The Good Samaritan 2020 Fr. Lawrence Margitich

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

Luke 10 · chapter mention

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.