Fallen Among the Robbers

1. “We make a difference!”

“We celebrate the love of God: we make a difference!” is the motto of this Annual Conference. This immediately raises the question: Yes, but how are we making a difference? The motto already contains the key word: love.

Superintendent Stefan Schröckenfuchs wrote in his report: "We don't just achieve something. We achieve exactly what God wants to achieve through us: so that the love that God gives us and all God's creatures may flow through us.” This happens through those who make room for God's love in their hearts, he continues.

At the center is God's love for us and all creatures; yes, God Himself, because God is love - holy, perfect love! God is the source and standard for our love, for our actions in love.

So how can we succeed in loving our fellow human beings and fellow creatures according to God? It is a lifelong process in a community of traveling together and learning. In our tradition, we refer to this process as “sanctification.” I like to describe this learning process as “growing and increasing in love.” Growing and increasing in love! Our love for God and for each other should become great and strong! Isn't that your wish too? Your longing, your prayer - to grow and increase in love as God shows it to us?

Somewhere I read: “He who loves has time.” Jesus once told a story about someone having time for another who needed him: the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).

2. Fallen among the robbers

“He who loves has time”. We have every reason to rejoice, because God loves us first, because the Father in heaven has time for us, always.

This is what the story of the Good Samaritan tells us: we have fallen among robbers. We need love. We need someone to have time for us. And God is the merciful Samaritan. God is the archetype of mercy (1 Kings 19)! This parable tells of the unprecedented love of the Father in heaven. God’s heart burns for us humans! Precisely for those who have fallen among the robbers:

“A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He encountered thieves, who stripped him naked, beat him up, and left him near death” (Luke 10:30). So there he lies, this man, you and me. We have all somehow fallen under the robbers:

• through our background: perhaps you never experienced love in your childhood and that makes it difficult for you to love your fellow human beings, including those in the church;
• through life's circumstances: so many things take up your time, and you feel like a prisoner, as if “others are living my life";
• through some other limitations: perhaps your health is impaired and you reach the limits of your strength earlier than others; perhaps you have acted indifferently towards others who have needed you, and you now feel guilty;
• through what others have done to you, perhaps even in church, and you have become suspicious of your fellow human beings.

And there you lie: wounded, defenseless, at the mercy of others, powerless, helpless. You, indeed we all need someone to come along, to stop and not just walk past us, but to look at us with love and have time for us.

3. God stops

Finally, “a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came to where the man was. But when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, tending them with oil and wine. Then he placed the wounded man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him” (Luke 10:33-34).

God stops and looks at us! Maybe there are only a few people who have time for you and look at you. God does! At this moment, God in the form of the Samaritan does not say a word about whether this man is perhaps to blame for his own misfortune. Had he recklessly embarked on a route where he should have expected such an attack? Why had he gone alone? He should have known.

How quickly these or similar thoughts arise in us when someone has fallen into misfortune or when we are made aware of the misery of others. None of this happened to the Good Samaritan. In the moment of need, such questions do not matter to him. He simply helps. That's the loving God! He is there to help, especially in times of need. The Psalms testify to this experience again and again. No, the Father in heaven does not leave us to suffer our fate alone, even if we have brought our misery on ourselves. In our moment of need, God stops and is there.

4. God allows Himself to be interrupted

What a wonderful picture Jesus painted of God and his love for us in the story of the Good Samaritan! God allows Himself to be interrupted; God makes time for you! God has time to be with you when you need Him: “He who loves has time!”

God does not pass you by. How many other people pass you by? God stops, bends down to you, sees you, sees you as a whole person and cares for you. And, God takes us upon Himself: “He has borne our sickness and taken our pains upon himself.” God carries us to the inn and pays for our healing. He wants us to get well! What great love!

5. Love because God loves first

God as the Good Samaritan; this is perhaps a surprising, unfamiliar perspective for some. In most interpretations of this story, the Samaritan is presented as a role model for us. But today we hear and hold dear: God is the Good Samaritan. It is God's passion to show his love for us, to have time for us.

Perhaps you now feel a great sense of gratitude and joy, and a desire to love: “I want to do the same, to love my fellow human beings as God loves me, to stop where there is need, to have time for others and help as best I can.” Wonderful! God has infected you with His love and awakened love in you.

This interpretation makes it clear: first and foremost, we need the Father in heaven to take time, to find us in our need, to look at us, to carry us to the inn and promise us: “Whatever it takes: I will pay.” Only then will we have the will, the strength, and the ability to become merciful, loving Samaritans for others, and grow and increase in love.

Thus transformed, we will become strong and capable to “love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously,” as the new vision statement of the UMC puts it. In other words, God will give us a love that manifests itself in a joyful willingness to serve the vulnerable, and a courageous commitment to justice and peace.

6. A Good Samaritan for others

So now we have discovered how we can become Good Samaritans: loving and doing good for others (Galatians 6:10), becoming neighbors to one another and loving sisters and brothers in the church.

The teacher of the law asks: “Who is my neighbor?” This one or that one, or perhaps that one over there? Jesus turns his question around and says: “The question is not who is your neighbor, but whom do you consider as your neighbor?” Jesus literally asks the teacher of the law: “Which of the three is neighbor to the one who fell into the hands of the robbers?” (Luke 10:36).

Are you willing to become a neighbor to the one in need of help? How do we become neighbors to others? How does our love for others increase?

• By allowing ourselves to enjoy God's love, and then sharing in practical ways God’s passion for those who have fallen among the “robbers”;
• By allowing ourselves to be stopped in our tracks, to be willing to change our plans and give others our time.

We do this out of gratitude and joy, because God became the Good Samaritan for us. God always has time for us. God allows Himself to be interrupted, to stop and look at us and carry us to the inn and provide for our healing. Amen.