Text: Luke 10: 24-37

Before you meet Sam I want you to meet Wes. Maybe you’ve already met Wes or someone like him. Three years ago, Wes was standing on a subway platform in New York City waiting for a train with his two young daughters. Suddenly a man on the platform suffered a seizure, falling onto the subway tracks just as an approaching train appeared.  Without thought for himself, Wes jumped onto the tracks to rescue the man. He realized immediately that the train was coming too fast and there wasn't time to pull the man off the tracks. So Wesley pressed the man into the hollowed-out space between the rails and spread his own body over him to protect him as the train passed over the two of them. The train cleared Wesley by mere inches, coming close enough to leave grease marks on his knit cap. When the train came to a halt, Wesley called up to the frightened onlookers on the platform. “There are two little girls up there. Let them know their daddy is okay.”

Immediately Wesley Autrey became a national hero. People were deeply moved by his bravery. A human being was in desperate need. Wes saw the man in need and moved with compassion, saved him.  You may remember Wes from President Bush’s State of the Union address in 2007.  All the media dubbed him “The Subway Superman” with one exception which had a biblical way to describe his heroics. Their headline read "Good Samaritan Saves Man on Subway Tracks."[1]

Wesley Autrey was indeed a Good Samaritan. When I heard his story, I wondered what causes someone to react in such a manner. What does it take to respond automatically to someone who is in need, to have such compassion that you want to save someone?  The answer comes from the parable of the Good Samaritan. The parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the most famous stories in the Bible. At the very least it’s the only parable of Jesus that has been commercialized into a club that offers discounts and benefits to over a million RVer members.  There are hospitals all over the United States named for this parable.  Billy Graham’s son, Franklin Graham started a humanitarian relief organization named Samaritan’s Purse. Many may not be able to accurately retell the parable or know the context with which Jesus offers it, but most know what a Good Samaritan is. A Good Samaritan is someone who acts spontaneously, responds compassionately to a need, without thought of personal sacrifice or reward.  

Wesley Autrey was indeed a Good Samaritan and as his story was reported, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “If I’d been there, would I have responded the way Wes responded?  It’s a good question and one which you are asked to consider when you meet Sam. In fact, most people think that is the reason Jesus tells his story so that we ask ourselves a questions about compassion and mercy.  Am I willing, when the circumstances arise, to be a Good Samaritan?  If I see a stranger in need, lying in a ditch or in a dangerous position, will I put myself at risk in order to help? Am I a Good Samaritan? If the answer is in the story, then let’s look at what it says.[2]

The passage begins with two words which need investigation, “just then” (Luke 10:25a).   Most of the time, we are so eager to get to the story that we jump over those two words and when we do, we lose the context of the story. It’s like going to a play that doesn’t have costumes or scenes sets. Clearly, someone thing is missing and you might not understand the play because there isn’t a context in which to set the dialog.

“Just then” connects with the beginning of the tenth chapter of Luke when Jesus commissions 70 followers to go into the mission field.  He sends them off in pairs with no extra provisions or clothing. They are to live off the generosity of the communities to whom they witness. It is an experiment of unknown proportion for the disciples are unaware that they are missionaries in training and they will soon be called upon to build the church. Off they go into this mission experiment only to return with glowing reports of success.  “The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name, even the demons submit to us!’” (Luke 10: 17). There is back slapping and prayers of thanksgiving and Jesus blesses the disciples for their successful work. Then comes, “Just then.” “Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus…” (Luke 10: 25a)

When we hear the term lawyer, we think of someone who works in the judicial system.  The modern word as we use it in America carries a highly secular image of courts and defense, of Perry Mason or Sam Waterson or Alicia Florrick. But this biblical lawyer is not an expert of the law of the state or the Roman Empire but rather, he is an expert on the laws of God.   You need to think more of a religious scholar, of someone who is committed to serving the spiritual lives of others.  And despite the overwhelming success of the 70 missionaries and the growing popularity of Jesus’ ministry, he evidently did not like Jesus' message. So he clears his voice, raises his hand and interrupts the celebrating, asking questions that will expose a weakness in Jesus’ teaching and impugn the good work that was going on. “‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” (Luke 10: 25b)

“You’re the lawyer,” Jesus says.  “What does the law say?”  I think that there was probably a hint of irritation in Jesus’ voice. He can sense this isn’t a sincere and honest question because the lawyer knows the answer in advance.  The lawyer quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, The Shema “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). This isn’t a brilliant legal opinion. It is something that any child would know, one of the first passages learned at Shabbat school.  “That’s right,” Jesus says. But this is a test and it’s not a fill in the blank quiz. It’s an essay exam. The lawyer’s not going to let Jesus off easily as he is after all, trying to discredit Jesus. So he asks, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29b).

In response, Jesus tells a story about Sam and a man traveling down the road to Jericho. Jericho was located just off the Jordan River about a day’s walk from Jerusalem. It was one of the oldest cities in the world at the time with archeological ruins dating to 8,500 B.C.  Jesus heals Bartimeaus at Jericho and calls Zacchaeus down from the Sycamore tree.  But this story isn’t about Bart or Zach but Sam. 

