The parable of the Good Samaritan is a message of connection, of relationship; a message of love and grace in all things and through all things, for all people and with all people. It is rooted in the Good News…which is great love for God and neighbor, a great love which has the power to transform the narrative from suspicion to acceptance, a great love which opens our eyes to the Spirit of God in our midst, a great love which call us to embrace all people as Beloved Children of God.
March 1, 2026
Rooted in the Good News
The Good News is … “great love for God and neighbor”
Luke 10:25-37
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
Luke 10:25-37
“An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “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 neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.””
But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
The Good News is … great love for God and neighbor” Luke 10:25-37
He answered, “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 neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
I sat down with my morning coffee yesterday and began to scroll through social media, balancing my need to stay informed and my need to protect my sanity. Only to receive a text which said, “Here we go. World War 3. This is terrifying”. At that moment, I had no words to offer, partly because I hadn’t had enough coffee. But more so because I was still processing what I had read…bombs dropped. The promise of peace shattered. The voices of those living in fear crying out. All underlined by a chorus of “When will we ever learn?”
I’m not sure I have any more answers this morning than I did yesterday. What I do know is that for more than two thousand years, our sacred story has taught us that as ones who proclaim Jesus as our Lord and Savior, as people of faith, we are called to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our being AND love our neighbor as ourselves. In fact, this foundational truth is found throughout our sacred text, especially in stories like the one we shared today, the parable of The Good Samaritan. Sure, over the years, the shock value of having a Samaritan offer compassion while religious leaders go one pass, has worn off but its message of compassion, its message of seeing each other as children of God, its message of showing mercy to one and all, that has not worn off, that has not worn out. Regardless of translation, regardless of version, regardless of method, the parable of the Good Samaritan’s message of connection, of relationship, its message of love and grace in all things, through all things, for all people and with all people still comes through loud and clear. It is rooted in the Good News…which is great love for God and neighbor, a great love which has the power to transform the narrative from suspicion to acceptance, a great love which opens our eyes to the Spirit of God in our midst, a great love which call us to embrace all, white, black brown, LGBTQ, transgender, immigrant, Iranian, Ukrainian, Venezuelan, prisoner, homeless, Muslim, Jewish, sick, helpless, friend, enemy and everyone in between, a great love which demands we embrace all as Beloved Children of God.
And we know all this. We don’t need another sermon on this text to remind us of this. We know that Jesus used this parable as a way to push the conversation our conversations as his followers beyond our traditional understandings, beyond our traditional viewpoints of just exactly who our neighbor is, beyond just who is accepted fully into our community. We know that Jesus used this particular parable, told this particular parable to challenge the way this world works by inviting us as his followers to open our eyes to see the image of God residing in everyone, inviting us to see everyone, and I do mean everyone, as our neighbor whom we accept fully into our community, even the ones we disagree with, inviting us to change the narrative by shifting neighbor from being just an object we decide is worthy of our love to accountability on how we embody being a neighbor to one and all. We know all this.
And still the underlying chorus which fills our world as disciples of Christ, as ones who proclaim that Jesus is our Lord and Savior is When will we ever learn? When will we not let these words of acceptance and grace be something we simply say on Sunday morning? When will we stop thinking about who our neighbor is in theory and actually begin practicing being a neighbor to one and all? When will we stop defining neighbor as simply people who look like us, who think like us, who act like us AND start choosing to let the Good News take root in our hearts, in our lives, in our very beings and actually living it out in all we do and say?
Yes, I know I am saying these things to people who are trying, who are trying to practice what we preach, who are trying to not let the Word of God be something which stays on a page but rather becomes something which takes root, which transforms us into the people of love and grace God has created and calls us to be. And yes, I know that oftentimes the way we change things is by asking better questions meaning, we are reframing the question, no longer asking who is my neighbor. Instead, we are asking will we choose to be neighbors? I know all of this and still the underlying chorus which echoes in my heart, in my being, in our world right now is when will we ever learn?
Because here is the Truth…it doesn’t matter how many sermons I preach, how many sermons the wider Church preaches on the Parable of the Good Samaritan, until we as the Body of Christ demonstrate mercy, demonstrate love, demonstrate grace to everyone, demonstrate acceptance to everyone and I mean everyone. Yes, even the priest and the Levite in this story, even the people we disagree with, even the people who are our enemies. Until we see everyone as Beloved Children of God. Until we say this is not how we love our God with all our heart, mind, strength and being and love our neighbors as ourselves. Until we say, not in our name will bombs be dropped, people killed, or countries torn apart, the underlying chorus to our worship, to our faith as followers of Jesus Christ will always be…when will we ever learn? And for me, that is why we need the Parable of the Good Samaritan for a time such as this because it reminds us that the Beloved Community of God does not play by our rules. It does not agree to our boundaries when those very boundaries are used to define who is in and who is out. In a time such as this when the underlying chorus to current events is when will we ever learn, as followers of Jesus Christ, we need a stories like the parable of the Good Samaritan to remind us that Jesus came as the Prince of Peace and showed us a different way to be in community, to be in relationship, to remind us that the Good News which has the power to change our course from war to peaceable kingdom is and will always be connected to our call to show great love for God and our neighbor in all things, through all things, for all people, with all people. We need stories like the parable of the Good Samaritan to tell us to go and do likewise…May it be so. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for Sunday, March 1, 2026 – The Good News is … great love for God and neighbor.
Additional sermons are available in the Sermon Library.
Listen to the podcast.
Leave a Reply
Your email is safe with us.