Reflections
Mercy Messes It All Up – 3/5/17
Posted on March 6, 2017 | Posted by Pastor Daniel
Pastor Daniel’s sermon on the parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37
You know, I think Jesus did it on purpose. I don’t think he picked a Samaritan at random. I think he wanted mercy to messy everything up. I think he wanted to share a nice morality lesson, but I also think he wanted to tare down those walls and ruin our system of categories. Categories we think are there to help, but so often are just used to judge and separate and excuse us from seeing one another as beloved of God. Categories which become our own prisons. Categories we need to be freed from, for we can’t do it on our own. It takes a Good Samaritan to free us – the kind that’ll care for you when you’re beat down, or pray for you when your trapped by your categories.
I don’t think Jesus likes categories very much. He’d prefer we all just saw each other as neighbor, because that’s how he sees us. It’s definitely messier, and it doesn’t answer at all how to love. But in addition to a nice little morality piece, this story of the Good Samaritan does give us something we really need: a new perspective on one another. And it seems everything depends on perspective. Amen.
