ルカによる福音書10:29-37 Luke 10:29-37,

さて、あなたはこの三人の中で、だれが追いはぎに襲われた人の隣人になったと思うか。」律法の専門家は言った。「その人を助けた人です。　　　　　　　　　　（ルカ10:36-37）

このたとえ話は「善いサマリア人のたとえ」と呼ばれ、新約聖書の中でも最もよく知られた話の一つであります。そして、この話は、隣人愛を実践することの具体的な例を教えており、多くの人々に心温まる思いを与えてきました。しかし、同時にこの「善いサマリア人のたとえ」は厳しい問いを、私たちに投げかけていることも事実です。それは「あなたは、倒れた旅人を見ながら道の向こう側を通って行った祭司やレビ人のような行動をしているのではありませんか？」という問いであります。そして、これに対して、私たちは皆「そのような行動をしています」と認めざるをえないのであります。また、自分を正当化しようとして「わたしの隣人とはだれですか」と質問した律法の専門家のように、隣人の範囲を限定して、自分が普段交流のある範囲の人々だけが隣人であると考えて、自分は隣人に対して愛の行いを実践していると言って、自分を正当化しようとする傾向があるのではないか、ということをも考えさせられるのであります。

多くの人々は、自分の隣人の範囲を限定して考え、「私は隣人に対して愛の行いをしている」と考えて自分を正当化しやすいものです。しかし、キリストの教えを聞いている私たちは、そのような狭い考え方から自由になりたいものです。キリストが37節の最後でおっしゃった「行って、あなたも同じようにしなさい」という御言葉をしっかりと受け止めたいと思います。

使徒パウロは、「律法を実行することによっては、だれ一人神の前で義とされない」（ローマ3:20）と教えています。ですから、私たちは「私は隣人に対して愛の行いをしている」と考えて自分を正当化することはできないのです。しかし、パウロはキリストによって救われた人に「自分の体を神に喜ばれる聖なる生けるいけにえとして献げなさい」（同12:1）と教え、それに続いて「心を新たにして自分を変えていただき、何が神の御心であるか、何が善いことで、神に喜ばれ、また完全なことであるかをわきまえるようになりなさい」（同12:2）と勧めています。そのように、自分の人生を神様に献げていくときに、私たちは神様の喜ばれる愛の行いをする者へと変えられていくのです。パウロは、ガラテヤの信徒への手紙5章16節で信徒たちに聖霊の導きに従って生きることを勧め、5章22節で「霊の結ぶ実は愛であり、喜び、平和、寛容、親切、善意、誠実、柔和、節制です」と教えています。日々神様に祈りをささげて聖霊の導きに従って生きるときに、私たちはそれまで隣人でなかった人の隣人になり、隣人への愛を実行する人へと変えられていくのです。本日の聖書の箇所の善いサマリア人のような人へと変えられていくのです。　　（8月18日の説教より）

We all have our own sphere of lives in which we live each day. For example, people who work in an office wake up in the morning, go to work, come home at night, rest at home and go back to work the next day. In this case, the main people they encounter in their daily lives would be their family and people related to their workplace. For those whose main role is to look after the home, the family and the local community are the main people they meet on a daily basis. Of course, in addition to this, there will also be fellowship with relatives, hobbyists and volunteer members during holidays, as well as school reunions and friends from afar. But in everyday life, for most of us, the scope of our interactions is somewhat fixed, even if it is wide or narrow.

And we live our lives with a certain amount of consideration for the relationships of the people with whom we regularly interact. This is because maintaining good relationships with the people we interact with on a regular basis is a necessary part of our own lives. Sadly, there are sometimes people who deliberately do bad things at work, in the community or at home that destroy their relationships with the people around them. However, the normal way of life in this world is to maintain good relationships with the people around us and act in a way that is mutually beneficial to both parties. But what about people outside our normal sphere of life? Are we concerned about those people who can give us nothing for the time being in return, and are we trying to do what we can for them, thinking that even though we can’t do much, we can at least do this much?

