( Lk 10:25-37 ) - [ Deutsch ] - [ Akündigungen657 KB ]
At some point, dear church, in the not too distant future, I would like to travel to Israel. Where the stories of the Bible took place. See all the places Jesus had in mind when he told stories.
Jesus used pictorial language: so that all listeners could understand him.
He was never interested in theorizing or philosophizing about the last questions with high-ranking people, but about the application in everyday life of everything he proclaimed in the name of God.
So is the story that is our sermon text today.
TEXT
I would now like to take you, even if only mentally, to this place where Jesus makes this story happen.
It was a man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among the robbers; they undressed him and beat him and ran away, leaving him half dead.
This is how Jesus initiates history. A human being. In Hebrew: Adamah. We don't learn anything about him: it is assumed that it was a man, because women in ancient times only travel in groups. A person like you and me.
A short introduction. The whole story: without feelings, sober and yet full of deep emotions and drama, masterfully told.
Jerusalem is about 800 m above sea level and it can get very cold, even snow. Jerusalem is world famous and the central Jewish city. There is a trail on the eastern edge of Jerusalem, still today, that leads to Jericho after 30 km and it winds through a stone and scree desert, the Judean desert. There it is very hot during the day and at night, when the sun is not shining, ice cold. Jericho is located 250 m below sea level and is an oasis and palm city, at that time probably already very beautiful.
The path between Jerusalem and Jericho leads steadily downhill. Over 1000 meters of altitude difference between the two cities. Uncomfortable between stones and rubble. There is never rain here.
A so-called blutsteige leads to the trail and on the way there is no village, no tree, no shade. Completely uninhabited, lonely. You are actually not alone there, because this area invites you to raid. And yet: in the parable everyone goes alone. This is striking.
What else needs to be noted: in a lonely area, an encounter is more intense. You greet each other when you meet. You have certainly already experienced this on hikes. Maybe you talk to each other briefly. And in a lonely area you are much more dependent on help. In a lonely area, however, no one sees if you do not help. You are only committed to your own conscience.
To the robbers I would like to say: they were people of the lower class, as they were in Palestine in the 1st century. There were many who had become poorer and poorer. 30 percent of the population was impoverished. They could go begging or steal their belongings. In the desert, in the afterlife area, they lived in the back of caves, so that the Romans could not find them and had not dared to go there.
The robbers took this man, the lonely wanderer, out. Because they needed his clothes. And then they beat him, leaving him half-dead. It is not a misfortune what happens to this person. It is a robbery, a violent crime.
And no one knows where the robbers are after that. From which cave they observe you and strike again on occasion.
So charity is a risk here, it is risky to help this person. It's about death and life.
The robbers are gone. We as listeners, spectators stay back at the place with the wounded and look after the robbers. And hope and fear that now someone has to come to help.
And there is also one. Even two.
31 But it was true that a priest went down the same road; and when he saw him, he passed.
32 Likewise, a Levite: when he came to the place and saw him, he passed.
Priest and Levite are very similar. What they do, identical. We experience their professions. They are obviously very important to Jesus, otherwise he could have said: a man or a craftsman or one of the people or something else. But why priest and Levite?
Both belong to the temple staff in Jerusalem, where they have just served, and now want to go home to Jericho, where most of them live. They deal with religion full-time. And they wear the work clothes prescribed to them in Genesis 3. They were recognizable from afar, even for the robbers.
What is important as a background to know: Priest and Levite could not choose their profession. One was born so as the son of.... I am chosen by God to do so. This is what their parents had taught them from an early age. And you know for yourself: the parental home has a great influence on what I think and whether and how I act ethically.
In The Holy Scriptures there are also the purity rules for priests and Levites. They must stay away from unclean things and this includes: leprosy, blood and death, otherwise they will become unclean even for weeks and months.
In short, Priest and Levite both pass by because... Their faith, their sense of election, their religious imprint prevents them from helping the half-dead. They refrain from helping for religious reasons, because this is how they read and understand the Holy Scriptures, because their religious system has actually become their prison.
And the attacker remains lying down. In the heat. Half-dead.
33 But a Samaritantohim, who was on the journey, came; and when he saw him, it whined him;
34 And he went unto him, poured oil and wine on his wounds, and bandaged them unto him, lifted him up unto his beast, and took him to a inn, and cared for him.
35 The next day he took out two silver pennies, gave them to the host, and said, "Take care of him; and if you spend more, I will pay you when I come back.
Jesus now tells a little more about the Samaritan. No profession, one nationality. A separate religious community, which was also liturgically cursed by the Jews as people of other faiths and apostates.
Or to introduce ourselves better:
The help in this story comes from a corner that must have annoyed the listeners at that time.
And that would annoy you today.
It whines the Samaritan, it is said. Literally: he had mercy on him, felt pity. Ethical action, dear community, begins with suffering something passively.
The Samaritan helps. Also the next morning he stands up for his deed and does not regret it. He uses others, in this case the host, creatively for him.
Because the Samaritan is deeply touched, he overcomes the boundaries of religious origin. He acts in the spirit of charity ... but the next day he continues his journey. He does not kill himself out of charity. Because it means: love your neighbor as yourself. Self-love is also important.
We sometimes forget that. And sacrifice ourselves for others.
Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
That was the initial question of the teacher of the law.
And Jesus answers him with this comparative story: that is, with something that did not happen, but can show something important: Love even those you do not choose. That you don't like, that don't belong to your community.
Let yourself be touched by the one who seeks help. No matter who he is.
This is a challenge. The next is the unsearched one. The one or those who are there right now – especially when I don't need it at all, I'm in a hurry, have enough worries myself, don't have the same piety or believe in the same God or whatever excuses there are.
Eternal life begins with unsearched and done, that is, with unquestionable love. With a love that I do because it belongs to me, to my heart.
Under all circumstances.
And may the peace of God be in your hearts and spread. Here. And everywhere in the world.
Amen