Trinity 13 The Sunday of the Good Samaritan September 10, 2017
Trinity 13
Luke 10:23-37
September 10, 2017
“Mercy, Not Rules”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jesus asks, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” The lawyer said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Mercy is our topic today. You should all go home today with God’s mercy for you—and with His mercy for all others in your life.
You kids in here today—do your parents have a lot of rules? Do you get tired of all the rules? Rules about what chores you have to do. Rules when you have to go to bed. Rules when you have to get up. Rules what you have to eat and what you can’t eat. Rules when you have to do homework. Rules about how much TV you can watch, how many video games you can play. And on and on.
And how ‘bout you, parents? Do you have a lot of rules? You probably say, “Well, not really.” But of course, you do. That’s why the common thing is that kids can’t wait to get out of the house and away from Mom or Dad’s rules, right? No more rules once you’re out of the house.
How about your teachers? Do they have a lot of rules? How about at work? Your company have a lot of rules? I have a list of rules for being a pastor. Actually several lists. When I was ordained I promised to keep a bunch of rules. For instance, to be diligent in my study of Scriptures and the Lutheran Confession. To be diligent in prayer for all of you. To never, ever divulge any sins confessed to me. Rules like those. Then I received another larger list of rules when I became pastor at this particular church. And then to make it even better, every member of the church can have their own list of rules what I should be doing, right?
I was thinking, though, what was the time in my life when I most hated rules? What do you guys think? When have you most hated rules? For me it was at college, I believe. I hated all the rules. Like for the papers you had to write—this many pages, this size font, this spacing between lines, this style for your citations. And I really hated the rules about how often you had to be in class to pass. Embarrassed to say that I almost didn’t pass a class my fourth year of college called Fitness Evaluation. Or in layman’s terms—PE. I almost didn’t pass because I didn’t go. I mean, come on, do college kids really need PE? But there was a rule about how many times you actually had to come.
So why all these rules? Rules everywhere. Why? Why all the rules, kids? Why all the rules, parents? Why all the rules everybody? Oh yeah, we all know the pious, feel-good answer. It goes like this, “We need the rules to keep us safe. They’re good for us.” Ugh. I know it’s true. But come on, we need all these rules just to keep us safe? No, there’s gotta be something more. Why really do we need all these rules? Because without the rules, we won’t do what we’re supposed to do! Now we’re getting there. We need rules because we’re sinners. We’re sinners. Sinners need rules. Because without them, we’ll all do wrong and think it’s fine.
See, if we weren’t sinners, we wouldn’t need rules. If we all did what we’re supposed to do all the time, then we could scrap all the rules. When I was growing up, we had this really dumb rule. The rule was—you couldn’t have a snack until 4:00 in the afternoon. We’d stand there by the microwave clock just waiting for it to turn to 4 o’clock. Now what a dumb rule! Why did we have to have such a dumb rule? Well, it’s simple. If we didn’t have the rule, we would have eaten snacks all day long. Why do we have to have a rule in our house that everybody takes turns washing the dishes? Because if we didn’t, no one would ever do ‘em. Everybody’d just get up from the table and leave the Mom to do ‘em all. Aren’t we terrible people? We should all know to help clean the dishes and we should all know not to eat snacks all day. But we don’t. We need rules ‘cause we’re selfish sinners.
Now what about God? Is He just a God of rules like people complain about Him? Is He a God who loves to give us a bunch of rules? No, absolutely not! But He has to give us rules because we’re such terrible sinners. Of course, God gives rules. Rules are all over in the Bible. Because sinners need rules. Sinners like us. But rules aren’t what God is all about. He’s all about mercy.
So now we’re ready to consider this lawyer in the Gospel reading who loves rules. A lawyer in Jesus’ day isn’t like a lawyer today. A lawyer back then was more like we’d think of a pastor today. A lawyer was one who studies and knew the laws of Moses. The law of God. So this lawyer that spends his life studying God’s Law comes up to test Jesus. To see if Jesus knows the rules.
So he asks, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus turns it back on him and says, “You know the rules. What’s the rule?” And the lawyer answers proudly, “Love the Lord your God with all heart, soul, strength, mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.” “Good,” Jesus says, “Now go do that.”
Oh, now the lawyer’s upset. What does Jesus mean, “Go do that?” So he does the unthinkable—he asks for another rule. Can you believe this guy? He wants another rule? Who asks for more rules? This guy does. He says, “Well, who’s my neighbor?” I need another rule, you see. Which neighbor am I supposed to love? That one over there? This one? That neighbor of mine that’s such a grouch? Which ones, Jesus? Only a sinner would ask for more rules.
