July 13, 2025
Like all of Jesus’ parables, the Parable of the Good Samaritan can be viewed from many different angles.
Today I want to consider two: the view from the road and the view from the ditch.
In taking the view from the road we see a man beaten up and half-dead on the roadside. He lays in a ditch. Perhaps someone passing by doesn’t see the injured man. It’s possible, but not very likely.
The Priest and the Levite certainly noticed the suffering man but chose to pass by on the other side of the road. The priest and Levite were practitioners of the law and stewards of holy things at the temple. The priest was likely on his way to the temple to perform an important ritual. Chances are that the Levite was also going there to assist the priest in offering sacrifices or begin his work shift in guarding the temple. They were on their way to do the really important work of religion. The work of God in the temple canceled out attending to the man in the ditch.
In the view from the road we also see a Samaritan travelling the road with his donkey. He is passing through. As a Samaritan he is considered to be an outsider. Jews would look down upon such a person because he had the wrong religion and the wrong pedigree. Yet, this unwelcomed outsider was compelled by mercy and more than noticing the man in the ditch, he comes to his aid, tends his wounds and takes him into town to get more help.
From this view of the road there we see very different approaches to the man on the side of the road. Turning a blind eye and responding in mercy, and it isn’t all that different from what we normally see.
We pass by, pretending not to notice, we respond in mercy, or we are caught somewhere between.
When I was dating my wife Britt, we once drove through a busy thoroughfare in Portland and all of a sudden she shouted, “Turn back!” I asked what was going on and she explained that someone needed help. So, we turned around and drove back to the site where she saw a man who was hunched over. We wondered if he was even alive. As it turned out he was okay and others came to help him. There was the usual scene of people passing by either noticing or not noticing, but what struck me that day was Britt’s sense of urgency. We get urgent about many things – meeting a deadline, hurrying to get somewhere on time, checking off our to-do list. All important stuff. Yet, in our busy, busy mode we find that our urgency is often fueled by self-interest. That day I saw an urgency fueled by mercy and compassion.
Britt noticed a neighbor in need and her energy to assist him was nothing less than a reflection of God’s large and tender heart. I have learned a lot from my wife. That day I learned from her what it means to be a neighbor.
The lawyer asks Jesus a very important question. He asks, “Who is my neighbor?”
Who is my neighbor? It’s a great question.
At first, the lawyer asks a fairly general question. We may wonder why in the world he would ask about what he needed to do to inherit eternal life since he likely knew the answer anyway. With his second question we see why he is approaching Jesus in the first place. The question, “just who is my neighbor?” is one likely asked out of self-interest. If he could get a definition then he could choose who his neighbors were. He could be selective and determine for himself who the neighbor is or who the neighbor is not.
We prefer to name as neighbors people we like or people who are just like us. When that happens we feel we are given permission to pass by on the other side.
In answering the question, Jesus avoids an answer. Instead, he tells a parable, a story. Jesus puts the question back into the lawyer’s que by asking him who in the story is the neighbor. The lawyer could answer for himself. “The one who showed mercy.”
In the view from the road we encounter many actions and responses. God’s angle of vision is mercy. Always mercy. God calls us to participate in God’s vision. That is our call and we bear witness to the vision of God’s kingdom that is distinctively different that the kingdoms of the world.
These days, I wonder if bearing witness to God’s vision of neighborliness might be one of the most important and urgent tasks of the church.
Why?
More and more, it seems to me that at least in this nation we are in the grip of xenophobia. Which is to say we are nurturing a fear of the other or even a disdain of the other.
We want to determine who the neighbor is or more accurately who the neighbor is not. We want to classify people and put them in categories and invariably defend the ones we like. Now, it seems to me that what is supposed to be a “melting pot” is becoming a narrow container.
Barring immigrants or separating their families, creating policies that exclude people’s rights or diminish healthcare. Or consider the arena for public debate. It used to be okay to agree to disagree. Now, it seems chic to disavow or even hate someone who has a different opinion.
Whenever this sort of thing runs rampant, God calls the church that the church to speak out and to put into practice the neighborliness that Jesus demonstrates and commands. It is rooted in the respect of the dignity of every very human person.
Do you remember the promises we make in the baptismal covenant that we affirmed last at the Easter Vigil and studied last year? Among the promises are these: to proclaim the good news of God’s love, to serve all people and to strive for God’s justice and peace in all the world.
This is God’s vision for all of us to put into practice. The church bears witness to it and it is an alternative visons to our skewed and selfish visions.
Today you will notice in your worship bulletin information about opportunities to give money to aid those affected by the flood in Texas. They are our neighbors. You will notice, too, something that’s in the bulletin pretty much every week – the ongoing opportunity to give supplies and money to the food bank, Mary’s place, and the compass center. These are gifts given to our neighbors. Every week in the prayers of intercession we pray for people around here and people across the nations and people across the world. They are our neighbors.
All of us have opinions and perspectives about what we see from the view of the road. God wants us to see through the lens of mercy.
And what about the ditch? Do we have a view from the ditch?
I suspect we’ve all been in the ditch at one time or another when we have suffered or felt alone, neglected, unnoticed, or in urgent need of care. I’ve been in the ditch a few times and one time was eerily familiar to the plot of the Good Samaritan.
It happened on a Sunday morning on my way to church. I was only minutes away from church pausing at the red light in an intersection. After the light turned green I proceeded to drive through the intersection and as I was driving through something struck me. Literally. I was struck by a car whose driver ran a red light and then proceeded to strike another car. When my car was struck, it caused me to swirl around several times and finally land near the side of the road outside a popular restaurant on the corner of the next block. All in plain view.
I am happy to report that air bags do indeed work. The errant driver’s license plate was lodged into the body of my car that was declared a total loss. From my view I could see many people passing by expressing various degrees of interest in what they saw. I felt that most folks who drove by saw what was going on for sure. When they saw the police were there they could safely assume that the situation was under control. There were other reactions. One car of young men laughed and hurled sarcastic remarks. A couple of people who passed by but didn’t stop were people I knew or at least recognized. It wasn’t complete disinterest. A fellow from the church I was serving did stop and offered help but at first no one around the scene of the accident were people I knew.
The folks who helped, at first, were complete strangers to me. They were Good Samaritans. They were walking by and saw the accident and came to me and helped. They helped me get out of my jumbled up car, called 911, gave me a cup of coffee, and stayed with me the whole time.
We spent enough time together to know some parts of our stories. I shared with them that I was a pastor on my way to worship. I learned from them that they were not Christians. They were unfamiliar with the church and knew very little about the church. Didn’t matter. They were as angels of light to me.
Now, who in the story was a neighbor to me?
Jesus rearranges our notions of what it means to be a neighbor by first pulling us out of a judgmental view of who is and isn’t the neighbor and routinely surprises us. The neighbor though shows mercy may be one we’ve disregarded or judged or demonized.
Besides the view from the road there is the view from the ditch, and you can see many things and learn a lot from that point of view.
Of course, we’ve all been in the ditch and we know it well. It’s a big ditch carved out by our rebellion toward the things of God and who should come to our rescue? None other than God himself.
Jesus, God’s instrument of mercy, has lifted us from the ditch and it happened when he stretched out his arms upon the wood of the cross.
Jesus, the Good Samarian, continues to tend to our wounds, forgive our sins, heal our spirits, and clothes us with the very mercy that is in the heart of God.
We know that mercy. For the word is very near you and it is in your mouth and in your heart.
God responds to us with mercy. From him we know mercy. Now, go and do likewise. Amen.