Pious Lutheran

  Loving the Unlovable Though our sins put us at enmity with God, He loves us. We are likewise to love others, even if we’re at enmity. In the course of life it’s a common occurrence that we meet people who are very difficult to love. Because we want to think of ourselves as good people who will go to heaven, we try very hard to justify ourselves and our unloving words and actions towards those people. Sometimes we sound a bit like the lawyer, who, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor? ” Because, if he could have a few people excluded from the list of those he has to love, he wouldn’t seem like such a terrible person. Nevertheless, Jesus teaches us a lesson in loving the unlovable. I’m sure you’re all well enough acquainted with the dynamics between Israelites and Samaritans. To put it simply, they hated each other. That enmity between the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel went back centuries! So in the parable when the priest and Levite walked...

Parable of the Good Samaritan,  Jan Wijnants, 1670 Who are God’s people? Intro: God’s people are decided by the heart, not merely by external qualities. History of the two kingdoms. The faithful remnant in Samaria is more faithful than Israel. Let us look to the faith in our hearts more than our external qualities. Today one of my goals for all of us is that by looking at the history of the two kingdoms of Israel and the Samaritans we might better understand the issues with Samaritans in the Gospels in general, and particularly the meaning of the Good Samaritan in today’s parable. Secondly, my bigger overarching goal is that we also ponder the question: who are God’s people? The lawyer asked Jesus: “ Who is my neighbor? ” Or from the Old Testament we might phrase it: “Who is my kinsman?” In other words, as Christians we might ask: “Who are God’s people?” The fact of the matter is that like prefers like. The Israelite lawyer would’ve preferred that his neighbors just be priests and ...

The Good Samaritan , Joseph Highmore, 1744 Faith in God and love towards neighbor Works serve our neighbor and supply the proof that faith is living. Who is my neighbor? How should I treat my neighbor? “ Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? ” As soon as we Lutherans hear those words our spidey senses go off and we go on alert! It’s the wrong question, right?! We cannot do anything to earn our salvation, it’s all a gift! We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone! We can’t merit eternal life! That’s all true. However, did you notice that Jesus doesn’t correct the lawyer about that? He doesn’t rebuke him for work’s righteousness. He doesn’t tell him that he can’t earn his salvation, because that’s not the problem this lawyer has. The lawyer is merely rightly confessing what is written in Deuteronomy and Leviticus. In fact, Jesus Himself says this exact same thing elsewhere: “ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your so...

  In an era devoid of the spiritual, the church of Christ now wanes, yet the church of science and medicine reigns. In this new church our Lord isn’t the Good Physician, but physicians are the lords. Pastors and scriptures are filled with myths and opinions, while doctors and medical journals are filled with facts and truths.  While hospitals are indeed a godly endeavor, as evidenced by today’s parable commanding us to show mercy and the fact that Christians started the first hospitals and funded and ran most of them up until the past century, there is still a greater need than the physical and a greater hospital than the ones filled with needles and beds. St. John Chrysostom preached, saying: “Enter into the church and wash away your sins. For there is a hospital for sinners.” And so, Christ is the Samaritan binding up half-dead sinners in this hospital of the church.  There is a greater malady in this life than can be treated with ordinary medicine. There is a sickness ...

“ What must I do to inherit eternal life? ” How am I saved? That’s the question asked by so many. And for the most part, when people read the parable of the Good Samaritan, they interpret it to mean that if they behave like the Good Samaritan, if they do good to their neighbor, then they will be saved. They hear Jesus’ words, “ do this, and you will live, ” and they truly believe that they will justify themselves through selfless service to their neighbors.  But this parable teaches just the opposite. It’s actually not primarily about us showing mercy to our neighbor so that we may be saved. Instead, Christ is the neighbor to us who shows us mercy so that we may have eternal life. The parables are hard; they’re not easy. Right before the parable begins, Jesus privately said to His disciples, “ Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. ”...

“ And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ” What a silly lawyer! He asked a nonsensical question, asking what he needs to do to inherit something. That’s not how an inheritance works. By its very nature, an inheritance is something given to you which you did not  earn. Someone else did all of the work to earn the treasure, and the person who receives the inheritance simply receives it as a result of the other person’s labors. But this lawyer was convinced that he needed to keep the law in order to receive the inheritance. That’s understandable when you consider the fact that this lawyer was an expert in Jewish Law, he was an expert in interpreting the Old Testament and applying the teachings of various rabbis. Imagine a lawyer who studied not US law, but the scriptures; not the opinions of US judges, but the teachings of Jewish rabbis. As such, this lawyer believed that one received eternal life by followi...