trying to tell them. Good writing is carefully crafted and can only be appreciated if it’s read as carefully.
It’s difficult to look at something as well known as the story of the Good Samaritan with fresh eyes, but it’s the parts of the Bible that have been the most used through the centuries that have been the most abused. Often, the message has been distorted through all the years of preachers and Sunday school teachers twisting and turning the stories to fit their own agendas. In the case of parable of the Good Samaritan, years of use have turned a shocking, profound statement of the Christian life into trite moralizing. Let’s look at today’s gospel carefully, then, to see what the writer of Luke really had in mind….
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Grace Is What Lifts Us
Jesus is saying not only that when it comes right down to it, everyone in the whole world is your neighbor. He is saying that, too. But if, as Eugene Peterson says, parables are narrative time bombs designed to explode people into new awareness, then in this case one of the pieces of shrapnel is designed to tear into the idea that the law will ever save anybody. Jesus is exposing the futility of the law as a way to inherit eternal life. After all, the Samaritan who finally reached out did so not as a result of law but of grace. The finer points of the law left the man half-dead in the ditch. It leaves us all there. Grace is what lifts the man out. Grace it what lifts all of us out. If God had not been gracious with us, we'd all still be dead.
Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
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Jesus Took the Man by the Hand
A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out. A subjective person came along and said, "I feel for you down there." An objective person came along and said, "It's logical that someone would fall down there." A Pharisee said, "Only bad people fall into a pit." A mathematician calculated how he fell into the pit. A news reporter wanted an exclusive story on his pit. A fundamentalist said, "You deserve your pit." An IRS man asked if he was paying taxes on the pit. A self-pitying person said, "You haven't seen anything until you've seen my pit." A charismatic said, "Just confess that you're not in a pit." An optimist said, "Things could be worse." A pessimist said, "Things will get worse." Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit! (from Barbara Johnson, Ecunet, Homiletics, July - September 1995)
Keith Wagner, No Simple Task, quoting Barbara Johnson
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Rising to the Occasion
Have you heard the story about the elderly woman who lived in a small town in East Texas... who had car trouble on the way to the supermarket one morning? Her car stalled at a stop sign... she tried everything to get her car started again, but no luck. Suddenly, a man in a pick-up truck came up behind her and with obvious agitation he started honking his horn at her impatiently. She doubled her efforts to get her car going. She pumped the gas, turned the ignition, but still no luck... the man in the pick-up truck continued to honk his horn constantly and loudly. I love what the elderly woman did. Very calmly she got out of her car, walked back to the pick-up and motioned for the man to lower his window and then politely she said: "I'll make a deal with you. If you will start my car for me I'll be happy to honk your horn for you!"
Now, that is what you call "Rising to the occasion!" and that is precisely what Jesus does here in Luke 10. The lawyer was "testing" Jesus... honking his horn loudly. He was trying to trap Jesus and trip Him up with a loaded question... but Jesus (as He so often did) rose to the occasion and passed the test with flying colors... and in so doing... He reminded the people back then (and us today) of what is the main thing in the Christian faith.
James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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For His Neighbors
Many of us are afraid of dogs. It is a common fear. The immortal scientist Louis Pasteur was far more frightened of dogs than most people. Even a distant bark would terrify him. In his mind he could still see a mad wolf which raged through his boyhood village bringing agony and death to many of his neighbors. "I have always been haunted by the cries of those victims," he said time and again. Yet in 1882, past the age of 60, Pasteur gave up all his other studies in an intense search for a cure for rabies.
For three long years, in spite of his deep seated fears, he risked his life living with mad dogs. At last he came through with a vaccine to cure the victims of rabies. On a July night in 1885 he tried the first injection on a little boy whose life seemed doomed. The boy lived. The remembered agony of his neighbors spurred Louis Pasteur to find a cure for this dread disease.
King Duncan, www.Sermons.com
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Love for the Enemy
The love for equals is a human thing--of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.
The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing--the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.
The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing--to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.
And then there is the love for the enemy--love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured's love for the torturer. This is God's love. It conquers the world.
Frederick Buechner in his book: The Magnificent Defeat.
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Chip It Away
There is a story about a man who had a huge boulder in his front yard. He grew weary of this big, unattractive stone in the center of his lawn, so he decided to take advantage of it and turn it into an object of art. He went to work on it with hammer and chisel, and chipped away at the huge boulder until it became a beautiful stone elephant. When he finished, it was gorgeous, breath-taking.
A neighbor asked, "How did you ever carve such a marvelous likeness of an elephant?"
The man answered, "I just chipped away everything that didn't look like an elephant!"
