Sermon Seeds: The One Who Showed Mercy

Sunday, July 13, 2025
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost| Year C
(Liturgical Color: Green)

Lectionary Citations
Amos 7:7-17 and Psalm 82 • Deuteronomy 30:9-14 and Psalm 25:1-10 • Colossians 1:1-14 • Luke 10:25-37
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=p&d=64&y=384

Focus Scripture: Luke 10:25-37
Focus Theme: The One Who Showed Mercy
Series: Raise Her Voice: Into the Deep (Click here for the series overview.)

Reflection
By Cheryl A. Lindsay

Have you ever They, and we, have been commissioned…like lambs.
Tests. There are different types of tests. In education, there are tests to determine comprehension of a subject. Sometimes, pre-tests provide an assessment of gaps in knowledge and opportunities for growth before the education process begins. The tests administered following the impartation of information demonstrates the progress made by the student and may also serve as an indicator of the efficacy of teaching strategies. Some tests lead to credentialing such as the bar exam for attorneys, the Candidate Physical Ability Test for firefighters, or the Medical Licensing Examination for physicians. These evaluations also serve as entry points in professional practice and help to maintain standards for the respective fields.

Of course, we don’t only have tests associated with school or work. Tests may prove our ability to do something such as driving tests that enable us to operate motor vehicles. Other tests may assess the functioning of our bodies, such as eye exams, hearing tests, and stress tests. The results do not reflect aptitude; rather, they may point to the need for intervention to facilitate living a fuller, flourishing life.

Less formal tests also enter our lives. Running a marathon offers a test of endurance. Personality tests help us understand ourselves and each other. Some members in our faith communities may share that a challenging situation or time in their lives tested their faith. There’s a reason it’s called a testimony.

Inherent in our understanding of the act of testifying is that a witness is required. Someone, with knowledge, proof, or evidence, shares that with others who need to hear from someone who knows.

In the gospel reading, the passage opens with a statement that an expert stood up to test Jesus. We could give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they were looking for Jesus to testify. More likely, this encounter was yet another instance of a religious leader taking issue with Jesus and opening up an antagonistic dialogue.

The leader who stands up to Jesus presumably did not have a congenial tone. They may have been polite enough, respectful enough, but underneath the question is an adversarial intention. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The text reads more like a courtroom case than a classroom, and Jesus responds accordingly by posing questions to the legal expert in response. Again, it’s not a new or unique strategy for Jesus who seems to enjoy asking questions as much as answering them.

There is the Christ who answers questions and the Christ who asks them.

And here, Jesus turns the test back on the tester and asks the legal expert to answer their own question: ”What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

The motive underlying the man’s approach to Jesus may be suspect, but his knowledge of the Torah is not. He answers in v. 27 with a deft quotation of Scripture that splices together the commandment to love God with one’s whole being (Deut 6:5) and the commandment to love neighbor as oneself (Lev 19:18)….Jesus endorses this response: “You’ve answered correctly. Do this, and you will live” (Luke 10:28)….Thus far the legal scholar and Jesus agree, and the view they share is uncontroversial. Yet the examiner presses Jesus on one interpretive detail: “And who is my neighbor?” (v. 29). Just who is this neighbor whom the Torah requires me to love?
John T. Carroll

The text says, the legal expert asks this question in order to vindicate himself. The perspective is legal so are the terms being used. It’s a courtroom case, not a classroom. It’s a debate not a discussion. The legal expert has been caught in their own questioning; therefore, they try to salvage the situation by issuing a new test: who is my neighbor?

Who deserves my concern? Who is worthy of my care and consideration? Who must I love?

If I must love my neighbor, who do I get to exclude from the list? Who must I muster up a change of attitude and action to pass this test?

The legal expert’s question is limiting. They are looking for ways to shrink the box marked neighbor and want Jesus to justify their discriminatory stance. Rather than respond with a new question immediately, Jesus tells a story—a parable that makes the point.