So Jesus tells him a parable. A parable that God really isn’t interested in any more rules or laws. That what God is really interested in—is mercy. Jesus tells a story about two of the lawyer’s buddies…a priest and a Levite. Those are the guys who know all the rules. Just like the lawyer. They’re supposed to be the good guys. But not in this story. They’re too busy with all their rules so they pass by a poor guy dying on the side of the road. They don’t call 911. They don’t check to see if he’s alive. They don’t show any love or compassion. They’re too busy keeping their rules. So they leave the poor guy for dead.
But lo and behold! Who comes next? A guy with no rules. A Samaritan! Ugh! One of those people! And what does he do? The guy with no rules…stops his animal, gets offs and runs to the poor man. He gets dirty and bloody bandaging up his wounds and cleaning him up with oil and wine. He lifts the poor guy onto his animal and walks him all the way to an inn and then promises to pay for everything. This guy gives better healthcare than the government!
So what about that, lawyer? What about all your rules? Who proved to be a real, genuine, loving neighbor to the beaten and robbed man? And oh, how hard it is for the lawyer to admit it—that the real, loving neighbor wasn’t the guy with rules—it was the guy with mercy.
Do we get it? Rules aren’t the point. Sure, God has rules. Sure, parents have rules. They have to because we’re sinners who need rules to do the dishes and love other people. But the rules aren’t the point. What God wants you to know so much more than rules is mercy. Love.
Sinners like us don’t need any more rules. This poor lawyer doesn’t need any more rules. We just need to see our sin. We just need to see the love and mercy of God for us. The rules show us we’re sinners and we need mercy.
So let’s play around with this a bit. Let’s say Jesus doesn’t answer the lawyer’s question with this parable of the Good Samaritan. Let’s try something different. Let’s say the lawyer asks, “And who is my neighbor?” Who am I supposed to be loving, Jesus? And let’s says Jesus answers in a snarky manner, “Why don’t you start with your wife?” See, this is where it starts to hit home for us. We think we need more rules—“Who am I supposed to be loving, Jesus? Am I supposed to love terrorists? Am I supposed to love murderers? What about it, Jesus?” But we don’t need those rules. Let’s just start with an easy one—your wife or your husband. How are you doing at that one? Do you put the best construction on everything your husband does? Do you always assume the best in your wife? Do you always talk to your husband first when you have a problem or do you talk to others about him? Do you always check to see what your wife needs before you take care of yourself? No? You mean you can’t even love the one person you’ve made a big promise and vow to love up in front of God and all kinds of witnesses? How are you going to love anybody else?
Or what if Jesus says to the lawyer, “Why don’t you start with your brother?” Do you guys always love your brothers and sisters? You never get angry with them, right? You never talk bad about them, right? You never assume the worst about them, right? Man, if we can’t love our own flesh and blood siblings—how do we think we’re going to love terrorists?
Or what if Jesus said to the lawyer, “Well, why don’t you just start with your next door neighbor?” Well, I can’t love them. We’ve got issues about the property line. And their leaves are always blowing in my yard. And their grass is two shades greener than mine—who do they think they are? And their house has two square feet more living space than mine those money-lovers! Man, if we can’t love the person living next door—how can we love folks across the world?
See, we don’t need any more rules. That’s not going to help. We don’t need rules—what we need is mercy. The sweet mercy of God. The oil and wine of gladness. See, who’s really that poor, beaten-down guy on the side of the road? We are. That’s us. The rules have beaten us down. We see what we really are. We’re nothing. We haven’t even loved those close to us the way we should—let alone strangers or our enemies. We need the rescue squad.
And lo and behold! Who’s our good Samaritan? Jesus Christ it is! Who gets off His donkey and runs to the cross to get dirty and blood with our wounds. Who lifts us up onto His back and carries us to the healing waters of Baptism and to the healing wine of the Lord’s Supper. “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Well, let me tell you about the Good Samaritan. Let me tell you about the guy from heaven who comes with mercy for sinners like you and me.
Forget all your rules. Mercy doesn’t need rules. Mercy is all gift. God says, “Here is My one and only Son whom I have given to love you. Believe in Him. Be baptized into Him. Confess your sins to Him. Receive His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. And through Him—you will learn what love and mercy is all about. And you can go and do likewise.
See, rules aren’t going to make us love one another. Do you think the Good Samaritan stopped and said, “Now do I have to love this guy? What was the rule about this? Is this dying man my neighbor or somebody else’s neighbor? Oh, I don’t know the rules…”
No, he just loved because he was loved. So go show mercy everyone. Show mercy to your wife. To your husband. Show mercy to your brother. Your sister. To your parents. To your friends. To your family here at Church. Show mercy to your next door neighbors. To your enemies. Even to terrorists and those in prison. Show mercy to all. Because you don’t need rules. You only need Jesus. Yes, God has rules and they’re good rules and we should follow them. But rules aren’t God’s first concern. Mercy is. Mercy for you. And mercy for your neighbor. In Jesus’ name. Amen.