Parables and Epiphany: Luke 10 - The Good Samaritan

1. Prayer
Holy God, you gather the universe
into your radiant presence and
continually reveal your Son as Savior.
Bring healing to all wounds,
make whole all that is broken,
speak truth to all illusion,
and shed light in every darkness,
that all creation will see your glory
and know your Christ. Amen.

2. theCHURCH
CALENDAR

3. Part 2: The Good Samaritan
PARABLES and the EPIPHANY

7. A lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’
he said, ‘what must I do* to inherit eternal
life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in
the law? What do you read there?’
LUKE 10:25-28 (NRSV)

8. The double focus on literacy – what is
written and how it is read – is usually
ignored, but to do so misses the
historical point. The lawyer is literate
(and) in Hebrew the word ‘neighbor’
and ‘evil’ share the same consonants,
they only differ in the vowels – but
ancient
Hebrew texts do not have vowels.
Both are written identically.
AMY-JILL LEVINE

9. When Jesus asks the lawyer,
‘How do you read?’ he is therefore
asking, ’Dear Sir, are you able
to see, in the very words of the
Torah, the equation of the enemy
with neighbor and thus the command
to love both?’ The lawyer has read
the words in Hebrew, but he cannot
see their full meaning.
AMY-JILL LEVINE

10. A lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’
he said, ‘what must I do* to inherit eternal
life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in
the law? What do you read there?’ He
answered, ‘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.’ And he
said to him, ‘You have given the right
LUKE 10:25-28 (NRSV)

11. But wanting to justify himself, he asked
Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’
LUKE 10:29 (NRSV)

13. - I came, I saw, I …
- Blood, sweat, and …
- Life, liberty, and …
- Larry, Moe, and …
- Snap, crackle, …
- Rock, chalk, …
THE RULEOFTHREE

14. - I came, I saw, I …
- Blood, sweat, and …
- Life, liberty, and …
- Larry, Moe, and …
- Snap, crackle, …
- Rock, chalk, …
- A Priest, a Levite, and …
THE RULEOFTHREE

16. But wanting to justify himself, he asked
Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’
LUKE 10:29 (NRSV)
Which of these three, do you think,
was a neighbor to the man who fell
into the hands of the robbers?’ He said,
‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus
said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’
LUKE 10:36-37 (NRSV)

17. 1. Critique of Jewish xenophobia
2. Critique of “works righteousness”
man in ditch = sinner needing
saved; Priest = Law that can’t save;
Levite = Prophets who can’t save;
The “Good” Samaritan = Jesus;
Coins = baptism/ Eucharist
3. Critique of Jewish apathy
4. Protesters decrying exploitation
this PARABLE is NOT about…

18. It’s possible these men were afraid…
and so the first question the priest
(and) Levite asked was, ‘If I stop to help
this man, what might happen to me?’…
But then the Good Samaritan came
by and he reversed the question:
‘If I do not stop to help this man,
what will happen to him?’
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

19. 1.God is okay with our questions,
even when they’re the WRONG ones
WHAT does this PARABLE
REVEAL about GOD?

20. 1.God is okay with our questions,
even when they’re the WRONG ones
2.God doesn’t set limits on those who
will be the RECIPIENT of love/dignity
WHAT does this PARABLE
REVEAL about GOD?

22. (This) parable forces us to realize
the importance of one’s neighbor…
Our relation with God is expressed
through our relation with the people
around us…In a world torn by war
and genocide, this parable will not
allow us to be passive…This parable
is annoying, for it will not let us avert
our eyes (or justify our
KLYNE R. SNODGRASS

23. 1.God is okay with our questions,
even when they’re the WRONG ones
2.God doesn’t set limits on those who
will be the RECIPIENT of love/dignity
3.God doesn’t set limits on those with
the potential to GIVE love/dignity
WHAT does this PARABLE
REVEAL about GOD?

24. I am an Israeli Jew on my way home
from Jerusalem to Jericho, and I am
attacked by thieves, beaten, stripped,
robbed, and left half dead in a ditch.
Two people who should have stopped
to help pass me by:
the first, a Jewish medic from the Israeli
Defense Forces; the second, a member
of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network
of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. But
AMY-JILL LEVINE

25. …and shows me mercy is a Palestinian
Muslim whose sympathies lie with
Hamas, a political party whose
character not only anticipates Israel’s
destruction, but also depicts Jews as
subhuman demons responsible for all
the world’s problems.
The parable of ”The Good Hamas
Member” might be difficult for people
in support of Israel’s existence…
AMY-JILL LEVINE

26. Can we finally agree that it is better
to acknowledge the humanity and the
potential to do good in the enemy,
rather than to choose death? Will we
be able
to care for our enemies, who are also
our neighbors? Will we be able to bind
up their wounds rather than blow up
their cities? And can we imagine that
they might do the same for us?
AMY-JILL LEVINE

27. Closing Prayer
Steadfast God,
you have enriched and enlightened us
by the revelation of your eternal Christ.
Comfort us in our mortality
and strengthen us
to walk the path of your desire,
so that by word and deed we may manifest
the gracious news of your faithfulness and love.
Amen.