Good Samaritan 2025

Glory to Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I'm grateful to God for gathering us together,

for assembling us. I'm grateful to God for this

marvelous parable that the Lord told that man

that was trying to trip him up on a legality.

religious legality such a well -known parable

you know there's even a law in some states called

the good samaritan law in which following which

you must stop to help somebody that is in distress

but beyond that further the church gives us this

parable in her wisdom providentially it's recorded

in chapter 10 of the gospel of luke We're given

it at the beginning of the fast for Christmas.

I think it helps us examine our love for God,

our love for our neighbor. You heard the Lord.

What is the greatest commandment? The man answered

this, do it. Do it. The story is, of course,

about love for our neighbor. It is about... but

not only, about doing a good deed for a person

in need. We're Christians, of course we do that.

For we are God's handiwork, says St. Paul. We're

created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Not

to just keep the joy to ourself. No, we're to

be outwardly. View outwardly, not always just

inwardly. And God has prepared us for this, it

says, for us to do those good works. He has prepared

us. He equips us to do it. So let's not be afraid.

But the parable is more than doing good works.

The good Samaritan cares for this man from Jerusalem

who is dying and who hates the Samaritan. He

hates him. He despises him. He's prejudiced in

every way against him. Samaritan and Jew, they

were at enmity. They hated each other. There's

no need to go into Bible study questions about

this. Now, why that is, they did. Leave it there.

So yes, good deeds are a part of the story, but

deeds, works of mercy, also for those who hate

us and for whom we might not feel any warmth

for. Because you know what the Lord says, not

just love your neighbor, which we tend to take

as ignore your neighbor as much as possible.

And if he irritates you, then bring it to confession

and wonder why you don't love him. I mean, that's

the way I am. But love your enemies, bless them

that curse you. How? How are we to love our enemy?

By feeling good about it? No, because love in

this instance, this kind of agape love, the kind

of love that Christ shows us on the cross is

not about how we feel. It's about what we do.

And the Lord tells us how to love our enemy.

It's very simple. He gives us one short phrase.

Do good. That's it. Do good. You may not feel

good, but do good to those who hate you. Pray

for them which despitefully use you and persecute

you. This is the call for the Christian. Why?

That you may be the children. Of your father.

Which is in heaven. Children. Following God.

Like God. And we're invited. We're called. We're

equipped to do godly deeds. That's the story.

Like Christ. Even for those that hate Christ.

This gospel. The fast are calling me to reorientate.

My love away from myself. To recalibrate. And

revitalize it. with the three pillars of the

fast. To fast, to pray, and to do alms. The gospel

is calling me to do that. But how am I to do

this? It's against my nature. It's not something

I am naturally inclined to do. Perhaps we should

for a moment just consider that maybe Let us

see ourselves not as the good Samaritan, the

one who's doing good on the road, the guy that

has the flat tire, or for the woman in need in

the parking lot or at the store. Maybe we're

not the good Samaritan here. Maybe we're the

man that went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

And we heard St. Paul's words today, and that

changes our perspective. He said, God, God who

is rich in mercy. You know, we may be sinners

and not worthy to stand before the Lord, but

we are precious before him, each one of us. God

who is rich in mercy because of his great love

with which he loved us, even when we were dead

in trespasses, hadn't done a thing good, not

a thing. He still loves us, made us alive together

with Christ. What St. Paul says here is what

the parable describes. We're dead in trespasses.

We have been made alive. The parable says a man

went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jerusalem

is 2 ,500 feet above sea level. That height implies

holiness. It implies the mountain of God, the

place of goodness, peace, the city of peace.

It may not be that in reality. But in the story,

that's what it means. It implies the kingdom

of God. And Jericho, you don't have to raise

your hands, but who's been to the Holy Land?

Jericho is 950 feet below sea level. Way down

there near the Dead Sea. And that depth, along

with what we read in the book of Joshua, implies

a place of sin, a place of forgetfulness, a place

of shameful and harmful things. And the way from

Jerusalem to Jericho is fraught with dangers,

with demons, with sinful things. And the man

is beat up and left for dead, naked. He's lost

his clothes. He's lost everything. It's like

what St. Paul says. We were dead in our sins,

yet he made us alive. What do I mean? What I

mean is that when the parable says the Samaritan

brought the wounded man to the inn, a special

place, it means for me that I was brought to

the church, the inn, which is his body. I was

baptized. I was clothed. I was healed. I'm in

the process of being healed. I received the power

of the cross of Christ within me. I received

communion. I received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And we have the forgiveness of sins. The inn

in the story, my friends, is a key point. For

us, it means the church. It means a place of

healing. That's to say, it's the church. The

mystical. Divine reality. The body of Christ.

Not just a human organization which has institutions.

No. It's the assembly of God. It's the people

of God. Bless ye God and the churches we hear

at Pascha. The Lord from the wellsprings of Israel.

The church. The church is the renewal of all

of that. the wellsprings of Israel. It's the

assembly that God called from the beginning when

he called Abraham. And then it grows into this

amazing and wonderful and beautiful organism,

the body of Christ, which we become members on

Pentecost, of which we each have shared. And

we see the spiritual medicine given to us. In

so many different ways. Which we cannot acquire

anywhere else. Anywhere else, not by our own

merit, that's for sure. Not by my so -called

virtues or that I am a good person. As if that's

going to save me from anything. What did we hear

Jesus say? When the Pharisees said to his disciples,

your teacher, he's eating with sinful people.

Of course, these sinful people change and become

saints. They don't stay sinful once they're with

Christ. Jesus said, those who are well have no

need of a physician, but those who are sick.

But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy,

not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous

so -called righteous. but sinners to repentance.

This is what we receive in the church. Can we

identify ourselves as that man in the ditch?

Because if we can't, we won't receive healing.

Can we see ourselves as broken and wounded and

need of all this glorious medicine? If we can,

We will be lifted up. We will become saints.

And it happens in the church. Not just in any

place. No. The church founded by Christ and the

apostles. And continues even to this day. Here

in Santa Rosa. In this place. And in all over

the world. And St. John of Kronstadt tells us

how important that is. He says the church is

one and the same with the Lord. His body. His

flesh, his bones. The church is the living vine,

nourished by him, growing in him. Never think

of the church apart from Jesus Christ, from the

Father and the Holy Spirit. This is a weakness

in our own time. People feel like, well, the

church has these rules, a lot I don't agree with,

and they're obsolete, and I know so much better.

The church gives us the wisdom, To the path of

holiness. We can accept it and walk that way.

We can reject some things we don't like. And

we will never know. We'll never know. The end

of the parable of the church. Finally, it's where

I can safely entrust my life, my whole life to

Christ. Unsuccessful and sinful as it is. Because

I know I'm precious before God. Here in the church,

the inn, we can walk in repentance, which is

to change the way I live, the way I think, and

have my being. I can stop trusting. I can stop

trusting in my own individuality. I'm safe here.

This is why we are in the church, the new creation,

the renewal of the covenant, where you and I

exist as someone who can love. And someone who

is loved. Loved by the saints who give each one

of us a name. They know you, brothers and sisters.

The saints know you. We have to extend a little

bit of ourselves to know them. And then, then,

like the good Samaritan, we learn how to love

others despite their sinfulness. We learn to

measure up to the love of Christ and the saints

and to do good even to those that hate us. Then

it becomes possible to fulfill this commandment.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your

heart, with all your soul, with all your strength,

with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.

May the Lord bless us during this time of the

fast and grant us the healing so that we can

do that. Amen.