Sermon - March 9, 2025 (Luke 10) The Good Samaritan

What do you do when you find a mess?

Do you jump in and clean it up and ask questions later, or do you break out the forensics kit and try to find the black box to determine what happened? When it comes to messes in our household, my wife is usually the former, compassionate and nonjudgmental one, while I find it impossible to silence my curious nature or immediately find the culprit. I’m also probably the one more likely to be oblivious of its presence and just walk around it or to pretend it wasn’t there!

In our first story from Luke today, notice the Good Samaritan doesn’t ask what happened, she just deals with the present moment. She knows what to do and does it. I know Good Sam is a “he” in the text, but let’s be real here. Good Sam was a woman, probably a wife and mom in my reading this go around.

In one of the most popular parables ever told, the story between the lawyer and Jesus is a stand-alone message—about as succinct a sermon from Jesus as it gets. There isn’t much to add, but let’s give it another look anyway, maybe there’s a layer or two we can chew on that would be helpful for today’s world.

Some Truths Are…

This week I attended a lecture at Augsburg University given by the Rev. Dr. DeWayne Davis entitled, “Shall Untruth Win? Faithful Preaching in an Age of Mistrust and Misinformation.” Something that stood out and spoke to me was when he said “There are some truths are so unbearable.” Then he described things I’m sure you’ve noticed as much as I have: People preferring to deny or run from these truths or pointing fingers of blame rather than doing the extremely difficult but necessary behavior of facing and naming those truths, unbearable though they may feel—be it in themselves or in the world. In other words, how easy it is to dismiss something because we are too uncomfortable to deal with it head on… When we demand answers or supply them ourselves—that’s often what a judgmental heart and behavior looks like. 

And Jesus is very clear in the scriptures about when and where judgment is the preferred attitude or action: NEVER. That’s what the villains in the parable do—they make a judgment and steer clear. Faced with an unbearable truth, the others made a wide berth, but not the Samaritan—her non judgmental attitude wins the day. No questions asked, just compassionate response.

What about us? How do you respond to messes? Would you do the same if a person who voted differently than you were stranded on the side of the road or left for dead by assailants?

Both/And

When confronted with right heart or right action, many of us freeze. We become paralyzed with indecision. But The Gospel Truth—in all its unbearable grace-- is rarely cut and dry or black and white, either/or. Because with Jesus, we are called to the land of “both/and.”

Be of good heart and of good action.

The Heart is a long term investment that we have opportunities to build up and set free over the course of our faith journey---little by little, our faith blossoms and begins to inform our right actions, which can range from instantaneous to strategic and planful. I think that’s a layer to this passage we can learn from today--- that our loving, nonjudgmental hearts are what Jesus is calling for. Because the unbearable truth is that you never know what’s coming, and thinking your way through the unknown leads to choice paralysis, while instinct is what’s needed. So that when confronted with a person’s moment of pain—your own or someone else’s—the response of choice ought to already be decided when our hearts are healthy. If how you respond to pain isn’t seasoned with loving action first and foremost, then we’ve got more work to do. 

Two stories, different answers?

On the surface it appears at first glance that Jesus underscores opposite things: loving service for the Good Samaritan and loving stillness for Mary.

But upon closer inspection… 

While Martha’s hospitality looks like what Jesus just finished preaching to us about in the Good Samaritan parable, take a look under the hood and Jesus reveals that Martha’s heart wasn’t very aligned. She acts in such manner because she is rooted in her obligation to host, to serve. She is agitated that Mary is out of her lane and not helping. And Jesus being Jesus calls out Martha, not Mary. Now maybe Martha’s happy place was serving—but scolding Mary, well, that looks like judgment, and Jesus jumps in to remind Martha to stay in her lane of love. Does Martha truly desire to serve, or does she feel she has to since her sister is MIA?

In Martha/Mary, I think Jesus favors Mary’s inaction because she is more aligned with her heart—to put it a different way: her actions directly reflect her heart’s intentions— hence, Jesus awarding the house points to Team Mary. 

Sometimes our heart is in the right place, but our actions fall short. And sometimes it’s the other way around isn’t it?

So what’s going on in your Heart today? Tend to it. Chances are, that is Jesus trying to get YOUR attention, just as Mary and Martha sought his. What needs to be addressed?

Look, messes are going to keep popping up. We are human; vulnerable, forgetful, impressionable and really, really busy and distracted.

So when that next unbearable truth crosses your path, how you answer will depend on your heart’s health—not in the physical sense of course, but spiritually and based on your values and your truth. I have learned time after time that I cannot always prevent pain, but I always have a choice for how to respond to it. When we choose judgment over loving action as our first response to pain—yours or someone else’s—we are merely adding more pain. Yes, it is unbearable not being able to subtract or eliminate that pain—but you don’t have to add to it either. Jesus teaches us to stay in our lane: love first, judgment and investigate later or not at all. 

Conclusion

The Good Samaritan had every opportunity to judge the situation and make a wide berth—but their heart was full of love and therefore compassionate action resulted. Mary, a devoted disciple, loved Jesus so much and in that moment her heart told her to stay close to him, so she did. When we align our hearts with our choices, we fully embody the Good News—and good things happen.

Lots of messes out there, so how’s your heart feeling? Is it time to get to work, or do you need another minute at Jesus’s side? Thanks be to God, both are loving expressions of loving your neighbor — so may you go and do likewise in Jesus’ name.  Amen.