If you have anything in your life right now that doesn't look like love, then, with the help of God, chip it away! If you have anything in your life that doesn't look like compassion or mercy or empathy, then, with the help of God, chip it away! If you have hatred or prejudice or vengeance or envy in your heart, for God's sake, and the for the other person's sake, and for your sake, get rid of it! Let God chip everything out of your life that doesn't look like tenderheartedness.
James W. Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not To Be True, Nashville: Dimensions, 1994, p. 32.
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The Shocking Samaritan
Biblical scholar Kenneth Bailey paints the picture of what it meant for the Good Samaritan to take the wounded man on his own donkey, ride into town, put him up at the inn, and care for him. There’s an unwritten shock in the parable of Jesus, a shock only heard by people living in the context of the story, a shock lost on us, but when Bailey changes the location and races of the characters, we today might have a better sense of the impact Jesus meant to have with this parable.
Bailey writes that the Good Samaritan is like “a Plains Indian in 1875 walking into Dodge City with a scalped cowboy on his horse, checking into a room over the local saloon, and staying the night to take care of him. Any Indian so brave would be fortunate to get out of the city alive even if he had saved the cowboy’s life.”
Ben Squires, Walking Into Enemy Territory with a Wounded Man on Your Horse
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Be Kind!
Columnist Ann Landers once wrote, "Be kind to people. The world needs kindness so much. You never know what sort of battles other people are fighting. Often just a soft word or a warm compliment can be immensely supportive. You can do a great deal of good by just being considerate, by extending a little friendship, going out of your way to do just one nice thing, or saying one good word."
Being civil to one another is the least we can do. Every major religion or philosophy acknowledges that.
Adapted from Ann Landers
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My Friend
Frederick Douglass approached the front door of the White House, seeking admission into Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Ball. Just as Douglass was about to knock on the door, two policemen seized him, barring the black man's entrance. Douglass, a large, powerful man, brushed the officers aside and stepped into the foyer. Once inside, two more officers grabbed the uninvited guest, all the while uttering racial slurs.
As Douglass was being dragged from the hall, he cried to a nearby patron, "Just say to Mr. Lincoln that Fred Douglass is at the door!" Confusion ensued. Then suddenly the officers received orders to usher Douglass into the East Room. In that beautiful room, the great abolitionist stood in the presence of the esteemed President. The place quieted as Lincoln approached his newly arrived guest, hand outstretched in greeting, and speaking in a voice loud enough so none could mistake his intent, the President announced, "Here comes my friend Douglass."
The President had called Frederick Douglass friend. Who dared demean Douglass if he was a friend of the President?
Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe, has called us his brothers and his sisters. God has called us His own children. But not only us. Also the person who lies stripped and beaten by the side of the road. He ” or she ” is our friend, our neighbor. So we pause and we help, because once there was a man who paused on a cross for us.
Ronald Love
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The Nearest Willing Hand
Two women were sitting in church. One woman said to the other, "I’ve always wished that God would touch me, but I suppose that’s too much to ask."
The other woman replied, "That sounds like a reasonable desire. Have you prayed about it?"
"Well, no. Of course not."
"Why not? There’s certainly nothing wrong with a prayer like that. You should pray about it."
"All right. Maybe I will sometime."
"Not sometime. Now. What better place to pray than here in the Lord’s house?"
Thus persuaded, the woman reluctantly folded her hands, bowed her head and closed her eyes in prayer, asking that God would touch her. About ten seconds later the other woman gently laid her hand on the folded hands of the friend at prayer. She responded as most of us would do. She jumped and said, "He did it! He touched me." Then, after a moment’s thought "But that felt an awful lot like your hand."
"It was my hand," her friend replied.
Disappointment was on the other face. "And I thought God had touched me."
"He did touch you. How do you think God touches people? That he comes down like a fog blanket or a pillar of fire? When God touches people he takes the nearest hand and uses that."
That sounds good, doesn’t it? And it’s almost right. Almost, but not quite. She left out one word. When God touches people he takes the nearest WILLING hand and uses that. The Gospel for today is a case in point.
Carveth Mitchell, The Sign in the Subway, CSS Publishing Company.
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ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS NOT IN OUR EMAIL
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Sermon Opener - Won't You Be My Neighbor? - Luke 10:25-37
“Mister Rogers,” anyone?
With his zippered cardigans, canvas sneakers, and handmade puppets (before there were cool “Muppets”), “Mister Rogers” was a pioneer in the early days of educational television for young children. Fred Rogers, a Presbyterian minister from Pittsburgh, started developing the characters and themes of his program in the mid-1950’s. But it wasn’t until 1967 that “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood” took its final form and appeared on PBS stations across the country.
