Trinity 4
Today’s Gospel is one of the most familiar and most loved parables of our Lord–the Parable of the Good/ Merciful Samaritan. There is a two-fold emphasis of this parable. Of course, Jesus tells the parable in response to the question: And who is my neighbor? When we hear that question, from Sunday School days on, we have that first gut response: Everybody! But notice at the end of the parable, Jesus asks: Which of these three do you think acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? Jesus turns the question around. Jesus takes it from the abstract/ theoretical “everybody!”–and when things are more general, they become easier to ignore– and Jesus makes it more personal: a neighbor is not someone who is in need of help–like the beaten and robbed man in the parable; instead, a neighbor is someone who is able to and does give help. Like Jesus does here, we should ask: to whom can I become a neighbor? Which of these three do you think acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?
And then that leads to the second and deeper point–the Good Samaritan is really a description of Jesus. Jesus alone is the Good Samaritan, the One who acted like a neighbor to all of humanity beaten, robbed and left for dead by the devil, sin, death. Jesus came and did everything to rescue and save us–to bring us spiritual healing by His holy word and sacraments by which He gives us the fruit and blessings of His work: the forgiveness of sin, rich new spiritual life, eternal life, peace with God, joy, etc. He restores us to spiritual health and life.
Notice when the lawyer tested Jesus, asking Him, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus doesn’t jump all over him: You can’t do anything to earn or even inherit heaven! Instead, Jesus brings the man to the holy Law of God: What is written in the law? What do you read there? To which the man replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all our soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus’ response: You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live. Did Jesus just say that we can be saved by the Law of God, by doing works? Absolutely! But, if we want to be saved by our works, they must be done perfectly; we must be without sin–which is impossible. And that’s what Jesus wants to show this man and us! –No matter how hard we may try, we will still fall far short of the absolute perfection/ sinlessness God demands of us in His holy Law if we want to be saved by it. That’s why we need Jesus–the true Good Samaritan; that’s why we need the forgiveness of sins; that’s why we need God’s mercy.
So getting back to the question Jesus asked: Which of these three do you think acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?–that expert in the Law was forced to come to the realization–that all of us must–how many chances we had to act like a neighbor to someone, but didn’t! Certainly this man–as do each one of us– had many neighbors to whom he could have become/ acted like a neighbor but didn’t. Did he truly love his neighbor as himself? So what about these, his sins? Could he then obtain eternal life?
That’s the problem with the Law of God–we cannot do it perfectly; we cannot live without sin; we cannot perfectly Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all our soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself. That’s why if we are honest with ourselves, we will recognize our true spiritual condition as one like that robbed and beaten man in Jesus’ parable–utterly unable to help ourselves spiritually; utterly unable to do anything to inherit eternal life. We will yearn for a neighbor–Jesus, the Good Samaritan to come and save us.
Just as the Good/ Merciful Samaritan came upon the robbed and beaten man and brought him medicine and healing, so too does Jesus come to us in His word and Sacrament to bring us that true medicine and healing for our soul–the forgiveness of our sins. Notice in the parable, the healing isn’t instantaneous; it would take time: The next day, when [the Good Samaritan] left, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him. Whatever extra you spend, I will repay you when I return.” Although when we come to faith, we by faith, have all the heavenly gifts and blessings Jesus won for us on the cross; but we are also still growing in our faith in and love of the Lord; we are growing in our knowledge and understanding; we are still fighting against sin and striving for holiness. Yes, we are perfectly and entirely saved but we are also growing in our faith; we have the fullness and yet we keep pressing on in the faith and growing in it. And that’s what St. Paul talks about in our text:
…from the day we heard about your love, we also have not stopped praying for you. We keep asking that you would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you might live in a way that is worthy of the Lord. Our goal is that you please him by bearing fruit in every kind of good work and by growing in the knowledge of God, as you are being strengthened with all power because of His glorious might working in you. Then you will have complete endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. The Father rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
What tremendous gifts our Lord gives us when He works faith in Him in our hearts! These are heavenly and spiritual gifts! St. Paul’s prayer for this Church in Colossae is that they would grow in whatever they may be lacking. It is a prayer for growth in the faith. And let each of us pray for ourselves and for each other that we would grow in our faith and understanding; that whatever we may be lacking, the Lord would fill: that you would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Of course that means that we will not only pray to grow in our faith and understanding, but we will be faithful here in worship in God’s house to hear His word and receive Him in the holy sacrament; we will be diligent in our reading and studying God’s holy word, and thinking about it and meditating on it; we will gladly talk to our fellow Christians about the faith.
