Absolute true story.  When I was a pastor in Phoenix, Arizona, we had  a five o'clock service on Saturday nights, and three services on Sunday.  It was Saturday afternoon, I of course had my sermon prepared, and had been thinking about the text all week long.  Jay was out of town, so I decided I would run over to the grocery store and get myself a roasted chicken and a salad so that dinner would be ready when I came home.  I walked out of Sprouts, the grocery store, was crossing the parking lot, headed to my car, my chicken in one bag, and my salad and a couple other things in the other bag.  About the time I got to my car, a man walked up and said, "Can you help me out with something to eat?"  Without missing a beat I said, "No, I'm sorry."  I knew I had no cash and then as I put my groceries on the seat and shut the back car door I came to.  What are you thinking Gayle, you just put a whole meal in the back of your car! "Excuse me", I yelled out to the man, "Uh, I have a whole chicken here if you would like it."  He came back toward me, "Oh, thank you so much, that would be great, God bless you."  I drove off wondering just what it would take for me to wake up. Here I am, a baptized child of God, an ordained pastor of the church, and oh, it gets better, I was on my way to preach about the parable of the Good Samaritan!  When I preached my sermon that afternoon, I told them about what had just happened. Here was the priest, busy on her way to church, walking by the one who needed help.  Was that man who needed something to eat my neighbor --- I don't know, but clearly, that afternoon, I was invited to be his neighbor, and I almost blew it.  Someone else does not have to prove that they qualify as my neighbor in order to get my attention.  I am called to be a neighbor to all, especially those who are in need.

 Many of us have heard this story from the gospel of Luke so many times that we don't even really hear it any more.  We just think the moral to the story is, be a Good Samaritan, be kind, do good things for people.  Even those words of Jesus to the lawyer, go and do likewise --- seem to sum up the whole point. But let's look again.

The June edition of The Lutheran magazine had a great article about the parables in Luke.  The author, Craig Satterlee who is a professor of homiletics and dean of the preaching program at Lutheran School of Theology says that when we understand that the kingdom of God is God's passion, we find that Jesus' parables are not about us, but about God.  "What if Jesus is doing more than giving us an example of loving our neighbor?  What if Jesus is describing God's love for us, which empowers our love for our neighbors?  Then, surprise: God is the Samaritan, and we are the travelers who end up lying in the ditch."  The Samaritan, the very one who did not belong in that place, the outsider, the despised one that no one trusted, turned out to be the very one who did not ignore the traveler, or kick him when he was down, but instead, bandaged his wounds, put him on his own animal, and took him to safety at an inn where he said, here, whatever he needs, whatever he wants, the bill is on me.

This is what God has done for us --- when we were half dead by the side of the road, we were picked up, given what we needed, and made well.

Jesus told the story in answer to the lawyer's questions about the law.  The lawyer was not exactly like what we think of as a lawyer, he was one who interpreted the Mosaic Law, the law of the Jewish community that governed all that they did.  And so, like many lawyers that we do know, he wanted to get to the fine point of the law, no more, no less.  He knew the law, love the Lord with your heart, soul, mind, and strength - and your neighbor as yourself.  That pretty much covers it.  But no, it says that the lawyer wanted to justify himself.  He wanted to assert himself, somehow make the winning point in the debate, Ah, but who is my neighbor---and then Jesus tells the story, asks who was the neighbor to the man in the ditch, the lawyer responds, the one who showed mercy, and Jesus replies, go and do likewise.

Jesus did a quick reversal on the lawyer, he turned the question from one of legal obligation "Who's my neighbor"---to the question of mercy, and BEING a neighbor to those who need you.

"Go and do likewise" could sound like law --- you must do this, or it could sound like gospel --- you, the ones who have been picked up and healed, the ones who have been given more than you ever deserved by the God who has shown you mercy and love, you can quit trying to justify yourselves, quit trying to find the limits of the law and simply live in love for God and be a neighbor to the one who needs you.

There will be opportunities for you to be a neighbor, some not very large, handing a guy a roasted chicken.  But when we look around this broken world, and if we think of ourselves as neighbor to those who need us, we will notice the orphans in Africa whose families are dying of AIDS, we will notice the people right here who go to bed each night without enough to eat, or the ones whose electricity has been shut off because they did not pay, or the ones who are sleeping in the park because they didn't make the lottery for the shelter that night.  We will notice the lonely person two doors down from us who can't do his own yard work anymore, and just needs a little help and an occasional visit, or the young woman with no husband who is trying to be a decent parent, and hold down a full time job.  We will notice the ones sitting next to us in the pew at church who are grieving, or recently diagnosed with a serious illness, or having trouble with their boss, or going home and drinking too much, or suffering from deep depression.  We will see the ones who are on a journey, who have been beaten down by life and are just sitting by the side of the road, trying to figure out how to move on.  We will notice all of it, and then we will either keep on walking, or cross to the other side, or do what needs to be done.

We could read it as law, we could say, and now, I have to be a neighbor to all.  OR we could read it as gospel, I am the one that God has chosen, I get to be a neighbor, because of what God has done for me.  What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to the lawyer, what is written, how do you read?  Eternal life starts right now, and we are given a picture of what that life could be like if everyone had a neighbor, we are given a picture of how full and rich life might be if we thought from love rather than fear, if we acknowledged that we are justified by God, and quit trying to justify ourselves.  Is it risky?  Yes.  Will there be pitfalls and problems?  Could we get into more trouble than we bargained for?  Yes.  So, how do you read?  Whose neighbor are YOU?

AMEN