Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” [37] He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

We all know the story of the Godd Samaritan so well. It is beautiful, simple and very powerful.
I want to suggest that there are three things for us to take home and reflect on.

Firstly, If you feel like the man on the side of the road, know that God is walking over to you to bandage your wounds

Secondly, we are invited to go and do like likewise, to be a neighbour. There is a lovely surprise; we will discover it is Jesus lying on the side of the road.

Thirdly, the Priests and Levites among us have just been judged and found guilty.

I think we need to start with the third point. Who among us know what God requires and yet we are tempted to walk on the other side of the street. In the psalm we read a moment ago it says God took council among the gods. It may have come from a time when the people of Israel still recognized other nations as having gods. It may have included the sense that other nations like Rome and Egypt regard their emperors and Pharaohs as gods. But it probably was particularly aimed at all leaders religious and political in Israel.
I suspect the psalmist would also include our politicians and religious leaders today, but he would possibly also include all the rich and powerful. It is very easy to see that the mining magnates might be regarded as rich and powerful. They have enough money to spend billions on advertising against the elected government and bring about the downfall of the leader of the government. Certainly they would be called gods by the psalmist and grouped with those who are brought before God for judgement.
But may be the psalmist would call into judgement anyone with a good education, power to elect leaders, to lobby government and to agitate. May be most of us here would be included in the psalmist net. Perhaps we can read the psalm like this:

2 ‘How long will you judge unjustly:
and favour the rich and ruthless miners,
and others like them?

3 ‘Judge for the refugees and homeless:
vindicate the mentally ill and dispossessed.

4 ‘Rescue the earth, the forests and the oceans:
and save them from the hands of the wicked.

William Willimon says

The story of the Good Samaritan is not only a story of active compassion but also a story of judgment. To those of us among the Chosen who know full well “what is written in the law,” it is highly insulting to have a Samaritan shoved in our faces as an example of someone we should emulate.
Good, Bible-believing, professional theologians passed by this man. The only one who stopped is a despised Samaritan and when he stopped, when he took time, he became judgment for us. A plumb line is being held up against us. We know what is written, we are credentialed as priests and Levites, and yet our behavior is a scandal to what we profess.

I am not just talking about one politician being dumped. Western society as a whole walks to the other side of the road where there is slavery and oppressive working conditions. We still buy our cheap clothes. We refuse to change our life styles even though we know the earth is being depleted of its resources. We prefer to treat refugees as “illegals” even though we have contributed to the wars that cause them to flee their countries.

Now to be fair many off us individually have made big changes in our lives or at least have made little steps in the right direction. We do buy Fair trade coffee, we look for ways to reduce our environmental footprint. Many of us are also very gracious when we are confronted with the needy person in our midst even though it is costly to care for them.

I believe it is important for us to hear both from Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan and from the psalmist a strong critic of us and our world. There are many more things we can be doing as a nation, as a church community and individually to reach out to those in need.

But there is good news, so let’s move. Jesus says to the lawyer, go and do likewise. He says to us, go and do likewise. I am often hearted by godly people from our Church who mention things they have done or are doing. They may be simple things like driving for meals on wheels, or playing music at a nursing home, visiting someone they haven’t seen for a while, reaching out via world vision to someone on the other side of the world. Even dare I suggest that the way some of you care for wild animals or damaged animals is a response to this story taking it to a new dimension. I probably don’t even hear a tenth of the many things people are doing. So in spite of bringing the harsh criticism which is present in the readings I also want you to hear loud and clear that you are a blessing to your neighbours. On the whole we endeavour and we do many things to care for our neighbour. No doubt that is because this story of the Good Samaritan got under our skin when we were still kids.

I said at the beginning that the lovely surprise is that we discover Jesus on the side of the road in need of care. We may not recognize him. It may not be until that final judgement that we recognize who it was we fed or gave a drink to. As we minister to that person we may begin to realize that we are the one receiving ministry. We had a homeless man stay with us a while back. While he was there he commented on one of Gwenn’s paintings. He said I like the way you have painted yourself reflected in the shop window, he named the brand of one of the cars also reflected in the window. Previously I had thought it a bit strange to paint a self portrait where you are just a fuzzy image reflected dimly. But the homeless man had come to the painting without expectations and seen more in it than I had ever seen. So sometimes our gesture of hospitality for the person in need becomes a blessing to us. But we may never be conscious of that blessing.

Finally, let us return to my first point. If you are feeling like you have just been done over by a band of thugs and left with nothing there is good news for you. You may not have been physically robbed on your way to church but you marriage may have fallen a part, or may be falling a part. You might be working through the consequences of being abused by a parent when you were a child, or struggling with depression. It may be your children going through hell and you feel powerless watching on. What ever it is that has shattered you, I want you to know that already someone is walking to your side of the road. There may be others that you are shocked by as they walk past. But I believe God has someone he has coming your way. Even though we go through times when we are devastated by the events of life, God is present and reaching out to us. Don’t be afraid to reach out to receive the gracious gift of help.

As I said there are three things for us to take home and reflect on:

The Priests and Levites among us have just been judged and found guilty.

We are invited to go and do likewise, to be a neighbour. There is a lovely surprise; we will discover it is Jesus lying on the side of the road.

If you feel like the man on the side of the road, know that God is walking over to you to bandage your wounds.