This sweet, sappy, smart program stayed in production until 2001, and remained on all PBS stations until 2008. It is probably safe to say that there are very few of you listening today who couldn’t sing along with the song that opened every new show — “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…” [If you can get your choir to sing this with you, as you lead the congregation in a short refrain, all the better].
As he finished tying his sneakers and zipping his cardigan, Fred Rogers would sing, “Won’t you be…Won’t you be… Won’t you be my neighbor?”
The concept of “neighborliness” has changed over the years. It used to be your “neighbor” was a geographic designation. In early American rural communities your nearest “neighbor” might be miles away. But those neighbors would still gather together for barn-raisings, quilting bees, and harvest times.
In the urban environments, “neighborhoods” were composed of thousands of residents. But these “hoods” were drawn together and defined along ethnic lines — “Little Italy,” “Chinatown,” “the Borscht Belt.” You might never meet your “neighbors,” but your common ethnic identities helped create a communal, comforting environment.
In the aftermath of the “baby boom” the suburbs were born. “Neighbors” became the people just over the fence, those circling station wagons in the same cul-de-sac. But often times these suburban “neighbors” were unknown and unconnected. Physical closeness led to the erection of psychological and emotional barriers, with no front porches, only back patios and private decks. “Pre-fabricated” neighborhoods could be very lonely places.
In today’s gospel text Jesus is confronted by a legal expert, sent specifically to “test” him on the orthodoxy of his views…
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The Secret of Our Power to Love
Legend has it that a wealthy merchant traveling through the Mediterranean world looking for the distinguished Pharisee, Paul, encountered Timothy, who arranged a visit. Paul was, at the time, a prisoner in Rome. Stepping inside the cell, the merchant was surprised to find a rather old man, physically frail, but whose serenity and magnetism challenged the visitor. They talked for hours. Finally the merchant left with Paul's blessing. Outside the prison, the concerned man inquired, "What is the secret of this man's power? I have never seen anything like it before."
Did you not guess?" replied Timothy. "Paul is in love."
The merchant looked bewildered. "In Love?"
"Yes," the missionary answered, "Paul is in love with Jesus Christ."
The merchant looked even more bewildered. "Is that all?"
Smiling, Timothy replied, "Sir, that is everything."
G. Curtis Jones, Illustrations For Preaching And Teaching, Nashville: Broadman, 1986, p. 225.
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I Certainly Don't Recommend Christianity
I have an elderly acquaintance of about eighty, who has lived a life of unbroken selfishness and self-admiration from the earliest years, and is, more or less, I regret to say, one of the happiest men I know. From the moral point of view it is very difficult! As you perhaps know, I haven't always been a Christian. I didn't go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity.
C.S. Lewis, "God in the Dock, Essays on Theology and Ethics," Grand Rapids, Eerdmans 1970, pp.58-59.
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By loving the unlovable, You made me lovable.
Augustine to God
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A Prayer
Help me, O Lord, to be more loving. Help me O Lord, not to be afraid to love the outcast, the leper, the unmarried pregnant woman, the traitor to the State, the man out of prison. Help me by my love to restore the faith of the disillusioned, the disappointed, the early bereaved. Help me by my love to be the witness of your love. And may I this coming day be able to do some work of peace for you.
Alan Paton, a South African writer, author of "Cry the Beloved Country" who made a courageous stand against racism.
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Setting the Tone for the Day
A few years ago, a radio station ran a contest. Disc jockeys invited their listeners to tune in their clock radios. "Just for fun," they said, "when you wake up to the sound of FM-106, call and tell us the first words you spoke when you rolled out of bed. If you're the third caller, you'll win $106."
It didn't take long for the contest to grow in enthusiasm. The first morning, a buoyant disc jockey said, "Caller number three, what did you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?" A groggy voice said, "Do I smell coffee burning?" Another day, a sleepy clerical worker said, "Oh no, I'm late for work." Somebody else said her first words were, "Honey, did I put out the dog last night?" A muffled curse was immediately heard in the background, and then a man was heard to say, "No, you didn't." It was a funny contest and drew a considerable audience.
One morning, however, the third caller said something unusual. The station phone rang. "Good morning, this is FM-106. You're on the air. What did you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?"
A voice with a Bronx accent replied, "You want to know my first words in the morning?"
The bubbly DJ said, "Yes, sir! Tell us what you said."
The Bronx voice responded, "Shema, Israel ... Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might." There was a moment of embarrassed silence. Then the radio announcer said, "Sorry, wrong number," and cut to a commercial.
