A Parable for a Pandemic

So, you know how sermons can only be so long? Well, some texts are so full of material that a preacher may have some “cutting room floor” pieces after the edited message is delivered. I’d like to share some of those “Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) Remnants” with you today:

• The lawyer who questions Jesus asks about eternal life, but Jesus helps him focus on what it means to live life right now.
• The lawyer answers Jesus by stating a summary of the Law: “Love God and love your neighbor.” The Gospel of Mark records this or a similar event with a little twist. The Scribe asks Jesus which commandment is the most important. Jesus responds with a trinity of commandments which cannot be separated: 1) The Lord is one; 2) Love God; 3) Love your neighbor. To truly acknowledge any one of these is to acknowledge the others.
• The victim in the parable is left “half-dead.” He would have died had he not received assistance.
• The priest and the Levite passed by the victim without getting a closer look because their law made them quarantine if they came into contact with blood (until evening) and/or dead things (7 days). That disrupts a lifestyle, doesn’t it?
• The Samaritan, the one who is truly fulfilling the law of loving his neighbor, is referred to as merciful, not good.

I wonder…if God isn’t calling us to have our lives disrupted in order to love our neighbor. The merciful one draws close, gives without expecting repayment, and then…goes into quarantine at the end of the day. Maybe this is a parable for a pandemic…when we need the overlooked parts of the story…even the epilogue that tells of a man who loved so much that he was willing to step in and then step back.

Jesus did, and also says to us, “Go, and do likewise.”

Pastor James Gomez
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Sturgeon Bay