In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, my dear brothers and sisters,
strange as it may seem, some of us outside, a
few of us inside, I apologize for that. There's
a sadness in that, but it's a necessity. I think
we all know that, too. most well -known of the
parables of Jesus Christ, even inspires a law
in almost every state in the United States, the
so -called Good Samaritan Law. That law states
that when a person renders emergency aid and
acts in good faith without expecting any compensation,
that person won't be held liable for their acts
of omission. You stop on the highway or you stop
on the sidewalk, somebody's hurt, and you help
them. Just because you're not a doctor, you're
not going to get sued. You help someone in need,
you won't be accused of some negligence, in other
words, in what you just did. But I wonder how
many in government realize the origination of
the name of... this law the good samaritan law
and actually uh the regulations having to do
it that are kind of backwards according to the
gospel we're directed to read this gospel as
we begin or just before we begin today we actually
begin the nativity fast this is a very beautiful
bright time even though the days The night comes
earlier. There's something bright and joyful
about this fast. So we have this incredible story
which gives us a direction about how we're going
to keep the Christmas fast. So we have 40 more
days. Forget the shopping part. 40 more days
to pray. 40 more days to worship. 40 more days
to give alms until Christmas. You've heard an
explanation of the parable of the Good Samaritan
dozens of times. Every year, in fact, one of
us stands up here and tries to say something
about it. So I'm just going to summarize very
briefly for you. Jesus has a conversation with
a Jewish scriptural scholar. He's called a lawyer.
in the authorized version of the Bible. He's
not a lawyer like what we think an attorney.
No, he's an expert in the law of Moses. And the
man comes and wants to trip up Jesus to win a
religious argument because things are heating
up between Jesus and the authorities. It's already
Luke chapter 10 and things are going very bad
already. Questions are asked. What do I need
to do to have eternal life? Seems like a good
question. Jesus says, well, you're the scriptural
scholar. What does it say? The man quotes Deuteronomy
6, I think it is. And Leviticus 19. And then
the lawyer makes a lawyer mistake. And he asks
a question to which he does not really know the
answer. He wants to justify himself. He wants
to prove himself superior. He says, oh, and who
is my neighbor? Let's clarify this, Jesus. It
can't possibly be the Samaritans or the Romans.
You see, Jesus would get in big trouble if he
started promoting something like that. They are
unclean and they're violent towards us. Let's
clarify this point. So Jesus tells the parable,
you know it. A certain man. A certain man went
down from the holy city of Jerusalem. And he
went down to Jericho. What little geography helps.
Jerusalem is 2 ,400 feet above sea level. So
going down is really truly going down to the
900 feet below sea level of Jericho. But this
is not geography. This is a descent from God.
This is a descent away from holiness. This is
a descent into sin. And what happens when we
sin? It's relative, but we usually get beat up.
All of us, in our way, retrace those steps and
fall victim to spiritual robbers. And when we
get beat up, no one's going to care for us but
Jesus. This is the compassion of our Lord. Christ
is the Samaritan for us. So no, the parable is
not essentially about doing good works during
the nativity season. Checking off the boxes so
that God will owe me and I can get to go to heaven.
Let's not reduce the Lord's words to be a good
person. Do some good works and you'll be saved.
Didn't we just hear from St. Paul, By grace you
have been saved by faith, and that not of yourself.
It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone
should boast. At the end of our story, our Savior
says, Indeed, go and do likewise. But go and
do likewise what? Any good work done for the
sake of Christ, says St. Seraphim, is for our
salvation and brings the grace of God to us and
to the person. Any good work done just for ourself
brings no grace of God. When we have had the
experience in our Christian life of being rescued
by the love of God, of being able to repent and
to confess and to be forgiven, to be baptized
and clothed in the white garment and given the
oil of the Holy Spirit and the wine of the body
and blood of Christ and cared for by our Savior.
We can then become like a Samaritan too, like
Christ, to show mercy. Didn't we just hear also?
God, who is rich in mercy because of his great
love with which he loved us, even when we were
dead in trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ. By grace you have been saved. Raised
us up together with Christ. Made us sit together
with Christ in the heavenly places. Here's how
I boil this down in my mind. These words of Elder
Joseph, who died in 1959, St. Joseph the Hesychast
of the Holy Mountain. When grace is energized
in the heart of a person who prays, and prays
simply, then the love of God floods his entire
being to such an extent that he may not be able
to take more. Then this love is transferred to
the love of the world. and the human person.
His love becomes so powerful that he suffers
with those who are suffering, even the suffering
of animals, so much so that he sheds bitter tears
when he becomes aware of anyone's pain. For we
are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
for good works. which God prepared beforehand
that we should walk in them. Yes, this is beyond
us. This is not how we love God with all our
heart, all our strength, our soul, our mind.
We are weak in that. And no, we don't love our
neighbor as we love ourselves. But here we have
the goal for us set for the Christmas fast. We're
going to leave today from the church and go our
way, and we'll meet more than one person, perhaps
today, certainly during the course of the week.
Can we love that person the way it's described
in this gospel, the way Christ has taught us?
Or will we pass by because of dangers, because
of COVID, because of fear? No, God will equip
us to do what we need to do, as simple and as
humble as it might be. Because the Lord knows
our capabilities. He knows our limits. He knows
the blessings he's given us. Maybe we won't reach
that level of love. But let's think of this parable
as an itinerary for the Advent season. The coming.
The coming of the Lord. The coming of Christmas.
The coming of salvation. The coming of the second
glorious coming and judgment. And the resurrection.
Here's our spiritual agenda. Here's our outline.
Let's act upon that as we journey, not to Jericho,
but to Bethlehem. Amen.