Try to remember. What did you say when you rolled out of bed today? Chances are, those words set the tone for the rest of the day. For the pious Jew the first words of each morning are always the same, and they were the words spoken that morning on FM-106. They were first spoken by Moses, who said, "Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Teach them to your children and talk about them when you lie down and when you rise" (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).
William G. Carter, No Box Seats in the Kingdom, CSS Publishing
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Neighborly Prayer
Some of you may be familiar with a story by journalist Tom Junod. It is a true story of a young man afflicted with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy did not affect this young man’s mind, but it affected his motor skills and his ability to speak. The boy could only communicate through typing on his computer. In addition to his physical disabilities, the boy suffered emotional problems after some of his care givers callously abused him. Overwhelmed with self-hatred, the boy often hit himself. Using his computer, he wrote to his mother that he wished he could die.
There was one thing that seemed to bring the boy comfort: watching “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.” The kindly, mild-mannered Mr. Rogers emphasized that all people are valuable and worthy of love. His calming demeanor and accepting message touched the boy’s heart and gave him hope.
One day a children’s foundation set up a meeting between the boy and his hero, Mr. Rogers. Upon meeting Mr. Rogers, the boy became so nervous that he began hitting himself, and his mother had to take him to another room to calm him down. When he returned, Mr. Rogers carried on their conversation as if nothing had happened. And then Mr. Rogers ended the conversation by asking the boy a very special favor: would this boy pray for him? The boy was floored by this request. Would he pray for Mr. Rogers? He had always been the object of someone else’s prayers. But from that day forward, the boy began praying for Fred Rogers, and he experienced a new sense of hope and self-esteem through this act of praying for a man he so admired.
When Tom Junod complimented Fred Rogers on this idea, Rogers reacted with surprise. He had been sincere in his request for the boy’s prayers. As he said, “I didn’t ask him for his prayers for HIM, I asked for me. I asked him because I think that anyone who has gone through challenges like that must be very close to God. I asked him because I wanted his intercession.”
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com, adapted from Tom Junod, Esquire, November 1998
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Dan Rather's Good Samaritan
Dan Rather recalls an eventful elevator ride in a large Florida hotel: After having flown in late during the night, he was up early to go downstairs and make a speech before several thousand people. In no mood to be the center of attention, he said, in the elevator, he felt all eyes on him. He thought to himself: Didn’t any of these people’s mothers teach them that it’s rude to stare? The elevator soon reached the lobby and as it empties, a woman gently takes hold of his sleeve. "Mr. Rather," she says quietly, "I don’t mean to intrude." She looks around, making sure no one else is listening. "I don’t want this to be embarrassing. But your fly is unzipped and a piece of your shirt-tail is sticking out through it." She then smiled and walked off the elevator leaving Rather to tidy up.
Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com
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Easy to Rationalize
I ran across a subtle piece of humor. Cal Holm tells about two liberal sociologists walking down the street. They see a man lying at the curb who is covered with cuts and bruises from a terrible mugging. Cal says one of the sociologists turns to his colleague and says, "Whoever did this terrible deed really needs our help."
It is so easy to rationalize, to justify, to find excuses for passing by on the other side. Undoubtedly the priest and the Levite had reasons for passing this man by. Self-giving love is so rare in this world.
King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
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A Passing Acquaintance
Edgar Guest, a renowned American poet at the turn of the century, tells of a neighbor by the name of Jim Potter. Mr. Potter ran the drug store in the small town where Edgar Guest lived. Guest recalled that daily he would pass his neighbor and how they would smile and exchange greetings. But it was a mere casual relationship.
Then came that tragic night in the life of Edgar Guest when his first born child died. He felt lonely and defeated. These were grim days for him and he was overcome with grief. Several days later Guest had reason to go to the drug store run by his neighbor, and when he entered Jim Potter motioned for him to come behind the counter. "Eddie," he said, "I really can't express to you the great sympathy that I have for you at this time. All I can say is that I am terribly sorry, and if you need for me to do anything, you can count on me."
Many years later Edgar Guest wrote of that encounter in one of his books. This is how he worded it: "Just a person across the way--a passing acquaintance. Jim Potter may have long since forgotten that moment when he extended his hand to me in sympathy, but I shall never forget it--never in all my life. To me it stands out like the silhouette of a lonely tree against a crimson sunset."
[Suggestion for follow-up on this story]
I have wondered how it is that I want people to remember me when I come to end of my life's journey.
[name some accomplishments followed by]
But I really don't care if someone remembers me for that. I really don't.
