July 13 Sunday Sermon Manuscript

Luke 10:25–37 "Do Likewise"

1. Today's passage is familiar and well-known. As you read the Bible, your mind was probably filled with various bits of information born of that familiarity.

2. One of the joys of reading the Bible is the pleasure of discovering hidden meanings one by one. How can we find what is hidden? It's not that I have a special technique. Rather, it means that I can find fuller meaning by checking the meanings of verbs and nouns through many resources and the original language Bible—not that I have a secret method or unique eyes that let me see what no one else can.

3. In particular, when reading the Gospels, we need to understand each Gospel in light of its historical context, the church tendencies it reflects, and the direction its sentences and messages are headed.

4. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is portrayed as someone who frequently points out the disciples' shortcomings while praising the remarkable qualities shown by Gentiles.

5. If we understand this, then Jesus’ way of responding to the legal expert's question by asking a question Himself in today’s passage becomes clearer. It shows the direction of the Gospel Jesus proclaimed—the direction of the Kingdom movement—which pushes our hearts and bodies beyond what is familiar and toward what is unfamiliar and previously unconsidered.

6. Then what does it mean to turn toward what is unfamiliar and unconsidered? That is a question we can ask.

7. Prejudices often dominate our lives. We might think we know something without experiencing it, or mistakenly believe that what we’ve experienced before will continue unchanged. These are common in our daily lives.

8. But why does Jesus want us to build new relationships in such places—outside of our preconceptions or previous experiences, toward unfamiliar positions and people? What does this have to do with the Kingdom of God, that is, the Gospel? We may wonder.

9. Personally, I find stories most interesting when they contain an unexpected twist or when they push me to understand a new dimension beyond what I thought I already knew.

10. My kids love this too, but when the Harry Potter books were first published, and later turned into movies, I was thrilled. How could such imagination... The author was a single mom writing in an unheated room, and yet her reality and the content of the novel were shockingly different.

11. That sense isn’t limited to novels. In the movie Star Wars, we find people who live beyond imagination, cultivating dreams. This makes us realize that the intellectual fences we've built around ourselves can be overcome at any moment—that they are not all there is.

12. Although Elon Musk is now involved in many controversies, his SpaceX project is a real-life embodiment of the imagination shown in Star Wars. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, also said he was inspired by Star Wars to found Blue Origin. This shows how cinematic imagination is dramatically becoming reality—and we are witnessing it.

13. Emma Watson, who played Hermione in Harry Potter, confessed that the character became a role model for intellectual and independent leadership. She is now a UN women’s rights activist. She often says that many stories from Harry Potter helped her rise above her dark times.

14. So here’s what I wonder: can the awakening experiences that novels and movies bring about in people’s real lives be similarly experienced by us—by us gathered together here in worship?

15. First of all, we must remember: the Jesus we believe in was far more adventurous and radical than we usually think. We often describe Him as a divine religious figure full of mystical holiness, as if He’s a distant being removed from us—but in fact, Jesus was the most adventurous storyteller of His time. He told stories that no one had heard before, proclaiming things no one had imagined as the foundation of the Kingdom of God—that is, the Gospel.

16. If there are people out there inspired by Star Wars or Harry Potter who are shaking the world and living powerfully, then we—gathered here in this place—should be all the more confident and determined to live inspired by the life of Jesus.

17. That sounds burdensome, doesn’t it? Yes, it does. Believing in Jesus should be burdensome. It’s not something that can be done easily or lightly. The topic of Jesus’ conversation with the legal expert today was “eternal life”—what must I do to inherit it?

18. In verse 25, the legal expert asks a question to test Jesus: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

19. There’s no way Jesus would simply answer that question. Instead, He responds with a question: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

20. We find a familiar joy in this moment—Jesus doesn’t fall into the trap but tosses the test back to the legal expert.

21. I deliberately call this “a returned question” to help explain the scene. The legal expert, excited, responds by expressing what he knows.

22. “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind,’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

23. Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.” By blending Deuteronomy and Leviticus, the legal expert delivers what he thinks is a flawless and impressive answer.

24. Then in verse 29, “wanting to justify himself”—this is where the legal expert’s desire to prove himself before Jesus is revealed. In the original Greek, the word used is δικαιόω (dikaioō), which means “to be justified” or “to be declared righteous.”

25. In other words, he was so confident that the answer he gave was the “correct answer” that we can imagine the legal expert proudly standing before Jesus, full of self-assurance.

26. And then, he throws another question at Jesus: “Then who is my neighbor?” The word “neighbor” here is translated from the Greek word περιοικέω (perioikeō), which means “someone who lives nearby.” From this root we also get πλησίον (plēsion) and φίλος (philos). Generally, these words refer to people who are close by—neighbors, companions, and if we take it a step further, intimate persons, friends, or even beloved ones.