In today’s scripture passage, the big question is related to what I have just said. The question is: “Who is my neighbour?” This question is a continuation of the question of the expert of the law: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” In response to the law expert’s question in v. 25, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Christ asked back, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” To this, the law expert replied quoting from the Old Testament in verse 27, that God’s law says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” To this, Christ immediately and sharply replied, in verse 28: “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” As if to challenge Christ’s words again, the expert of the law asked back, “And who is my neighbour?”

Verse 29 tells us that the expert of the law asked the question back “desiring to justify himself.” What does “desiring to justify himself” mean? Perhaps he regards his fellow Jews as his “neighbour.” Then, he is probably trying to justify himself in the sense that “then I am practising love for neighbour.” In Leviticus 19:18, quoted by the law expert, just before the instruction that “you shall love your neighbour as yourself,” it says: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people” “Your own people” can be interpreted as referring to the people of Israel and, in New Testament times, to the Jewish people. Furthermore, Leviticus 19:17, which precedes it, says: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbour, lest you incur sin because of him.” “Your Brother” refers to people belonging to the same Israelite nation. It is therefore reasonable to interpret the “neighbour” in the teaching that “you shall love your neighbour as yourself,” as referring only to people of the Israelite nation or Jewish people, if read only in the Old Testament context. Therefore, the law expert would have thought that if Christ answered that by “neighbour” he meant his Jewish brethren, he could justify himself by saying that he was practising love for neighbour love. In other words, behind the law expert’s question “Who is my neighbour?” there would have existed the idea that “this man is my neighbour and that man is not my neighbour.” But from the Christian standpoint, which reads biblical teaching in both Old and New Testament contexts, “neighbour” would refer to people of all ethnic groups.

To the expert of the law who were trying to justify himself, Christ told a parable. The content of this parable is so clear that it hardly needs to be explained. However, if we pay attention to a few features, we can better understand the meaning of this parable. First, the parable emphasises the miserable condition of the person who is attacked by robbers. The robbers did not just take the money from the traveller and run away; v 30 says: The robbers “stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.” In fact, the Greek original also uses a combination of the two words “half” and “death,” meaning “half dead.” So the traveller was alive but dying, lying on the roadside in such a miserable state that he would have died if not treated immediately.

Secondly, the coldness of the priest and Levite who passed by is striking. The priest was the minister of worship in the temple in Jerusalem, while the Levite was the one who assisted the priest in his religious duties. The priest and Levite who passed by the way of the fallen traveller “saw him he passed by on the other side,” as stated in verses 31 and 32. In other words, they did not approach or call out to the fallen traveller, rather than helping him. Some scholars have interpreted this as meaning that the priest and Levite thought the traveller was already dead, so they dared to go through on the other side of the road to avoid defiling themselves, in accordance with the Old Testament rule that “whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days” (Numbers 19:11). According to this interpretation, the priest and Levite were so faithful to the ceremonial law of the Old Testament that they failed to live out the fundamental spirit of the law: love for neighbour. This interpretation makes one think that this might be the case, and it seems to be an interpretation that is generally quite well supported. However, since the passage does not say that the priest and Levite passed by on the other side of the road because they thought the traveller was dead, we cannot assume that the priest and Levite did not approach the fallen traveller on the grounds of ceremonial law.

Alternatively, it could be interpreted that the priest and Levite had to go to the temple in Jerusalem to perform the service of worship, so they did not help the traveller because they were preoccupied with that. However, verse 31 states that “a priest was going down that road.” “Going down” indicates that the direction of the journey was from Jerusalem to Jericho. Verse 32 also says: “So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.” It is therefore more natural to assume that the priest and Levite were on their way home after completing their ministry in Jerusalem, rather than on their way to their ministry in Jerusalem. Therefore, it cannot be said that the priest and Levite did not help the traveller because they were only thinking about their own duties. In short, the most straightforward reading of the parable is that the priest and Levite were cold-hearted and avoided getting involved with the dying traveller, who was no good to them if they helped him.