I do hope that people are able to say of me at the end of my life's pilgrimage: When we were sick he came to us; when we needed help, he was there; when I was down, he lifted me up. In short, I hope that my ministry is remembered for simple acts of kindness. For if that is the case, then my life would have been worth it and I might have come close to fulfilling the greatest commandment in life: Love God and love your neighbor.
Sermon Illustrations
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The Temptation To Pass By On The Other Side
Here’s a story about how God's Spirit helped one man fight the impulse to pass by on the other side. On September 26, 1944, Ray Hamley, an RAF flying officer, and his crew flying an American-built B-25, dropped bombs on the town of Kleve just inside Germany's border with Holland. Ray was 21 years old, and his bombs that day hit the railroad station, a number of Nazi factories, and the town church. He had an inkling that day that one of his bombs hit the church, but war was war. On the ground that day a young woman in Kleve mourned not only the loss of her church, but the loss of her parents who happened to live in a house next to the church. For the town of Kleve, 647 civilians and 879 military personnel would die before the Second World War was over.
Meanwhile, Ray Hamley went home to England after the war, married his childhood sweetheart, and became the head of a primary school. But then in 1983, someone handed Ray a newspaper clipping that showed how the people of a little town in Germany named Kleve were rebuilding the Church of St. Mary that had been bombed during the war. Something triggered in Ray's memory. He found his old logbook in the attic, and suddenly realized that it had been his bomb that had destroyed the church back in 1944.
An impulse was born in his heart as he thought about that tiny town, and how the loss of their church must have touched those people. But then came the temptation to pass by on the other side. He says he thought to himself, "Come on, Ray, after all, the Nazis bombed innocent children in London and Warsaw; it was wartime; it was years ago; forget it, Ray, and get on with your life; it's not your concern." But thank God, Ray Hamley did not let those second thoughts win out. He wrote to the Mayor of Kleve, asking for the forgiveness of the townspeople, and requesting that his letter be read by the priest at the dedication of the new church building. In 1984, Ray got a reply from the people of Kleve, requesting that he and his family come and see the new church building. But again, those second thoughts attacked Ray, and he could not even answer the letter.
Once more the parish priest in Kleve wrote to Ray, this time with a letter signed by 500 parishioners offering their forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ! Ray Hamley went to Kleve. His visit not only healed old wounds in his life, but has brought about an incredible reconciliation between Ray's hometown in England and the people of Kleve in Germany. And it all happened because by the power of God, Ray Hamley was able to conquer his second thoughts, and not pass by on the other side! For Ray Hamley, this was a turning point in his life.
In you life you will one day have someone calling out to you for help. Let the Spirit of Christ help you respond as did the Samaritan.
Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company, Adapted and Corrected by Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com.
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Seinfeld's Last Episode
Most of you remember the Seinfeld show and many of you were fans. In its final Episode, which aired at the end of the 1998 TV season, the main characters (Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer) receive a one year sentence for failing to help someone who was being robbed.
What happens is this: Jerry has just received a contract from NBC to do a sitcom and the network is flying them all to Paris as a gift. But their plane encounters problems and they are stuck in Lakeland Massachusetts. Killing time wondering around on the sidewalks in this quaint New England town, they become innocent bystanders and witnesses of a car jacking.
Being New Yorkers and the kind of people they are they make fun of the guy who is being robbed. Kramer, who has a camcorder in his hands, films the incident as a curiosity. They never lift a hand, never shout out; they are 10 yards away, and could care less. They just stand there and casually watch! The robber speeds off with the car and the police arrive late on the scene. With the excitement over, and the poor victim standing dazed in the street, Jerry turns to his friends and suggest they go get something to eat.
They turn to walk off when the officer stops them and says, "Alright, hold it right there."
Jerry: Wha’?
Officer: You’re under arrest.
Jerry: Under arrest, What for?
Officer: Article 223 dash 7 of the Lakeland county penal code.
Elaine: What, we didn’t do anything.
Officer: That’s exactly right. The law requires you to help or assist anyone in danger as long at its reasonable to do so.
George: I never heard of that.
Officer: It’s new, its called the Good Samaritan Law, Let’s go.
The series ends with them serving their time. The critics hated it. It was pretty bad but there was a redeeming quality to that last episode. For nine years Seinfeld's characters used, ridiculed, and made fun of everyone they met. The four of them were the Priest and the Levites of our modern world. We climb the ladder of success and FedEx gives you the world on time. This is our attitude. Stopping to help someone crimps our style and requires too much of our time.
