Rediscovering Sam's Story

Amos 7: 7-17
Luke 10: 25-37

How many of you have heard the parable of the Good Samaritan more often than any other story in the Bible?

It is one of the most popular parables, and for a good reason. If we are looking for the heart of the Gospel message; if we want to know what is important to Jesus – this story tells us everything we need to know in 12 short verses. The problem is that we know it too well. It has lost some of its power because of how many times we have heard it spoken to us and to others.

When 9/11 occurred we were all shocked and horrified. We never thought anything like this could happen and there were movies made and songs written about how we will always remember this tragedy and where we were when it happened. Before 9/11 I used to hear about when JFK was assassinated; where my mom was at the moment she found out and how horrible it was to hear. But after awhile, although we do remember the impact 9/11 and the JFK assassination had upon us, it no longer shocks and wounds us. Time and the retelling of the story, reliving the memories take away the sharpness of the emotions we first experienced.

The same can be true of certain well-known passages in the bible. They become so familiar to us and so comfortable that we no longer hear them with the same intensity we did the first couple times we listened to them. What is there left to learn from the story of the Good Samaritan? We know everything we could possibly have learned from previous times of hearing it. There is nothing new here. Right?

Wrong. Instead of telling you a feel good story about a Samaritan who sees a man beaten up on the road and selflessly gives his time and money to making him well when not even a clergy person could be bothered, I want to tell you a different story.

I want to tell you a story about a man named Sam who was having a bad day. He woke up late for work, his boss yelled at him when he got there and docked his pay which means his children will go hungry tonight, and as he is walking home he can feel blisters forming on his heels from his new sandals. Sam is not a happy man. He’s hurting, he’s tired, and he just wants to get home and put his feet up, and forget this day ever happened.

How many of us can relate to Sam? I sure can. We’ve all had those kinds of bad days and it always seems like at the end of such a day, something else is bound to go wrong. Sure enough, Sam stops at the top of the mountain road to adjust his sandals upon his aching feet, and he watches a scene unfold before him. There is a clergy man walking down the road and he stops for a moment when he comes to a bundle of rags heaped on the side of the road. The clergy stoops over and looks at this heap of rags for a moment before looking around wildly. Sam watches as the clergy then looks up at the sky before deliberately skirting right by the bundle.

Sam thought that was odd. What was the big deal about some old clothes by the side of the road? He kept walking and as he did he saw another man, a Levite from the look of his clothes which is a man of great learning of Jewish law from the priestly tribe of Israel. This man also comes upon the bundle and stops for a moment. The Levite looks at the bundle, nudges it with his foot, and then jumps back before practically running down the road. How odd, Sam thinks.

Now Sam is much closer and he is very curious about what is beside the road. As he approaches he thinks he sees it move. This mystery has completely distracted Sam from his bad day. He is caught up in the moment. When Sam is beside the bundle of rags he realizes it is not what he thought at all, but a man badly beaten and bleeding. He was huddled into a ball like people do when they are seriously hurt or in pain. The ragged, bleeding man suddenly groans and Sam hears, “Help me.”

Sam has a choice. He could step back and pretend he never heard those words, and keep walking to his house where his wife would have a drink and dinner waiting for him, or he could help the man.

Let us take a step back for a moment and ask ourselves what we would do.

We just heard that a man who has promised to be God’s faithful, loving servant has passed this man by. We know that a Levite, a man from the priestly tribe and well versed in Jewish law has also walked away from the bleeding man. We know that the man is half dead and therefore whoever hurt him means business. What if they come back to finish the job and see us helping him and decide to hurt us as well? What if we help the man and he dies anyway? What if we help the man and we get blamed for his half dead state and end up in prison? It seems like no matter how we look at it, staying to help this guy is going to cause us nothing but trouble. It’s already been a bad day; why allow this man who was stupid enough to get beaten up and almost killed to ruin the rest of it?

We should walk on by. Just like the clergy and Levite guys. No one will know. No one will care. We’re Samaritans, this man is a Jew. We’re not friendly. We’re not allies. This man would spit on us if he was healthy. We should leave. Now.

Sam thought all of these things - just like we would think most of them. When we take a story we’ve heard many times before and reduce it to, “The Samaritan helped his enemy and we should be like him” we lose the power of the story. We forget the sacrifices being made. We lose the ability to sympathize with the Samaritan, with Sam.

Many of the choices we make in our lives are easy. No, I’m not going to run that stop sign. Yes, I’m going to feed my children today. No, I’m not going to eat that piece of pie. Every now and then, though, life throws us a curve ball. We’re going about our day and suddenly, we hear voices raised and then a thud and a crash. We come running out of our house or workplace to see someone beating another person with a baseball bat. No one else is around and it’s up to us. Do we help or do we pretend we saw nothing? Helping means sacrifice. It means possibly getting mixed up in something we don’t want to be mixed up in. Helping may bring harm to our body, our mind, our life, and our family’s life.

A few weeks ago, there was a man who saw a little girl drowning in a river. Instinct kicked in and the man dove into the river to save the little girl. The river was not deep and he hit his head and broke his neck, paralyzing him from the neck down. A couple weeks later, he died in the hospital with his family by his side. This is a true story. There is risk in being a hero. There is a cost to be paid. Sometimes we know what the cost is and sometimes we do not.

Sam chose to help the bleeding man. He picked him up and carried him upon his aching back with his blistered feet to the inn. He paid for food, lodging, and medicine. Then he promised to come back and pay for anything extra the man needed before going home to his family. Sam didn’t have the money to be able to do that, but he did it anyway. Not because it was just about being a good person. Not because the man muttered help me. Not because he watched two other men walk away. Sam helped because he saw himself in that ragged, bleeding man.

For the briefest moment, all those doubts and fears that were filling Sam’s mind cleared and he saw a human being in need, and he saw how easily that could be him laying there dying along the side of the road. Who would help Sam if this had been him? Who will help you when you wreck your car or when a fire begins in the basement of the house or when you’re getting robbed by gunpoint?

The people that help are the ones that do not see the differences in each of us. The people that make a difference are the ones that do not let doubts and fears keep them from being responsible citizens. These people are the ones who hope that if that was them laying there bleeding, someone would have compassion for them. They hope that another will see the human being and not their skin color or the way they dress or their accent or choice of sexual partner.

Jesus reminds us that we are not only called to pray for others, but to have mercy upon them. Mercy requires sacrifice and forgiveness and love. Sam the Samaritan stopped his internal monologue of complaints about his crappy day and his crappy life to see the pain of someone else. He allowed someone else’s hurt to be more important than his own. He sacrificed his happiness and well being to make another comfortable and protected.

It’s not something we like to hear, but that is what Christianity is about. It means sacrificing our own happiness, health, and well-being when we see someone in need. Jesus did it for us, and now we do it for others. That is what it means to be a Good Samaritan.

Amen.