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Two weeks ago I had a speaking gig in our morning service and with the passage of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) as my subject.

Having such a well known story to speak on left me feeling a bit flat - what possibly could I say that hadn’t been said before? Probably nothing, but I knew that these stories are timeless. Perhaps if we took the time to look at it very simply, taking into consideration the context in which it was told and comparing it to our own context, we might glimpse again some of the power of the story.

As it turned out, it had far more power than I had imagined, and confronted me in a way that I did not imagine, calling me to do one of the more difficult things I’ve had to do.

Anyway, the story is first told when Jesus is becoming really well known. People are flocking to hear him and his teaching is striking chords all over the place. In this instance, an expert in the law asks Jesus about what he must do to inherit eternal life. This wasn’t a hostile question, but one often asked in the circles of Judaism because of the Jews concern in getting their observance of the law right.

The Expert replies by appealing to the law, but suspects that there is more to it than this. Trying to justify himself further, he asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbour?” the parable of the Good Samaritan is Jesus’ reply.

You know the story, if you don’t go and read Luke 10:25-37.

The road the guy was walking along wound through rugged terrain. It was easy to be ambushed here and was a common place for robbers to attack. Interestingly, after the attack, the priest and Levite actually do nothing wrong according to Jewish law. The guy looked like he was dead, and touching a dead body was forbidden by the law. It made a person unclean, so the right response was to go into town and send back others to collect the body. The fact that a Samaritan, a man from a race hated by the Jewish people, stopped and picked up the guy probably didn’t shock them that much - the Jews probably expected him to disrespect the law. But Jesus last question contains a sting.

Jesus takes the Experts words and changes them around. No longer is it “Who is my neighbour?”, for Jesus knows as well as the Expert that Judaism has a well established code for who was ‘in’ and ‘out’ in society. Instead Jesus asks, “Who acted as a neighbour?”. The Expert in the Law can’t bring himself to say the word ‘Samaritan’ and so instead says “the one who showed mercy.”

With a final punch, Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.” Those words echo through history from that time until now.

It would be easy to spend time trying to replace the characters in Jesus story with modern day equivalents,. But ‘who’ is in the story is not as important as what they ‘did’. Jesus said, “Go and do….”, and so we need to ask ourselves how we ‘do’ in the same way as the Samaritan. I suggested three things, the last of which left me quivering in my boots.

1. Take the Dangerous Road

We can tend to build up walls around ourselves in an effort to protect ourselves from the influence of the world. Perhaps we are scared that we will loose our faith if we rub shoulders too closely with those that are different. The safe road is easier and more comfortable. We can create our Christian ghetto and send our kids to Christian schools, Christian Uni’s, watch Christian TV, read Christian books, listen to Christian radio, eat meals from the Christian ‘What would Jesus Eat?’ cook book, save our money in Christian investments accounts and sleep soundly knowing that the world has not soiled our faith.

But Jesus calls us to get involved in the messiness of life by taking the dangerous road. “Go into all the world” means exactly that.

2. Don’t Avoid Those on Your Path

Jesus never walked around people that came across his path. He engaged in some way with all of them.

In the community where we live, there are over 20 easily identifiable sub-cultures, many of which we find uncomfortable. Muslims, homosexuals whatever. They all cross our paths at some stage - let’s not walk around them but recognise them as a real, valuable art of our community.

3. Love No Matter What

The Samaritan showed compassion to the beat-up guy without knowing anything about him. It didn’t really seem to matter who he was or what he had done, the Samaritan helped him regardless. As I was preparing this message, at this point I was going to write “We should do the same” when I realised that it had to be “I should do the same.”

You see, my extended family is, well, a little dysfunctional. Maybe a lot. But recently an Uncle of mine had done something that had caused a lot of hurt and pain and added a few more names to an already long trail of broken people. I had thought he had changed, but when this happened, I was stunned. I waited for him to contact me to give me his side of the story, but I heard nothing. I made no attempt to get in touch with him and was happy to let him fade into my history.

Then I heard he had been diagnosed with throat cancer. A lifetime of smoking had finally caught up with him.

I didn’t know if he was going to live or not, but I suddenly felt like I had been one of the biggest idiots in the world. I needed to contact him to firstly apologise, then to ask his forgiveness and then to support him as much as I could. I knew he was sick, but he was also cut of from family. He probably needed family support now more than ever.

So with a mix of fear and anger I sent him an email asking if we could meet up. I had no idea if he would want to or not, but I felt that I had to do this. “How many times should I forgive my Uncle, Lord? Up to seven times….?” If my ministry was to have any integrity at all, then I had to make the first move.

What he had done, what he had said, what he thought of me and even what he had done to others was not the point. I was called to love him no matter what. The story of the Good Samaritan demands that I do.

My Uncle called me the next day and we arranged to meet up. All because of the story of the Good Samaritan.

Yes, the story still packs a punch. Somehow I think it always will.