Looking back on it I can't help but wonder if the script for that final episode was taken right out of Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan. George says that he never heard of that one. Truth is, the law isn't new. It's as old as the tablets Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. There’s nothing NEW about it. The story of the Good Samaritan tells us how we are to treat others: Not just our friends, not just the people in our town or stranded on the road or in need, but the very people we despise or dislike or make fun of. In a word: Our enemies. The story of the Good Samaritan is a lesson on how the Law of Moses is to be understood and lived out.
Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com
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The Good Black Man
How did this parable affect the people who heard it? Think of it this way: If Jesus went to a Ku Klux Klan rally and they asked who is my neighbor. Jesus then might tell the parable, having the Grand Master of the Klan crash into a ditch only to be passed over by a white sheriff and a white minister. Finally, along would come a black sharecropper playing the part of the Good Samaritan.
How do you think the hearers at the Ku Klux Klan meeting would respond when Jesus asked, “Which of the three proved to be a neighbor?” They’d suddenly find themselves pairing together the words “good” and “black.” “The good black man.” And how would they deal with that topsy-turvy reality?
Steven E. Burt, Fingerprints On The Chalice, CSS Publishing Company
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The Jericho Road
The Jerusalem-Jericho Road of Jesus' day was the scene of one of the most compelling stories our Lord ever told. To this day, the actual road is little more than a strip of rocky terrain which leads us from Jerusalem south to the village of Jericho. What is remarkable is that in just 15 miles, the elevation drops from 2,400 feet above sea level to 1,400 feet below sea level at the Dead Sea. (I will always remember those figures because when I once preached on this parable, I announced that the Dead Sea was 1,400 miles below sea level! Afterward, a parishioner said, "Pastor, I know you preachers go pretty deep for your sermons, but your message this morning takes the cake!")
Robert A. Beringer, Turning Points, CSS Publishing Company
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The Little Point
In Zen Buddhism there’s a word, a concept, satori. It means “the little point.” It’s got to do with staring, for example, at a rose or a fly on the wall as you meditate, concentrating on one tiny point in the universe. As Westerners, we’d figure that, if we want to understand the world and ourselves in relation to it, we’d look at the world, at the larger picture. But to the Easterner, one begins to understand oneself in relation to the world by narrowing, not by widening, one’s focus. To the Easterner, narrowing the focus is like concentrating all the energy into a laser. There’s more, not less, power.
The satori then, is that moment of heightened awareness, that explosion of understanding, what we call the “Aha!” moment or the “Eureka!” experience that comes out of focusing on the little point. It’s like a tightly compressed hand grenade of awareness exploding in the mind. That realization, that sudden awareness that the world can be different than it appears -- that which Social Darwinists call the “natural order of things” can be changed, that there can be peace in a world of war and violence -- that realization of the possibility of the present Kingdom of God is what Jesus confronts his hearers with. His parable springs it on them, and it leaves some of them with their heads spinning.
Steven E. Burt, Fingerprints On The Chalice, CSS Publishing Company.
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The Homeless Woman’s Poem
A homeless woman once approached a preacher for help, but because he was busy and helpless, he turned her away and offered to pray for her instead. The homeless woman, it is said, wrote this poem as a response too that insensitive minister:
"I was hungry, and you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger. I was imprisoned, and you crept off quietly to my chapel and prayed for my release. I was naked, and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance. I was sick, and you knelt and thanked God for your health. I was homeless, and you preached to me the spiritual shelter of the love of God. I was lonely, and you left me alone to pray for me. You seem so holy, so close to God but I am still very hungry - and lonely - and cold."
Source unknown
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Late For Class
Years ago on a seminary campus a New Testament professor was lecturing on the parables. This professor was known for his strictness. He often penalized students even if they were tardy! After spending a fair amount of time on the parable of the Good Samaritan, he posted a notice on the board telling the students that that days class was being moved to the other side of the campus. On the only route to the new class room, he staged a drunk lying on the ground asking for help. To the professor's amazement, not one of the students stopped to help this man--they all were in too big of a hurry to get to class lest they be penalized for being late.
Johnny Dean, www.eSermons.com
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The Story of The Blue-collar Independent Polish Factory Worker
Behold, a certain black middle-class deacon went through a predominantly white neighborhood and fell among some hoodlums who robbed him and beat him and left him half dead in the gutter.
Now by chance, a very well-dressed Republican businessman passed by on his way to Rotary, a most solemn assembly, where a speech on humanitarian betterment was to be heard. He already was late, already in danger of not fulfilling his attendance quota. So he really couldn't risk stopping, and pretended not to notice.