A victim of a violent crime has been left for dead on the side of the road and the question the story addresses is who will help them. Who will respond from a place of compassion rather than convenience? Who will be moved to action rather than just move quickly on from the scene?
A priest, someone charged and privileged with leadership in the faith community walks on by. A Levite, another person with designated power and authority in the religious community, could not be bothered. It’s the Samaritan, the one not only from outside the community, but one despised and demeaned by the community, who not only notices the man and acknowledges the urgent need, but who takes action to help him and ensure his continued care and wellbeing.

After that setup, then Jesus asks the question, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor?” Not only has Jesus not fallen into the trap the so-called expert set, Jesus has turned the question around. The question is not who do I have to love. The question is am I one who loves? The way we show up in the world is not dictated by the actions or identities of others but by the attitude of our hearts and the ways that attitude manifests in our actions.

The legal expert has no real choice. Jesus has not offered any other viable option for the legal expert to suggest except the Samaritan. Of course, in their answer, they can’t even bring themselves to acknowledge their identity as a Samaritan so they answer by describing their actions. Even in this, Jesus uses their own prejudices to make the point.

The one who showed mercy. That’s the answer.

The one who shows mercy does not give based on what they think someone deserves, they respond to what the person needs. It’s not mercy when we impose litmus tests on our generosity. It’s not mercy when our love comes with conditions attached. It’s not mercy when we give to the poor and then monitor and disparage their choices. It’s also not mercy when we offer a cheapened and performative version of compassion that still prioritizes our convenience over sustainability and restoration.

There are times when Jesus asks the question and there are times when Jesus answers the question. There are times when Jesus administers the test, and there are times when Jesus takes the test.

Like us, Jesus’ life was full of tests. There were the moments of temptation when the adversary met Jesus in the wilderness following a forty day baptismal retreat. There were the moments of vulnerability and agony in the garden and on the cross when Jesus asked the questions so many of us have asked during the most trying parts of our lives, “Take this cup from me.” Jesus petitioned. “Do I really have to do this?” We might ask. “My God My God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus cried. “Where is God? Is God real?” We may wonder.

Those are the questions. Still, there are answers.

Not my will but your will be done.
Into your hands I commit my spirit.

And perhaps, these are the mantras to adopt to cultivate a pervasive and persistence posture of love so that when the story is told, may the account of our actions reflect that we were the ones who showed mercy.

Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent
The 33rd General Synod adopted a Resolution to Recognize the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). As part of its implementation, Sermon and Weekly Seeds offers Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent related to the season or overall theme for additional consideration in sermon preparation and for individual and congregational study.
“The power of just mercy is that it belongs to the undeserving. It’s when mercy is least expected that it’s most potent—strong enough to break the cycle of victimization and victimhood, retribution and suffering. It has the power to heal the psychic harm and injuries that lead to aggression and violence, abuse of power, mass incarceration.”
― Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy

For Further Reflection
“The world will give you that once in awhile, a brief timeout; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life.” ― Sue Monk Kidd
“Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy.” ― Wendell Berry
“She knows herself to be at the mercy of events, and she knows by now that events have no mercy.” ― Margaret Atwood

Works Cited
Carroll, John T. Luke. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012.

Suggested Congregational Response to the Reflection
During this series, Raise Her Voice: Into the Deep, in the season after Pentecost, we invite the local church to listen to Spirit speaking among us by developing the practices of testimony and exhortation. In testimony, one recounts how the Holy One has been present, moved, and guided in the past. In exhortation, one shares discernment based on what Spirit is still speaking to the church today. This may be done during worship as an immediate response to proclamation or in another format (i.e. blog posts, short videos on social media).

Worship Ways Liturgical Resources
https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/after-pentecost-5c-july-13/

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves a local church pastor, public theologian, and worship scholar-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities. You’re invited to share your reflections on this text in the comments on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.

A Bible study version of this reflection is at Weekly Seeds.