The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Luke 10:23-37 “Our Good Samaritan”
August 30, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Lord God, heavenly Father, we most heartily thank You that You have granted us to live in this accepted time, when we may hear Your holy Gospel, know Your fatherly will, and behold Your Son, Jesus Christ! We pray, most merciful Father: Let the light of Your holy Word remain with us, and so govern our hearts by Your Holy Spirit, that we may never forsake Your Word, but remain steadfast in it, and finally obtain eternal salvation; through Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 161)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 10th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, 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, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
He said, “The one who showed him mercy.”
And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who is our friend bearing our griefs and pains, washing up our wounds with His holy blood, dear fellow redeemed:
Friendship is a very crucial feeling to have in life. The creator did not create us to be solo creatures. It starts with family and though we have heard the saying, “I married, or I am spending the rest of my life with my best friend,” there is a difference between that relationship to the relationship you have with friends. We see this in how we act when it comes to our family and our friend group. Our friends can shape how we act in a positive and negative way. And as friend groups expand further out, we may say something to our friend if we believe their other friends are being poor influences because that is what friends are for. An while we know all of the ways in which we will be there lending helping hands to our friends because of our close friendships, it can be harder to keep that same attitude for someone who is not in the group. We might even think we are being friendly when our actions tell a different story. As we try our best to help anyone we come across, we are thankful our God is always offering us a helping hand even as He sees our failings. Our Lord and Savior is our Good Samaritan.
When we hear the name “Samaritan” now, we know it as a term where maybe we aren’t friends with the person in need of help, but we will step up like their friend and help them anyway. As our world uses this biblical term, we know from Scripture it means so much more. While Samaritans were considered on the outside of the people of Israel, Israel’s history reveals them more alike in certain aspects as Jesus tells His followers, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” The Old Testament people were just on the outside and could only look expectantly to God keeping His promises. And the One who is the promised kept, He is throughout the Old Testament, right there with His people and giving them a helping hand. Jesus disciples are privileged to see it dawn in Jesus’ life-imparting ministry, literally teaching them how to live and care for one another. But behold, a lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The lawyer is tempting Jesus by trying to convince Him that more is needed to inherit eternal life instead of just hearing and listening to what He has to say. More that he has with his knowledge of the law. So Jesus uses his expertise and has him recite the law. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:5). “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:18).
While the lawyer believes he is smart because he has picked out the two parts of the law Jesus has taught, knowing his background, we will soon see him realize the difficulty the law brings. Hence why they pick, and choose, and add their own. In doing so, the answer to the question he will soon ask is right in front of him as it states in the law, And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law (Deuteronomy 31:10-12). His own people who are close to him are all of these people listed. Also, the summarizing of the law is summarizing a total of 613 Old Testament laws. “Do this, and you will live.” The man asked a law question and so he received a law answer. The lawyer is justifying himself because it dawns on him that it is impossible for him to do as God wants so he tries to limit God.
This is the trap that is laid out for us constantly. It is the trap with our word, “justification,” to be declared not guilty, and instead of us hearing the word as a gift won for us, we can try to use the word for ourselves. We at times can pick some of God’s laws and say we are not guilty of the punishment from them, while knowing there are punishments that await us with the ones we have broken. Our abilities to fail God’s law goes all the way back before our very birth into this world. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me (Psalm 51:5). As our sinful condition has been attached to us from the start, even when we try to be good friends or that good Samaritan, For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them” (Galatians 3:10). It is so easy for us to be tempted into the credit for our help. And while at times our pride is super small, For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it (James 2:10).
And this means we are guilty of not “loving 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.” When we certainly struggle with God, we don’t have far to look to see how we struggle with our neighbor. To help, Jesus point is, don’t worry about who you have to help, but be concerned about being helpful, because we should be a good Samaritan to all. In search of our justification, and witnessing with our own eyes just how much we are cursed, the mystery of the incarnation reveals who we are trying to tempt. The Son of God who will judge the living and the dead, it is His coming down from heaven to dwell with us in our place, that points out just how impossible it is for us to live up to God’s commands of giving Him all glory and honor, and the love we are to show to all people. We would rather try to justify ourselves because like the lawyer, we may even begin to squirm if we have to identify who our neighbor is. And we can’t even act on giving help, for we are near dead like the man on the side of the road. We know the feeling when we believe we have been abandoned by those who should have helped us in our time of need. In abandonment, we would rather save ourselves because maybe this is the way it should be. Isn’t the only one who we can love and trust ultimately ourselves? Except, Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
And Jesus is pulling this right out of the law. “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God” (Leviticus 19:34). The priest and the Levite were maybe concerned about being clean and didn’t want to touch a dead body which would make them unclean, however, being clean and unclean was needed only during their service duties, so they could have helped the man. And thankfully this man who is near death was helped. He was helped by the one who was called unclean. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ This sojourner, this stranger, not only was risking his own wellbeing for helping this man because of what the mans people believed, but he used everything that was his for the man’s wellbeing. He didn’t think twice about what it would look like to the world. He spent a great sum and was even planning to spend more if needed to make sure the man was restored.
Who does this sound like? Who spent a great sum and then more for you who was near death? He could have walked by on the other side for He is holy. He is sinless. He keeps every law perfectly. It is assumed the way of Torah, the law, that this is the way of life. In thinking so, you can only try to moralize the law. The law that God has given to you is good. It is good because it reveals God’s gracious election for His people despite their sin. The law is not a “how to” book. As much as a “how to” book you would like to have at the top of your reading list, to earn merit before God is impossible. So, it was Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, who became the Good Samaritan for you. He lays out for you what perfect love is. Love is the fulfillment of the law. And that love explodes to the greatest height imaginable because “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). As the Samaritan washes the man’s wounds with his wine, Jesus who made Himself unclean, washes your wounds with His holy blood shed on the cross for your sins. Blood that is shed so that your near dead body is brought back to life in His life. The life that is pleasing to God.
This is what “many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” To see and hear about how they were stripped, beaten, and half dead. To see the Savior of the world come down from heaven and see how He took on all of their sins to the cross. How He clothed them with His righteousness and gave to them His verdict of justification. And this is your joy and this is how you are blessed as you see and hear the cross of your Savior. You see Him give you His holy blood to drink in, with, and under the wine in His Supper instituted for you to remember this great event. The day in which you see your good Samaritan, the stranger of the Son of God gives you His very life. And when He says, “Go and do likewise,” you are reminded just how far you are from the living, self-sacrificing behaviors He expects. And in earnestness you go out believing you can live a holy life as God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:5). You don’t need a “how to” book. You have more than a good friend. And when you are in need of help, you have a good Samaritan who happens to be the Son of the living God who restores you to life. And He doesn’t leave you alone as you heal. He is with you in your recovery providing you with the love of life that will see you live forever. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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