So likewise, a little less well-dressed Democrat passed by on his way to the Lion's meeting, a slightly less-solemn assembly, where he was to be the tail-twister. Since this was his first time in that honorable position, and since he already was late, he felt he could not stop. He did, however, give a moment's serious consideration to calling Washington to see if there might be something they could do to help this poor fellow. But alas, he was without telephone change.
But after that, there journeyed by a blue-collar Independent, Polish factory worker from Cicero, Illinois, on his way to the tavern. And seeing the beaten, wounded, black, middle-class Protestant deacon in the gutter, he stopped his car, administered first-aid, called the ambulance and the police, followed them to the hospital, where the blue-collar, Independent, Polish factory worker paid for the black, middle-class deacon's room and care in advance.
Now, who was the neighbor and who was being neighborly?
Maurice A. Fetty, The Divine Advocacy, CSS Publishing
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The Well Intentioned Samaritan
Perhaps any who ever watched William Shatner's television show Rescue 911 share my feelings of inadequacy. Viewing makes you think that some guy hanging by his ankles off a 40-story building to rescue a stranded window washer is everyday stuff. One episode dealt with a three-year-old who saved his mother from a seizure. Someone told me of a dog who saved his entire family from a burning house. Me? I'm lucky once in a blue moon just to save somebody a parking space.
There was one occasion when I physically carried a young man from his apartment and transported him to an emergency room. He had overdosed on drugs. Attempted suicide, he confessed while still under the influence. I felt pretty good about what I had done for several hours ... until the young man sobered up. Then I learned that he had not intended suicide at all, nor had he ingested enough sedatives to cause such. Because of my heroics his family learned of his involvement with drugs, he was confined to a hospital against his will, he had his stomach pumped and Social Services forced him into a counseling program for high risk suicidal. He was so angry at me for butting in that I feared he was going to bring suit. I suppose they will never run that story on Rescue 911.
Michael B. Brown, Be All That You Can Be, CSS Publishing.
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Every Man Our Neighbor
Let us go and do likewise, regarding every man as our neighbor who needs our assistance. Let us renounce that bigotry and party-zeal which would contract our hearts into an insensibility for all the human race, but a small number whose sentiments and practices are so much our own, that our love to them is but self-love reflected. With an honest openness of mind, let us always remember the kindred between man and man; and cultivate that happy instinct whereby, in the original constitution of our nature, God has strongly bound us to each other.
John Wesley, Notes Upon the New Testament, Vol. 1, on vs. 37
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To No Avail
An African-American colleague of mine said something that was both sad and distressing. She and her recently deceased husband worked their whole lives to make multi-ethnic churches a reality. They worked hard to bring blacks and whites together in worship and in ministry. But after decades of this kind of work, she now says she has lost her hope that it will happen. They say that Sunday mornings when churches gather for worship all across this land, it is the most segregated time of the week. According to my friend, it seems likely to stay that way. It broke her heart to say it. It broke my heart to hear it. But neither I nor any of my other twenty colleagues could honestly say she was wrong or come up with any counter-evidence that might produce hope. We all of us have a hard time working through or getting rid of our prejudices.
Who is my neighbor? This is the question you ask when looking for loopholes and escape hatches.
Scott Hoezee, The Neighbor
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The Flood Story
During a severe flood in a Midwestern community, the water had covered the streets several feet deep. A man was sitting on his porch, where the water was up to that level. Two men came by in a rowboat, pulled over to his porch and said, "Hop in, Brother, we’ll take you to safety." He replied, "Not me, thanks, the Lord will help me."
The water continued to rise to the level of his porch roof, and he was perched up there. Two men came by in a motorboat. They pulled over to his porch roof and said, "Hop in. Brother, we’ll take you to safety." He replied, "Not me, thank you. The Lord will help me."
The water rose to the roof of his house, and he was sitting up there when a helicopter came by. The pilot hovered above and let down a rope ladder. "Climb in, Brother, and we’ll take you to safety." He answered, "Not me, thank you. The Lord will help me." The water continued to rise and the man drowned.
When he got to heaven, he spoke to the Lord. (How Bishops know what goes on up there I don’t know.) The man said, "I’ve always gone to church, read my Bible, given my tithe, and said my prayers. There I was in great need of your help. Where were you when I needed you?" The Lord replied, "Where was I? I sent you two boats and a helicopter. What more do you want?"
The man had failed to realize that when God touches people he takes the nearest willing hand (or rowboat or helicopter) and uses that.
