Focus Text and Homily Transcript From the Mid-Week Worship Service on July 23, 2023

Title: “Making the Effort”
Topic in Brief: One old familiar story, one video game, and one big misunderstanding.

Text: Luke 10:25-37

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷ He answered, “‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

(Image: ‘The Good Samaritan’ by David Teniers the younger after Francesco Bassano

Homily by: Rev. Mark Breese

Today we are going to talk about an old and familiar story, a video game, and one big misunderstanding. The story I’m referring to is Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan. We’ve heard it many times, so often and in so many forms, I think, that at this point we kind of miss some of the most important parts of it. To fix this, I thought that we could also talk about a long-running video game franchise—the Legend of Zelda!

First, let’s just review the main points of the Parable of the Good Samaritan from Luke chapter 10. It begins with a lawyer questioning Jesus about eternal life. Jesus asks what the law says. The lawyer replies to love God and neighbor. Jesus tells him he is correct, but the lawyer tries to push things a little further. You can look at his pushing as trying to catch Jesus in some kind of mistake, or as him really wanting to understand. Either way he then asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus then tells this parable: A Jewish man traveling alone from Jerusalem to Jericho is attacked by robbers. They strip him, beat him, and leave him lying wounded on the roadside. First, a Jewish priest passes by without stopping to help. Then a temple assistant, or Levite, comes by and also keeps walking, avoiding the man. Finally, a Samaritan man sees the injured Jewish traveler and has compassion. He bandages his wounds, puts him on his donkey, takes him to an inn, and pays for his care.

This is a shocking story for Jesus’ original audience, who were Jewish, because the compassionate hero of the story was a Samaritan. Back then, the Jewish people and the Samaritans did not get along at all. You could even call them enemies. The parable concludes with Jesus asking, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor?” The lawyer replies, “The one who showed mercy.” Jesus tells him to then go and do likewise.

Now, we usually interpret this parable as a story of being kind and lending a hand to those in need around us. And it certainly does encourage us to do that. But there’s more to it than that, and not seeing the rest leads to misunderstanding the larger and important ideas in the parable.

To help us not misunderstand, let’s talk about the Legend of Zelda video games! In the Legend of Zelda, the main character is named Link. In all of the different versions of the game, Link has a specific mission and goal. But as you play the game, you can have Link choose to take on optional side quests—helping different characters with tasks beyond his main mission. Now even though these side missions or quests are not required to achieve the main goal, they provide opportunities to serve others bring more meaning to the gameplay, more variety, and more adventure. They’re chances for our hero, Link, to do more heroic things and make that imaginary world become a better place to live.

But as I said, Link could also just focus on his own goals and ignore all those other opportunities to do greater good if he wanted to. And it is exactly here that we discover the big misunderstanding of the Good Samaritan parable.

The priest and Levite saw the injured man as an inconvenient side quest they could bypass. But the Samaritan saw a chance to take part in God’s purpose on Earth. The deeper meaning is about recognizing our shared humanity despite differences — differences in nationality, religion, economic status, race… We are all each other’s neighbors. It is not a morality tale about some people being better than others. It is a tale that shows us that we need to be willing to set aside our own goals now and then and engage in meaningful ways with those around us. We need to embrace our inner Link! We need to, like the Samaritan, embrace the unexpected “side quest” of living out merciful love for a stranger.

Remember, the question from the Lawyer at the start of our story. He wanted to know how to live in a way that was pleasing to God. The Lawyer himself ended up giving the correct answer in Verse 27: “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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Then the question becomes “who is my neighbor” … to whom should we offer help, mercy, and compassion. … who should we love.

Jesus calls us to step outside of our conventions and comforts to meet the needs of others in compassionate ways—in ways exemplified by the Samaritan. What “side quests” are we avoiding? Whom do we pass by? We must open our eyes to love’s possibilities all around us and we need to make the effort.

The Samaritan knew his neighbor was actually all people. Despite the enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans, he chose to act with love and compassion.

I hope seeing this parable in a new way will challenge and transform our understanding as well. When we fully embrace unexpected chances to love, we find our shared humanity. The side quest is worth it, so let’s make the effort.