Sermon and Worship Resources

During his sermon, a pastor quoted Jesus, "Love your neighbor as yourself." To emphasize the point, he asked three times, with increasing intensity: "Who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor?!"

Each time he asked this, a young boy in the congregation answered quietly: "Mister Rogers! Mister Rogers! Mister Rogers!" (1)

Fred Rogers of children's television fame was a good neighbor. But the lawyer's question to Jesus is just as relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago. Who is our neighbor?

Newspaper columnist David Hunter writes for the Knoxville (Tennessee) News-Sentinel. Hunter recalls a colorful character from his childhood who was popularly known as the Good Samaritan. She was an elderly woman who spent each day on a street corner in downtown Knoxville, collecting money from passersby. She impressed many people with her neat uniform and simple appeal: "Would you like to help the Good Samaritan?" Who could say no?

Only years later did Hunter learn that there was no Good Samaritan charity, that in fact the elderly lady in the impeccable uniform was pocketing the money for herself. (2)

There it is--the fear that many people have--that if they try to be The Good Samaritan and help someone else, they will be taken advantage of. And so, as we come to the text for today, some of you are already skeptical. Even though this is one of Jesus' best-known stories--and one of his most important stories--there is a built-in resistance to its lesson.

A lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" That's an interesting beginning to the story. A lawyer looking for a loophole--just as some of us look for loopholes in Jesus' teachings. Jesus said to the lawyer, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" And the lawyer answered, "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."

This lawyer was no dummy. He was obviously a devout and intelligent man. Jesus said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

But wanting to justify himself, Luke tells us, the lawyer pressed Jesus further, "And who is my neighbor?" Then Jesus told one of the best-known stories in all of literature: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead." Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.'"

Then Jesus turned the question back on the lawyer: "Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"

The lawyer couldn't wiggle out of this one. He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

That's powerful. It is also disturbing. I'm not going to ask you to hold up your hand if you have ever passed by someone who was in trouble--and thought of this old, old story that our Lord told. We've all done it, haven't we? For a host of good reasons. At least they sounded good at the time. Hey, I'm no hypocrite. I've given the same reasons myself: "He'll just spend it on booze. It might be dangerous to stop. I've got hospital calls to make." But back in the deep recesses of our brains, this story remains. And it troubles us.

In the winter of 1990, Michael Peterson was asked to appear on a television talk show in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At the end of the first day of taping he was on his way back to his plush, high-rise, cable-TV, 24-hour room service hotel, when he saw something he'd never seen before. Lying on the sidewalk against a building in four inches of snow was a man sleeping with only a cardboard blanket to keep him from being completely exposed to the freezing cold. What really broke Peterson's heart was when he realized that the man wore no shoes or socks. He thought he should stop and help the man but he wasn't quite sure what to do. As the traffic light turned green, it seemed life was demanding that he move along. So, that's what he did. Back in the luxurious environment of his hotel, he promptly forgot about the man on the street.

Several days later, prior to the morning taping, he was having coffee and Danish in the green room at the station. All of the "important" people had left the room and only he and the janitor were left. Peterson had seen the janitor go quietly about his business every day while he was there. The man never said a word except "Good morning" or "Can I get anything for you, sir?" He always had a smile to give to everyone.

When Peterson asked the janitor how he was feeling today, the humble man told him that he'd been having to ride his bike to work in the snow and that he'd been feeling rather sorry for himself . . . that is, until he saw a man sleeping down on the corner of Yonge Street and Bloor with just a piece of cardboard for covering from the cold and no shoes. Michael Peterson says he almost choked on his Danish as he heard this simple janitor go on to relate how he was so moved with compassion for this homeless man that he went around the corner to a store and bought the man a pair of socks and shoes.

As Peterson listened to the janitor tell his story, he saw in his mind a poster that used to be in an old friend's bedroom when he was a teenager. It was a picture of a child handing someone a flower. The caption read: "The smallest deed always exceeds the grandest of intentions." That's good, isn't it? "The smallest deed always exceeds the grandest of intentions."

Peterson said he stood there wishing it was he who had bought the shoes and socks for the man. Later, when he got to the studio, they were just concluding an interview with a social worker who specialized in benevolence for eastern Ontario. The social worker relayed a story about Mother Teresa, who when asked once how she had accomplished such great things in her life responded, "None of us can do anything great on our own, but we can all do a small thing with great love."

When Peterson went home that day, he looked for the man on the street. He was gone, but he knew it wouldn't be long before someone took his place. (3)

We've all been there, haven't we? Michael Peterson tells his story in one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, but we've all been there. And, unless we've hardened our hearts so completely that no semblance of compassion remains, we all confess that there have been times we've acted more like the priest and the Levite than we've acted like the Good Samaritan.

My purpose today, though, isn't to increase our guilt level. Instead, it is to celebrate this much-loved story, for it says much about the foundations of our faith.