27.   The question the legal expert asks—“Who is my neighbor?”—and the wording he uses, essentially assumes that one’s neighbor is “the person closest to me,” that is, someone I can get along with in my social surroundings. So, for the legal expert, who is the person closest to him? It is a fellow Jew—especially those who are devoted to the Law. From this perspective, the legal expert is limiting the object of his “correct” answer to “those familiar with the Law,” namely, Jews.

28. Upon hearing this, Jesus shares with him one of the most familiar biblical stories to us all—the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

29. To the question “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responds by telling the “Parable of the Good Samaritan”—a story that ranks as one of humanity’s greatest.

30. The setting of the story is this: there is a man who has fallen among robbers. The text does not provide any specifics about him. He is just “a certain man.” This is a literary technique that allows us to see ourselves in that person. We don’t know his race, whether he’s poor or rich, or whether he’s a foreigner or not, whether he’s a woman or not—the story leaves it all open so that the listener naturally assumes, “That could be me.”

31.  The content of the story is simple. A priest and a Levite come by, but they pass by on the other side, avoiding the man who was robbed. This setup by Jesus is rather sharp. The priest and the Levite are typically seen as the most law-abiding Jews. To the legal expert listening, who is confident in his grasp of the Law, this sets up a situation in which he may feel convicted—he knows the Law, but is he willing to help someone in distress in real life?

32. Then, decisively, Jesus introduces “a Samaritan.” Unlike the priest and the Levite, the Samaritan treats the man’s wounds, takes him to an inn, gives money to the innkeeper, and asks him to take care of the man. He even takes a step further and promises, “If the expenses go over this amount, I will pay the rest when I return.”

33. After finishing the story, in verse 36, Jesus asks the legal expert: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

34. This question cannot be evaded. It is a question that shatters the legal expert’s self-righteousness in an instant.

35. To the Jews, Samaritans were like people from the ends of the earth. Though physically nearby, they were treated as if they were the most distant people.

36. Samaritans were originally Jews. But after the fall of the Northern Kingdom by the Assyrians, through the Assyrian policy of colonization—forced migration and intermarriage—they became a mixed people, and were called Samaritans. For the Jews, this represented a historical wound, and for the Samaritans, it was a history of deep pain.

37. After the Babylonian exile, when Israel was being rebuilt, the Samaritans wanted to join the effort. But the returning Jews, citing genealogies, excluded them. So, the Jews rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Samaritans built their temple on Mount Gerizim.

38. Simply put, to the Jews, the Samaritans were people who lived close by, yet were placed emotionally and spiritually as far away as possible. So, when we see the modern-day tension between Israel and Gaza or Palestinians, it is not just political—it may also stem from this perception of “great distance.” That’s why in verse 37, when Jesus asks the question, the legal expert doesn’t say “the Samaritan” but rather answers, “The one who had mercy on him.” This can also be understood in the same context.

39. This passage is not asking us to determine who is a good person. In response to the legal expert’s question about “neighbor,” Jesus teaches that even the one who seems to be the least likely to be your neighbor—or someone you wouldn’t even consider being close to—must be called a “neighbor.” This is the core of the Gospel and the direction of the Kingdom of God that Jesus teaches and proclaims.

40. The most burdensome presence in your life—or the person you hate the most—is precisely who must be included in the meaning of “neighbor” when we are commanded to “love your neighbor as yourself.” That is the direction this passage is teaching us.

41. At the end, Jesus says, “You go and do likewise.” This is not just a suggestion—it is a command proclaimed to us as well.

42. The people or matters that seem to have nothing to do with us, the ones we think we don’t have to care about—those are the ones we must love, just as we love God. This is the direction of the Gospel that Jesus proclaimed.

43. This passage clearly speaks to us, sitting here today: “The one you find most burdensome, the one you dislike, the one who seems the farthest from you—that person is your neighbor.” And in order to love that neighbor, we must listen to Jesus’ words: “Do likewise!”

44. It may sound like a familiar story, but it is filled with difficult and challenging truths.

45. Every time we read the parable of the Good Samaritan, we experience the humbling touch of God. Though we live as if we know this world well, we are skilled at understanding what we want—but when it comes to understanding and loving what we do not want, we remain weak. This passage reminds us of that fact.

46. I said last week that the best church is one that knows how to love those who are closest to them. Only then can a church truly grow and thrive.

47. One more thing we must remember: we must go beyond the boundary of “this is as far as I can go” and find the courage to love even those who are at the “ends of the earth”—those farthest from us. That is the direction and way of life for citizens of the Kingdom of God.

48. Today, we are witnessing reality-shaking projects that were inspired by novels and films. If we live our lives empowered by Jesus, we can change the world with even greater power than those projects.

49. So, let us hold firmly to our hearts, and may you and I become those who carry out these things together through Yeolin Church