금년 설교 | 지난설교

말씀: 구 학관 목사 (Pastor Hakan Kuh)

Go and Love like the Samaritan! (Lk 10:37)

Introduction

Yesterday, we kicked off this year’s Saturday Evangelism Drive. On four consecutive Saturdays, we will meet in the church for the 6:00 a.m. sunrise service. We will meditate on the Word of God that deals with evangelism, pray, and spend the rest of the day, or whatever chunk of time we can carve out, meeting with people who do not know Christ or do not yet have a home church. We chose Saturdays for our outreach, simply because most people do not work on Saturdays. But it doesn’t have to be. It can be any weekday or even the Lord’s Day. What is important is to devote one day out of a week to reaching out to somebody. I pray that all of you will participate in this collective effort to extend the kingdom of God.

For the last several weeks, while thinking about the messages to preach, I have been asking myself these questions: why aren’t we good at reaching out to the lost? What do we need most to become effective evangelists? I was searching through the New Testament for some answers, when the Lord showed me several key passages that seem to address some of the fundamental problems underlying our inaptitude in evangelism. Last Lord’s Day, we meditated on one of them, Mt. 9:35-38, which is a summary account of Jesus’ own outreach ministry. I focused my attention on v. 36, which says: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. My sermon title was: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. My main message was: in order to become effective evangelists, we need first and foremost to have compassion on the lost. And my prayer was: Lord, please give us a compassionate heart for the lost! Let our hearts break when we see sheep without a shepherd.

Today, we are going to meditate on another key passage on evangelism. This passage is well known to us, thanks to the story of the Good Samaritan that it contains. At first blush, it does not seem to have much to do with evangelism, but it does on a deeper level. For the story of the Good Samaritan best illustrates what Christian love is all about, and it is exactly this kind of radical Christian love that is most effective in attracting people to Christ.

Main Body

Jesus’ story begins with a man who walks along the winding, desolate road from Jerusalem to Jericho. He falls into the hands of robbers. The robbers beat him, take everything from him, and go away, leaving him almost dead.

Then a priest comes along the same road. He seems to be heading home after performing his duty in the Jerusalem temple. The priest sees the man and “passes by on the other side”. Some time later, a Levite comes. He also sees the man and “passes by on the other side.” Why do the priest and the Levite see the man and “pass by on the other side”? To give them the benefit of doubt, that’s probably because they are faithful followers of the purity laws, which prohibit touching a corpse, as it will contaminate them.

Now a third person comes along the same road. People listening to Jesus’ story, mostly peasants, expect him to belong to a different class, different from the class of a priest or a Levite. They expect him not to “pass by on the other side” but to rescue the fellow Jew who has been robbed. They expect the story to be a scathing criticism of the hypocrisy of the callous religious leaders. And they expect the hero of the story to turn out be an ordinary Jew who shows compassion on the victim of robbery.

But Jesus flips their expectations upside-down. True, the third person is not a priest or a Levite. True, the third person does rescue the poor Jew who is dying. But the hero is not a Jew, but a Samaritan! The audience is stunned. They are appalled! A deadening silence flows through the audience. How could this be? That’s impossible! (x2) This must be the most shocking, the most humiliating, story the Jews have ever heard!

You might ask: Why is a Samaritan so shocking? After all, Samaritans are Jews’ half-brothers, aren’t they? The Samaritan hero was shocking, because Jews hated Samaritans, hated them even more than the Roman occupiers of the Holy Land. There were many reasons. To begin with, Samaritans were descendents of mixed marriages between Jews and gentiles, and gentiles were by definition “unclean” people; in other words, Samaritans were half-breed bastards. They also frequently attacked Galilean Jews passing through Samaria. More importantly, Samaritans had their own version of the books of Moses, had their own temple on Mt. Gerizim, and even claimed that their temple was the true place of worship! (John 4) What a blasphemy!! To finish it off, when Jesus was about 12 years old, they even sneaked into the Jerusalem temple at night and scattered human bones all over the sanctuary. That was the last straw!

For these reasons, Jews did not just hate but despised Samaritans; they were sub-human. Devout Jews would not have anything to do with them; they did not eat, they did not use, and they did not even touch, what Samaritans made, because they were defiled, disgusting. Naturally, Samaritans also hated Jews. It was because of this mutual hatred that Samaritans refused to give Jesus and his disciples lodging when they were passing through Samaria on their way to Jerusalem and that, in response, James and John were going to call fire down from heaven to destroy them (Lk 9:54) To Jews, Samaritans were thoroughly corrupt, completely polluted, and utterly contemptible. It was in light of their utter contempt toward Samaritans that the Jewish religious leaders called Jesus a Samaritan.

But in Jesus’ story, it was a corrupt Samaritan, not a self-righteous Jew, who had pity on the man who was robbed and got off of his donkey. It was a polluted Samaritan, not a holy priest, who went to him, bandaged his wounds, and poured on oil and wine, the ointment and antiseptic of the day. It was a contemptible Samaritan, not a godly Levite, who put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. It was a half-breed bastard Samaritan who gave two silver coins to the innkeeper, asked him to take care of him while he was gone, and promised to pay any extra expense that might incur when he comes back.

After telling the story, Jesus asks the Jewish expert in the law: Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who was robbed? The Jewish lawyer grudgingly admits: The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus tells him: Go and do likewise. Translation: Go and love like the Samaritan, whom you Jews despise! The story of the Good Samaritan was the most humiliating story the Jews had to listen to.

Jesus’ story teaches us many important lessons. It teaches us how we are saved: the lawyer’s initial question that led to this story was What must I do to inherit eternal life? The story also teaches us who our neighbor is: it was Jesus’ answer to the lawyer’s question: Who is my neighbor? But its most important lesson is about love; what love in the kingdom of God is all about. It is a story about what it means to love somebody, as children of God. What does Jesus want us to learn about love? From the Good Samaritan, I believe, we can learn at least three decidedly distinct characteristics of Jesus love, Christian love.