The heart of authentic faith is love. That's the first thing we need to see. When Jesus asked the lawyer what is written in the law, the lawyer answered, "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." That is the very center of our faith. It was the very center of Jewish faith. The great commandment was not something new that Jesus was seeking to introduce into Jewish faith and practice. It was there already. The problem is that it is easy in religion to major in minors and to neglect what is fundamental.

It was no accident that Jesus chose a priest and a Levite to make his point. It was not to make the Jewish faith look bad. Why in the world would he do that?

Jesus lived and died a Jew. The priest and the Levite could have been officers in any religious movement. Just because you are a religious professional does not mean that you possess a heart full of love. Notice that the priest and the Levite, like the Samaritan, were going down from Jerusalem. Surely they had visited the temple there. They were inspired. They felt good about themselves. They had fulfilled their religious duties. And suddenly the hollowness of their religious commitment is exposed. They had fulfilled the first half of these commandments. They had loved God.

But, passing down the road they came upon this dread scene: by the side of the road lay a fellow Jew, badly beaten and nearly dead. If a Samaritan had been the victim of the robbers, they might have justified their negligence, since most Jews did not regard Samaritans as neighbors. Their only responsibility under some interpretations of the law was to love other Jews--just as some Christians only feel responsible for other Christians.

But this man lying beside the road was their neighbor. And they knew it, but they still passed him by. These two religious men may have been real stars in the temple or the synagogue, they might have read the Torah with eloquence and conviction, but they were miserable failures with regard to the second commandment. Is anybody here today starting to feel uncomfortable? "Though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels," says St. Paul in I Corinthians 13, "but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clashing cymbal." Love is at the heart of faith.

It is particularly at the heart of Christian faith. It would be absurd to think that only Christians know how to love. Some of the most loving people in this world are Jews or Hindus or Buddhists, or even followers of Mohammad. There are many loving people who do not follow Jesus. Love is at the center of faith for many people in the world. But it is uniquely so for Christians. Why? I don't know of any other God in any other religion who has scars in His hands, do you? Scars from having hung on a cross. Why did Christ go to the cross? Because of love. That's amazing. Were we deserving? No, quite the opposite. It was because we were helpless. We were lying beside the road, beaten and bloody and about to breathe our last breath and God saw us lying there and had mercy on us. "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." How much does God love us? [Arms extended to make a cross.] That much. No other God has scars in His hands from stopping to help a stranger beside the road. Love is the heart of faith--particularly for the follower of Jesus.

And that brings us to the final thing to be said: Jesus' love is the hope of the world. It's amazing. We still live in a world of ancient hatreds. It is a world in which might continues to make right. It is still a world where an eye is exchanged for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Can we not see that this is a formula for disaster? Only when we truly love God and truly love our neighbor can there be any hope for the world. Ultimately that is the answer to the world's most profound needs.

The love of Jesus is the hope of the world. And it is the hope of each individual person in this world. Let me tell you about a young man named Bobby.

The first time anyone told Bobby they loved him, he was 12 years old. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine living the first 12 years of your life without anyone ever saying they loved you?

Bobby's mother was 15 when she gave birth to him. She hung out in the local bars every night, leaving her children to fend for themselves. Since Bobby was the oldest, he took care of his brothers and sisters. The men their mother brought home from the bars often beat the children or sexually molested them. When the child welfare authorities found the children, they were living in filth, surviving off ketchup sandwiches. The children were separated into different foster homes. Bobby's first foster parents were violent drunks. His second foster mother treated him like a dog. Bobby's only prayer at night was to find a family who loved him.

When Bobby was 12 years old, an older couple named Arnold and Mary Petterson wanted to adopt him. The authorities tried to discourage them. This child was "damaged goods," they said. His school records noted, "This boy needs to be institutionalized. He will never amount to anything." But the moment that Arnold and Mary Petterson met Bobby, they determined to make him part of their family. Mary wrapped her arms around Bobby and spoke those words he had waited 12 long years to hear: "Bobby, I love you."

Years later in college, when Bobby heard the campus pastor say that God has chosen us to be a part of his family, he knew how special that offer is. So he gave his life to Christ. Today, Dr. Robert Petterson is a pastor, college professor, author, and president of Mastermedia International. (4) Friends, there is no other way by which people are saved, other than by the love of Jesus. So, who is my neighbor? Anyone who needs my love--anyone who needs the love of Jesus.

1. Chapnotes, http://www.chaplainsnotes.org/WITandWISDOM(tm) - November 14, 2003.

2. "City's character defined at times by its "˜characters'" by David Hunter, Knoxville News-Sentinel, August 4, 2003, p. B5.

4. Dr. Robert Petterson The Day I Met God, compiled and edited by Jim & Karen Covell and Victorya Michaels Rogers (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2001), pp. 225-231.

Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan