Sermon for Trinity 13. The Scripture readings are 2 Chronicles 28:8-15; Galatians 3:15-22; and Luke 10:23-37.

Jesus is the Good Samaritan who saves us. It is true that Jesus calls us to go and do likewise (Lk. 10:37). We are to be like Jesus. Christians are to be little Christs who have compassion on their neighbor because Christ has had mercy upon us. Because we have been rescued by Jesus’ mercy and compassion, we have been made to be inheritors of eternal life and children of God. This means Jesus’ call to, “Go and do likewise,” is an invitation for us to imitate Him because children are like their father.

God shapes our love through two things: first, through the Ten Commandments, and second, by our relationship to the neighbor that God puts in our life in at any given moment.

The English word ‘neighbor’ comes from the old word ‘nigh’ or modernized, ‘near.’ And it’s the same Greek word used here. It means the one who is near to you. So when God puts someone near to you, that is your neighbor. The priest and Levite in the parable come across the guy in the ditch and they un-neighbor him by crossing by on the other side of the road. They think, “God has put this guy in my life, but I don’t want to serve him. Everybody is my neighbor, so I’m going to go serve them.” That’s sinful. Your neighbor is the person that God puts in your life – whether you like it or not.

So, serve the one God has drawn nigh to you. Let God’s Commands and God’s placing of people in your life shape your love.

Again, Jesus is the Good Samaritan who proved to be a neighbor to you. Your desperate need shaped His love for you. Because He is God, you weren’t His neighbor, but He chose to become your neighbor. The eternal, infinite Son of God took on your flesh to be ‘nigh’ to you. Out of pure compassion, He saw you in the ditch, dead in sin. He chose to become your neighbor, and your sinful condition shaped His love for you.

That love took the shape of Him going to the cross. He was stripped, beaten, and under the wrath of God that you deserved because of your sin. His love was shaped so that He died for you and was buried in a grave. And now, He lives and reigns to all eternity. And you, raised with Him, live as well.