We don’t know the name of the man traveling down to Jericho but we do know what happens to him. He “fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.” (Luke 10: 30).  This didn’t surprise anyone. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was dangerous. It was unsafe to travel alone. Violence was commonplace.  Jesus was a master at engaging people by telling them stories about real life experience. He invited the lawyer to listen carefully to a familiar story.

Jesus continues with a couple of minor shocks.  “Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.   So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.” (Luke 10: 31-32). While it is easy for us to read into the story, to shake our heads with amazement. We know there is a hero about to walk down the road. But not stopping isn’t as shocking as we might think. In the first century context, there was probably a host of reasons not to stop that would come to the mind, particular the mind of the lawyer. He knows that the priest might become ritualistically defiled by the blood.  He knows that for either man, stopping would place them in grave danger. In fact, it’s not inconceivable that some might have had this very experience and passed by, fearful for their own lives, sure that the bandits were lying in wait. The priest and the Levite not stopping were minor shocks, certainly nothing major, perhaps even sensible or safe.

Now meet Sam. Sam is like Wes. He sees the man lying by the road and is so moved with pity that he immediately jumps down and offers first aid. He doesn’t worry about cost of safety.  He is moved with compassion and had to save him. “Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend’” (Luke 10: 34-35).  Wes just jumped into the subway and protected the man. He didn’t take him to the hospital and pay for his bills. Sam was so moved to compassion that he goes the distance to take care of this poor, beaten man and picks up the price for his healing. 

It is amazing, compassionate and maybe even heroic behavior but for those listening to Jesus, it was shocking that Sam is the hero.  Samaritans and Jews had a long, bitter history of hating each other. A Samaritan was viewed something like we might view a member of Al Qaeda. Jews despised Samaritans. But it is this Samaritan, despised and rejected, who is nevertheless moved with compassion and who tenderly cares for the injured man. Even though they were enemies, he cared for him. As the story ends, Jesus looks the lawyer in the eye and asks, “So who was the neighbor?” The lawyer couldn’t bring himself to say Sam. Instead, he simply says, ‘“The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’” (Luke 10: 35).

There are a lot of people who believe that this story is simply a moral example. If that is the case, then at this point I should say, “Go be like Sam.” But there are two problems with this interpretation. The first is Jesus didn’t tell it that way. Once he introduced the Samaritan in the story, he brought in a completely different dimension. If it was a simple, “Go and do likewise” little story, why complicate it meeting Sam?

The second problem is bigger. Neighbors are one thing; but strangers are altogether something else.  Wes and Sam aside, it is not our nature to forget ourselves and risk everything for someone we don’t know. We are by nature suspicious of people who we don’t know or who don’t look or sound like us. We are tribal, willing to take care of me and mine, or even respond to your neighbor next door. But someone some distance away, someone around the world, someone whose values or beliefs are different, someone that we perceive to be an enemy, that’s another thing altogether.

What causes someone to save a stranger, to be like Sam? Psychologists say it requires something more than a change of mind. It requires a change of heart which comes in meeting a Sam.  Princeton researcher Robert Wuthnow gives an example in his book Caring for Others and Helping Ourselves of why some people are caring and compassionate and others are not.  He offers and an example of a Sam only the man’s name is Jack

Jack Casey grew up in a terrible home, the child of an abusive, alcoholic father. Jack once said, “All my father ever taught me is that I didn’t want to grow up to be like him.” Something happened when he was a child that changed his life and his heart. As a child, he had to have some teeth extracted under general anesthesia. Jack was terrified, but a nurse standing nearby said to him, "Don’t worry, I’ll be here right beside you no matter what happens." When he woke up from the surgery, she had kept her word and was still standing beside him.

This experience of being cared for by the nurse stayed with him, and nearly 20 years later his ambulance crew was called to the scene of an accident. The driver was pinned upside down in his pickup truck. Jack crawled inside to try to get him out. Gasoline was dripping onto both Jack and the driver, and there was a serious danger of fire because power tools were being used to free the driver.  The driver was crying out about how scared of dying he was, and Jack kept saying to him, recalling what the nurse had said so many years before, “Look, don’t worry, I’m right here with you, I’m not going anywhere.”  After the truck driver was safely rescued, he was incredulous. “You were an idiot” he said to Jack. “You know that the thing could have exploded and we’d have both been burned up." Jack said, “I know but I simply couldn’t leave you.      Jack had every reason to become like his father but because Jack met a nurse named Sam he became a Sam. Have you meet Sam? Has anything like that happened to you?

The answer is yes, whether you know it or not because you and I are lying helpless beside the road, broken, dying, in need of someone so filled with compassion and mercy he is willing to sacrifice his own personal safety, maybe even his life to save us. And he did. We have a Good Samaritan who stooped down and sacrificed everything in order that we might be saved, that we might experience healing from our brokenness and live.  You can call him Sam or you can call him Jesus; either way, he’s a Savior.

The question of the day is not “Who’s my neighbor?” The question is, “Do you know your neighbor?” Have you met Sam, the Good Samaritan who was crucified for you? Have you felt his compassion and mercy?  If you’ve met him, if you’ve let him jump down on your tracks, find you lying helpless by the road, stay with you because he can’t possibly leave you…if you’ve met Sam, then you can be Sam.

God in His infinite wisdom sent to us a Good Samaritan that while we were still enemies we might be reconciled by His love. Embrace that truth not just in your head but in your heart and become Sam.