Carveth Mitchell, The Sign in the Subway, CSS Publishing Company
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The Choices We Make
On the morning of May 26, 2006, Daniel Mazur, a mountain climber, was less than 1,000 feet from the summit of Mt. Everest. He abandoned his own climb to the top in order to save another climber, Australian, Lincoln Hall, who had been left for dead by his own team. Mazur’s decision to aid the fallen climber meant that none of his group could press on. His fellow climbers included Andrew Brash (Canada), Myles Osborne (UK) and Jangbu Sherpa (Nepal). Hall had succumbed to the oxygen-poor altitude the previous night and become desperately ill. Two guides tried to help him but they had to leave to save themselves. Hall was declared dead, but when Mazur and his team found him the next morning, he was sitting up and disoriented. He was given emergency assistance and the team worked to take him down the mountain. They also radioed ahead for help. Help came and Hall was taken to a base camp further down the mountain. He fully recovered the experience. Mazur’s group had expended so much energy helping Hall they could no longer complete the journey to the summit.
While Mazur’s team was helping Hall, two Italian climbers passed by en route to the top. They claimed they didn’t understand English and therefore couldn’t help. Later it was disclosed that they could speak English. A few days before, a British climber; David Sharp, had died on the same route. Approximately 40 people said they saw Mr. Sharp in distress, and walked past him, but no one rescued him. In the world of high-altitude climbing, such behavior is often acceptable, especially when a person is judged to be too far gone. There is the possibility that other climbers might die in the harsh conditions in their attempt to save a victim.
Dan Mazur was a true Good Samaritan. He made a choice that denied him the opportunity to reach the mountain top but instead provided him the opportunity to save a life. Daniel Hall was given new life in a base camp on the side of a mountain. It wasn’t an inn, but to him I’m sure it was just like heaven. (from Homiletics, July, 2007)
Keith Wagner, More Than Passers-by
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Innkeeper
There is little allusion to inns in the Old Testament, since the rigid laws of hospitality among the Hebrews made them unnecessary. It was a sacred duty to offer refuge within the home to any traveler. The first mention that we find of an inn is in the story of the return of Jacob’s sons from their visit with Joseph in Egypt. But, there too, the inn itself was in Egypt, not Palestine.
Whatever inns they had were located close to watering places and were probably just camping grounds, or, perhaps, just niches in the walls. The people who stayed there had to provide their own food, cooking utensils, and other provisions for living and sleeping. So, in the Old Testament period, we cannot speak of innkeepers, because there were none such.
However, by New Testament times, travel had increased, and it became necessary for stopping places to be provided for these travelers. Many of them provided accommodations for animals as well as people, since sometimes whole families, with all their possessions, would be on the move. We think at once, of course, of the first Christmas night, when Mary delivered her Child in the stable, because the innkeeper couldn’t find room for her in the inn.
Even at that, the innkeepers provided only the barest of necessities, and as absolute minimum of food and shelter. And, unfortunately, they were often thieves, who weren’t above stealing everything possible from their guests. In fact, the Mishnah (Yeb 16:7) says that the word of an innkeeper was doubted and (Ab Zar. 2:1) places them on the lowest scale of society. The same was true of female innkeepers. They certainly weren’t known for their high moral standards. In fact, Josephus and the rabbis considered Rahab an innkeeper, rather than a harlot, but it comes down to the same thing in the end.
Isn’t it nice to know that today, when we travel, we have clean, commodious hotels and motels at which we can stop to rest and refresh ourselves. We don’t have to worry about the hotel manager sneaking in in the middle of the night and stealing our wallets! And certainly the food and accommodations that are offered to us are designed with our comfort and well-being in mind.
I have wondered frequently what the innkeeper who cared for the man left lying by the wayside would have thought if he had been sent ahead to the twentieth century and given a hotel to manage. Pipe dreams? Perhaps, but intriguing, don’t you think? If we were given the choice, I don’t imagine any of us would take his inn over that managed so competently by the hotel or motel managers today.
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The Good Samaritan's Name
Jean Frederick Oberlin, a minister in 18th century Germany, was traveling by foot in winter when he was caught in a severe snowstorm. He soon lost his way in the blowing snow and feared he would freeze to death. In despair he sat down, not knowing which way to turn. Just then, a man came along in a wagon and rescued Oberlin. He took him to the next village and made sure he would be cared for. As the man prepared to journey on, Oberlin said, "Tell me your name so that I may at least have you in grateful remembrance before God." The man, who by now had recognized Oberlin, replied, "You are a minister. Please tell me the name of the Good Samaritan." Oberlin said, "I cannot do that, for it is not given in the Scriptures." His benefactor responded, "Until you can tell me his name, please permit me to withhold mine."
Source Unknown, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.