It has to be said that today`s Gospel passage from St. Luke 10, 25 – 37 must be one of the most familiar portions of scripture known.   We call it “The Story of the Good Samaritan” and it is a story told by Jesus which is much loved.   Jesus of course, tells the story in answer to a question put by a lawyer who might well have been trying to catch Jesus out.  The question, `Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?` was answered by another question when Jesus asked, `What is written in the law ?`   The lawyer responds by quoting the “Summary of the Law” for which Jesus commended him.   Then came the trick question back to Jesus, `And who is my neighbour ?`   Our Lord then tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan which is found only in St. Luke`s Gospel and is one of the most powerful of Our Lord`s Parables being both a powerful lesson about mercy towards those in need and also proclaims too that non-Jews can observe the Law of Moses, summarized in the words quoted by the Lawyer: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” And so enter eternal life.
We might feel a touch angry, or perhaps a bit self-righteous, at the way in which both a priest and a Levite pass by on the other side.   We need perhaps to be reminded that had they attended to the injured man they would not have been able to perform their religious duties having made themselves ritually unclean!   Jesus makes much of the fact that the person who showed human compassion was a Samaritan – one regarded as an outcast by the Jews and racially held in contempt.

Nevertheless it he who goes over-the-top with his generosity and kindness to the robbed and injured man:   cleaning and disinfecting his wounds pouring in wine – a disinfectant and oil – a balm, bandaging him up and lifting him on to his own mount to carry him to an inn that he may be looked after and receive some rest and sustenance, paying the innkeeper with the promise that if there was more to be paid the innkeeper would receive full payment on the Samaritan`s return journey.
Having told the story Jesus again question`s the lawyer:  `Which of the three, do you think, proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the brigand`s hands?` to which the lawyer answered:  `The one who took pity on him.`   Jesus said to the lawyer, `Go, and do the same yourself.`   Notice that the lawyer does not say: `The Samaritan`.

The great St. Augustine in his sermon No 37 concerning the Lord`s Sermons identifies Jesus with the Samaritan – the outcast in the story and the waylaid victim he identifies with Adam, the source and symbol of all fallen humanity.   Jesus, then Son of God, moved by compassion comes down to earth to cure man`s wounds, making them his own.   We often find Jesus being moved by human suffering as Matthew 9.36:   “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Or Mark 1, 40 and 41:  “A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose you can make me clean.”   Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him.  “I do choose.   Be made clean!” and, again, Luke 7:13 & 14:   “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, `Do not weep.`   Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still.   And he said, `Young man, I say to you, rise!`”
The Parable of The Good Samaritan leaves no doubt about who our neighbour is –  anyone (without distinction od race, gender, sexuality, or relationship) who neds our help:  nor about how we should love him or her – by taking pity, being compassionate towards his/her spiritual or corporal needs ;  what is more it is not just a matter of having the right feelings but rather meeting the need with action – we must generously serve him or her.

The Parable, then, points to the inclusiveness of everyone as our neighbour;  the way we can pass by human needs, and how the most rejected people can respond positively.   It is a story of how easily many of us miss tragedy under our very noses, of how many suffer because of the cruelty – not least of indifference.   Who are the ones cast aside and abandoned to the side of the road in our own time:  the former prisoner, the trafficked victim, the asylum seeker and refugee, the homeless and jobless, the addict, the victimised.   The second great commandment is to love our neighbour and as I`ve already said every human being is our neighbour and each is loved by the God who brought us into being and so we are, under God, responsible for each other.

I think it is time to start considering afresh the seven spiritual “works of mercy” and the seven “corporal works of mercy” but that is something for another sermon or perhaps you might care to look at them afresh yourselves.

Perhaps we need to be reminded also that today`s readings are about a covenant relationship with God.   We Christians are children of the New Covenant but in order to understand that covenant we need to understand that the covenant we have with God through Jesus is still built upon the Old Covenant that we find in today`s Old Testament reading that comes from Deuteronomy 30 and is the final discourse of Moses before the selectin of Joshua to lead God`s people into the promised land.   In the first chapter of St. Paul`s letter to the Colossians he instructs the Christians in Colossae about the truth of the absolute supremacy of Jesus Christ as the beginning and the end of all creation.   He was under house arrest in Rome at the time of his writing this letter and it shows how he had learned that there were false teachers threatening the true faith by re-introducing old doctrines which were undermining the truth that Jesus Christ along is the only mediator between God and humanity.
Let us then take the lessons of today`s readings to heart, not in some shallow sentimental way, but in a depth of understanding that will be life-changing for each one of us.