Sermon from July 13, 2025

5th Sunday after Pentecost

July 13, 2025

“Who Justifies? Who Qualifies?”

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)

The text for our meditation today is the Gospel lesson, from Luke 10:25-37, along with a few thoughts from our Epistle, Colossians 1:12-14. As our text begins, a lawyer stands up and asks Jesus a question “to put Him to the test.” This was not a lawyer as we think of one today, but a man who was an expert in Jewish Law, together with scribes and Pharisees we read about in other Scriptures.

This man may have heard Jesus saying, just before our text, that “the Heavenly Father has hidden things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children.” And Jesus had told some of His own disciples: “Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” That would mean that they would have eternal life at the time of their death.

This lawyer surely thought of himself as wise and understanding and an expert, and so he asks Jesus, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus, as he often does, asks the lawyer a question instead: “What is written in the Law? How do you understand it?“ The lawyer responds with a part of the “Sh’ma” from Deuteronomy 6:5, a famous Jewish expression  of Jewish religion, along with some words from our Old Testament lesson for today, Leviticus 19:18. “You shall love 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.”

Jesus approved of this summary of the Law - love for God and love for your neighbor - describing the two portions of the Ten Commandments. Jesus had given almost exactly the same answer when asked in Mark 12 what were the greatest commandments. So, Jesus said to the lawyer, “You have answered correctly. Keep on doing this, and you will live.”

The lawyer knew, however, that it was not as simple as that. For he and other experts in the Law had come up with 613 commandments from the book of Moses. 365 were negative - what you shouldn’t do - and 248 were positive - what you should do. Much time and thought were spent on evaluating the relative significance of these laws. Much arguing was also done about them and what they meant, and many were taken far beyond simple Scripture.

The lawyer seems to realize this and that no one could realistically keep all these 613 commandments. And there was the word “all.” Who could really love the Lord with all his heart and mind and soul and strength and do it all the time - and love his neighbor all the time, too? For Jesus had used a “present tense” as he spoke, which in the Greek means “Keep on doing the law, and doing it all the time."

The lawyer, therefore, tries to “justify himself” because even he knows, deep down, that he cannot live up to his own Jewish standards that he and others taught. So, he asks, “And who is my neighbor?” (If your neighbor is only certain select people, maybe you could love and help them, but not everybody.)

Jesus goes on, then, to tell his famous parable of the Good Samaritan. (And remember, as we heard a few weeks ago, that Jews and Samaritans hated each other, and John 4:9 says, “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”) In the parable, a man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and was in an isolated area, where robbers came and beat him and stole everything he had, including his clothes, and left him half-dead. (We know of robberies and violence today, but these were common in the ancient world, too, with sinners in a sinful world. Many people were also very poor, and even one set of clothes was worth stealing.)

A Jewish priest and a Jewish Levite came by and saw the man lying there, but passed by on the other side. They certainly knew basic Jewish law, like “Love your neighbor,” because they served at the Temple in Jerusalem, at least at times. But you can imagine the excuses they may have made. Maybe the man was faking it and would hurt them. Maybe there were robbers still around who might beat them up, too. If the man was leaking bodily fluids, he could make them ritually unclean. If the man would die, while they helped him, that would make them unclean in another way, and they could make others unclean, too. (In other words, some laws contradicted other laws and went far beyond Scripture, especially in helping a neighbor, as in this case. It might be better to pass by than to stop and help.)

Then Jesus introduces the Good Samaritan into the story. And note right away that at the end of the story, Jesus has changed the lawyer’s question. It is not, “Who is my neighbor?” - allowing us to eliminate a bunch of people we don’t think are our neighbors. Instead, Jesus asks, “Which of the three - the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan - proved to be a real neighbor to others?” The lawyer didn’t even want to mention the name, Samaritan, but he had to admit that it was the One who showed mercy to the very needy man. He, the Good Samaritan, was the real neighbor. And then Jesus repeated his earlier message to the lawyer, “Now, you keep on going and doing likewise.”

This left the lawyer right where he was before. He knew, deep down, that he could not keep all the 613 Jewish laws all the time, and he knew that he had not always been the neighbor he should have been. He could not do enough to inherit eternal life by his own efforts, and he couldn’t justify himself for his sins and failings. He was in trouble, as we all are, if left on our own. For Jesus had taught earlier, in His Sermon on the Mount: if you want to earn your way to heaven, by your own efforts, “you, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

None of us can do that. Think even of the great Christian leader, Paul. He wrote, “What a wretched man I am!… I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…  I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out…” (Romans 7:15-24).

But Jesus Himself could do what none of us can do, and was picturing Himself as the Good Samaritan, who came into this world to rescue us from our greatest problem, the problem of sin and our failure to do God’s will, all too often. We weren’t just half-dead, as the man in the Good Samaritan parable was described. We were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-3), but Christ, being rich in His mercy and compassion for us, like the Good Samaritan, made us alive spiritually by His saving work and grace, His undeserved love and help for us.

Jesus came into this world to live the perfect life we all fail to live. He suffered and died in our place, on the cross, paying the penalty our sins deserved. And He rose in victory, conquering the power of death and earning for us the gift of eternal life.

The man left for dead in the parable could only receive what was provided for him, trusting that it would be enough, and being grateful and thankful for what was done on his behalf by the Good Samaritan. And this was not, as some churches and groups say, a kind of Head Start program, with some initial grace given to us in our baptism, and now we must merit additional grace and gifts and finally earn a spot in eternal life in heaven, if possible. No, the Scriptures say, “By God’s grace you have been saved, by faith, and even that faith is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus" - and then we can do some good in loving work God prepares us to do. But the saving work has already been done for us, in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Listen again to the words of our Epistle lesson for today, in Colossians 1:12-14: “Give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” It is not like the Indy 500, where the racers have to qualify themselves, and if they do, then they can try to win the race by their best efforts. No, Paul says, “The Father has delivered us from the domain of darkness (apart from God) and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.” And in that beloved Son, our Lord Jesus, “we have redemption” (the price has been paid for us) and “we have the forgiveness of our sins.”

Our Lutheran doctrinal writings put it this way. “It is the unanimous confession of our churches according to the Word of God… that we poor sinners are justified before God and saved solely by faith in Christ, so that Christ alone is our righteousness…"

We also believe, teach, and confess that, although the genuinely believing and truly regenerated persons retain much weakness and many shortcomings down to their graves (as we and Paul have to confess), they still have no reason to doubt either the righteousness which is reckoned (counted) to them through faith. or the salvation of their souls, but they must regard it as certain that for Christ’s sake, on the basis of the promises and the Word of the Holy Gospel, they have a gracious God” who loves and forgives them.”

“The Biblical doctrine of the church is built upon the central doctrine of justification by grace through faith, so that it stands or falls with that doctrine.” The wrong question is “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The right response is: “May I always rejoice, by God’s grace, in what Christ has perfectly and completely done for me, as my Savior.” Amen

Let us pray: “Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they are safe, in Christ Jesus, our Savior.” Amen. (Philippians 4:7)