Your guide through the weekly Lectionary texts highlighting fresh sermon illustrations, sermons, and sermon prep help for each reading.
Lectionary Texts of the Week
Sunday, July 13, 2025
Proper 10 (15) Season after Pentecost, Year C
Overview
“And who is my neighbor?” is a fair question for a lawyer to ask. Jews, believing that the Law came directly from the mouth of God, paid scrupulous attention to each word, careful not to miss a nuance. The Law does not say “love everyone.” Rather, it says “love your neighbor.” There were three ways that “neighbor” could be construed according to the rabbis: someone who lives next to you, a blood relation or close friend, or else a member of your clan.
The hero of the parable: a Samaritan man on a journey, explodes all of those definitions and instead gives an expansive definition of neighbor—whoever is right around you at any given time. The added detail of the Priest and Levite avoiding the man on the road also has significance under the Levitical law. Touching a dead person would make a temple functionary ritually unclean. However, the man was not dead, only gravely wounded. The religious men, then, to avoid the burden of helping him (another serious command found in the Law!) crossed to a safe distance so that they could plausibly say that they assumed he was dead, using the Law as a cover for neglecting the one in need instead of following the spirit of the Law and rushing to help. By contrast, the Samaritan, despite being outside the covenant community, fulfills the
commandment lavishly, displaying the heart of the Father for sufferers.