Thirdly, it is noteworthy that the Samaritan’s kindness in helping the traveller is described in very specific terms: verse 34 states that the Samaritan “went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.” That in itself seems kind enough, but verse 35 goes on to say that “he took out two denarii” and gave them to the innkeeper, saying: “Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.” What thoughtful and attentive care! According to the New Testament scholar Jeremias, the cost of an inn in New Testament times was one-twelfth of a denarius per night. So, according to that calculation, the two denarii paid in advance by the Samaritan would be equivalent to 24 nights’ accommodation. These details show that the Samaritan’s kindness was not perfunctory, but extremely heartfelt.

Then, after speaking the parable, Christ asked the experts of the law a very serious question. It was a question, as in verse 36: “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” To this, the law expert had to answer, “The one who showed him mercy.” The reason why the expert of the law did not answer Christ’s question with “the Samaritan” is that the Jews and the Samaritans were hostile towards each other at that time, and it would have been difficult for the Jewish expert of the law to answer that the Samaritan was the one who had obeyed the law and practised love for his neighbour. The first question posed by the experts of the law was: “Who is my neighbour?” And in this question, as I have already told you, there was an intention to limit the scope of the neighbour to his Jewish brethren. In response, Christ’s final question was: “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” The Greek verb ginomai (γίνομαι), meaning “to be” or “prove to be” is used here. The expression “proved to be a neighbour” in this question implies that “neighbourhood is not something that can be limited in scope, as if to this extent one is a neighbour and to the rest one is not. Rather, it must have been Christ’s thought that striving to be a neighbour to all is what the law of God demands.”

This parable is called the parable of the Good Samaritan and is one of the best-known stories in the New Testament. And this story has warmed the hearts of many people because it teaches a concrete example of practising love for neighbour. But at the same time, the parable of the Good Samaritan poses a tough question to us all. That is, “Are you not acting like the priest and Levite who passed by on the other side of the road, looking at the fallen traveller?” And in response, we all have to admit: “I am acting like that.” And, like the expert of the law who asked the question “Who is my neighbour?” in an attempt to justify himself, we tend to limit the scope of our neighbour and think that only the people with whom we normally interact are our neighbours, and to justify ourselves by saying that we practise acts of love for our neighbours.

Many people tend to limit the scope of their neighbour and justify themselves by thinking, “I am practising acts of love for my neighbour.” But we who have heard Christ’s teaching want to be free from such narrow thinking. We want to take Christ’s words at the end of verse 37, “You go, and do likewise,” to heart. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 3:20 that “by works of the law no human being will be justified.” So we cannot justify ourselves by thinking, “I am practising acts of love for my neighbour.” But in the same letter, Romans 12:1, Paul appeals us who have been saved by Christ “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,” and in the following 12:2, he appeals us to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” In this way, when we offer our lives to God, we are transformed into people who practise acts of love that are pleasing to God. Paul encourages believers in Galatians 5:16 to live according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and teaches in 5:22-23 that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” When we pray to God daily and live according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, we become a neighbour of the one who was not our neighbour before and are transformed into people who practise love for neighbour. We are transformed into people like the Good Samaritan in today’s Bible passage.

Today, I would like to recommend two last specific things. Needless to say, Shiki Kita Presbyterian Church is a very small church. Some may wonder how such a small church can do the work of the Good Samaritan. One thing is very close to home. There are two non-profit organisations that I know of in Kashiwa-cho 2-chome, Shiki City, that are doing good works to support their neighbours. And I have tried to have good fellowship with these organisations to the extent that I am able. If Shiki Kita Presbyterian Church can continue to have good fellowship with these organisations in the future, it will be able to support the Good Samaritan work, albeit indirectly. The other is a distant foreign country. Through God’s guidance, a Christian family from a distant foreign country is worshipping together here at Shiki Kita Presbyterian Church. Needless to say, they are Daniel, Bernice and David from Ghana, Africa. Whenever I worship with this family, I am reminded that this small church is connected to the world, and I am very thankful. If Shiki Kita Presbyterian Church learns about the churches in Ghana and the churches in the surrounding countries, it will be able to contribute to the Good Samaritan work of our denomination, the Church of Christ in Japan, to which Shiki Kita Presbyterian Church belongs. I hope that each of you will seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your daily walk. And I also hope that our church will receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit in these matters.