Yes, if we are Christians, that spiritual knowledge is there! We know God rightly as our dear heavenly Father; we know that He came to this earth and lived a holy life for us and suffered and died on the cross for our sins and rose again, Victor over sin, death, devil and hell. We know God’s gracious will applies to us; we know and rejoice in His peace, love and mercy toward us. So why, then, do St. Paul and each Christian then pray for themselves and others: that you would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding? We dare not forget, dear Christian, that we still have our old sinful nature in us that works together with the devil and the world to try to fill our minds with things other than the faith and the things of God–[Ph 4.8] that is, whatever things that are noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, the things of virtue and the praiseworthy. We have the pressures and events and trials of daily life–just trying to make our way in the world today that takes everything we got. It is easy to push God into a corner, onto the backburner, and to neglect God and His word–and of course when we do that how can we grow in our wisdom and understanding? So, first and foremost the prayer–that you [I] would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding– and then the striving on our part to do just that! How wonderful and glorious it is when we think about and meditate on the words and acts of God, in Scripture and in our own lives! How amazing it is when we see how marvelously all the doctrines fit together and as we plumb their depths! The more firmly grounded our faith, the harder for it to be shaken and destroyed.
Being filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding is also practical–it results in a holy life, holy living: so that you might live in a way that is worthy of the Lord. Our goal is that you please him by bearing fruit in every kind of good work and by growing in the knowledge of God. There is a high expectation of holiness in the Christian. Being a Christian, being saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus is not a “pass” to continue on in a life of sin– flippantly saying “God will forgive that one, too.” No one with faith in the true God ever says that. Instead, being saved by God’s grace through faith is a call to walk worthy of our calling.
There are a couple things at play here–first of all, don’t forget that as Christians we have Christ in us; the Holy Spirit is in us. By the work, strengthening, prompting of the Holy Spirit– He leads and empowers us into a life of holiness, living in a way that is worthy of the Lord. What we can’t/ won’t do by our own strength and ability, the Holy Spirit leads us into and empowers us to do.
The other thing to keep in mind is that as Christians, our minds are renewed–we want to do the will of God. His will is our will–even in what we do and desire. We love the Lord’s will and strive to do it–even when, especially when it is difficult. When we feel ourselves unable to do it, even though we want to live in a way that is worthy of the Lord, that’s when we rely on Him and His strength all the more! Because of our sinful nature, our life of growing in holiness is/ always will be imperfect. But praying to and relying on and empowered by the Lord we will grow in holiness: Our goal is that you please him by bearing fruit in every kind of good work and by growing in the knowledge of God, as you are being strengthened with all power because of His glorious might working in you. The growth in good works/ holiness is tied in with growing in the knowledge of God, because where we know God rightly as our God and Savior, how can we not want to thank and praise Him, and strive and delight to do His will joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light?
St. Paul tells us in our text that the Lord has worked in us, dear Christian, the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; and that knowledge of His will, works in us a life of holiness as we strive to do the Lord’s will because it is also now our will as Christians–He is in us leading and empowering us to be a neighbor to others around us and as we do it we will have complete endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. On our own/ left to ourselves we, by our sin, have been disqualified from heaven, but God has “qualified” us for heaven by Jesus’ saving work–His life, suffering and death for us. Now we look forward to the kingdom of heaven which, come the Last Day and for all eternity, we will enjoy fully–being there soul and glorified body with all the saints and the holy angels in the presence of the holy Triune God. There we will be fully satisfied, fully content, all our longings stilled–that’s what God made us for: heaven!
One day we, dear Christian, will be there sharing in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. But even now, as we look forward to that blessed heavenly eternity and inheritance, we are, by faith, enjoying a foretaste of it; we are already in Christ’s kingdom, the Church on earth. The Father rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. We are now in Christ’s kingdom. Through Baptism we have been delivered from sin, death, and devil, the domain of darkness; and have been brought into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. By Baptism and coming to faith, for us the reign of the devil has ended and the devil bound. Hell is shut and heaven opened to us. In Jesus we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. What glorious things the Lord works in us when He brings us to faith. INJ Amen.