The first characteristic of Jesus love, Christian love, is that it is indiscriminate. The Good Samaritan probably knew that the person that he saw was a Jew, the archenemy of Samaritans, but he did not hesitate to help him, because what mattered to him was not his ethnic identity but his desperate need for help. Unlike most of us, the Samaritan did not sort people, according to their race, sex, age, social standing, etc. Unlike the lawyer, he didn’t put people into boxes like “neighbors” and “enemies.” Jesus love does not discriminate.

The second characteristic of Jesus love, Christian love, is that it is costly. Jesus love costs time. Stopping and doing the first-aid on the victim, and walking, instead of riding a donkey, all the way to an inn must have taken a significant chunk of time out of the merchant’s busy business schedule. Jesus love costs money, too. The Samaritan had to pay the innkeeper two silver coins, which is by no means a small amount, as it is worth two full days’ wage for a common laborer. In addition, he gave the inn-keeper a “blank check” for any additional costs. Jesus love may cost reputation as well. What would happen when word gets back to the Samaritan’s hometown that he aided a Jew? He would be labeled a traitor, people would ridicule him, and his reputation and social status could be tarnished severely. Jesus love may even cost life. The Samaritan could have been robbed and beaten, just like the victim, as the robbers could have been hiding nearby, waiting to pounce on anyone who would offer help. By dismounting his donkey and by walking alongside the victim, he was putting his own life on the line. Jesus love is costly, but it saves.

The third characteristic of Jesus love is that it is non-reciprocal. The Samaritan did not render his help after he had determined the man’s ability to pay back his favor. Unlike most of us, who love only those who would love us back, he loved the man even though he was fully aware that he might not see him again. Jesus love expects nothing in return.

Jesus love is radically different from the love of the world, which is discriminate, cheap, and both-ways. And Jesus, who told the lawyer to go and do likewise, is now telling us the same thing: go and do likewise. (x2) Do we, as individual Christians, love people like the Samaritan? Do we, as the church, love people with Jesus love? Do people see a radical difference between the way we love and the way they love?

Why is it that people do not respond to our message of Jesus’ love for the world? Why don’t we see people rushing to the church, as they did in the 1st century, even in the midst of persecutions? We might blame a more wicked generation. We might blame a more wicked time. We might blame many other things. But the biggest blame, I believe, must be put on us: the absence of Jesus love in us, both as individuals and as the church. The reason that people don’t respond to our message of Jesus’ love is simply because they do not see Jesus love in us. Period.

What we really need for effective evangelism is not a new strategy or methodology. I repeat. What we need for effective evangelism most urgently, and most fundamentally, is NOT a new strategy or methodology, but a serious self-reflection. We need to inspect our hearts honestly, we need to monitor our mouths diligently, and we need to examine our actions thoroughly. And ask these questions: Do we exemplify Jesus love, in our hearts, from our mouths, and through our actions? Who are we more like? Are we more like the priest and the Levite? Or are we more like the Samaritan?

We need to be constantly reminded of Jesus’ teaching on love in Mt. 5:46-47. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? From now on, our love should be indiscriminate, indiscriminate enough to love the unlovable, to love even an enemy. We should also constantly remember Jesus’ advice to the rich young ruler in Mt 19:21 and 23. Go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven… It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. From now on, our love should also be costly, costly enough to be willing to put down the cravings of sinful man, the lust of our eyes, and the boasting of what we have and do and to change our lifestyle. We should also diligently heed Jesus’ admonition on our party invitation in Luke 14:13-14. When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Because they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous. Our love should also be non-reciprocal; we should be able to love, not as a program or activity but as a life, the poor, the widowed, the orphaned, the sick, and the incarcerated… and the least and the last and the lost, those who cannot pay us back. Our love (= Christian love, Jesus love) should transcend the love of the world in its scope, cost, and direction.

Conclusion

Sadly, history is repeated. Even today, we godly Christians live just like the lawyer and the priest and the Levite in Jesus’ story. We serve the Lord mightily in and around the church, but when we see people hurting and dying on our way back home, we pass by on the other side. Even today, it is those ungodly Christians who show compassion on people. It was NOT a coincidence that those who loved Jesus and supported his ministry were invariably the religious outcasts, like Mary Magdalene, who had been possessed by seven demons. It was NOT a coincidence that the first missionary who went back to her hometown to witness to Jesus was a Samaritan(!) woman who had five husbands. Nor was it an accident that the woman who broke the expensive alabaster jar of perfume and poured it on Jesus was a woman with a bad moral reputation. Why is it that it is not the godly but the ungodly that show Jesus love?

Today the Lord exhorts us to go and do likewise, i.e., go and love like the Samaritan. He exhorts us to stop living like the lawyer or the priest or the Levite, who might have had an extensive knowledge of the Bible but had no life of love, but start living like the Samaritan who, despite his little, even twisted, knowledge of the Bible, loved people, even his enemy. He exhorts us to quit going through the religious motions and start actually loving people, with Jesus love, with that indiscriminate, costly love that expects nothing in return. He exhorts us to be transformed into a loving people before proclaiming the love of God. He exhorts us to endeavor to build a genuine kingdom of God in our own church, first, before proclaiming the kingdom of God.

It is my prayer that as we take Jesus’ command to the lawyer into our hearts and begin to love like the Samaritan, both as individuals and as the church, not from tomorrow or next week, but from today, everybody around us will see the love of Jesus, in us and in our church, and come to the Lord in droves and get saved. Amen.