This day is perhaps the easiest Sunday in the whole church year to preach at St. John's Chapel because the gospel reading for today, the parable of the "Good Samaritan," is illustrated by the memorial window over the altar. As Confucius said, "A picture is worth a thousand words." So you can concentrate on the window and ignore the words, if you wish, and you will have the full benefit of our Lord's teaching.

This parable, which describes in powerful living action the entrance of God's love into the world, has changed the whole history of mankind. Before this teaching was delivered by our Lord other human beings were considered to be of little worth if they were not part of your immediate or extended family. One need have no concern for anyone else if they were in trouble, or in need, or suffering. The only people that mattered were members of your own family. What Jesus is teaching us is that every human being in need deserves our care and our concern.

Today if you travel in non-Christian countries such as China, India or Africa, you will find little concern for individuals outside of the immediate circle of one's family. A friend who went to school with me told me a story about his parents who were Presbyterian medical missionaries in China. They were sailing down the Yangtze River on a ferryboat. The weather was bad, the current was running, and it was raining and windy. The boat was crowded and one of the passengers happened to slip and fall over into the river. He as screaming and yelling for help. No one paid any attention to him. He was totally ignored. Finally the father of my friend dove into the river, swam to the man and got a hold of him. His mother persuaded a crewman to throw out a life preserver to them and they brought the poor fellow and his father back on board. When they inquired of the crewmen why no one helped, the answer was that they all looked upon this poor man's plight as a sacrifice to the river god. To have saved him would have endangered the whole ferryboat because the river god might have sunk the boat. This is the usual outlook in countries where Christianity has not permeated. Anyone who tells you that all religions are the same and that we are all going to the same place, do not believe them. That is foolish.

The revelation of God through Jesus Christ for the first time brought human concern into the world. This is the meaning of this parable. You can look at the memorial window and see depicted there the poor traveler on the Jericho road wounded, stripped naked, lying there half dead, being befriended and cared for by the Good Samaritan. The cold-hearted priest with his nose buried in his prayer book passes him by. The Levite with his thin, hard face glances at him and does not stop. But the despised outcast Samaritan is the one who shows mercy on him. We even see the beast, the donkey in the memorial window over the altar, having his lunch on the flowers next to the injured man.

The message that this parable communicates to us is the necessity for all of us, if we are to receive eternal life, to love one another. We must love the stranger. We must love anyone who is in need. The impact of this parable has brought into existence the great medical, benevolent and helping institutions of the Christian world. The many Good Samaritan hospitals, the Red Cross, and the United Way are all the modern equivalents of what Jesus was teaching over 2,000 years ago.

Perhaps, the greatest figure of our time who has been carrying out this teaching of Jesus was the late Mother Teresa, for whom we have been praying. She began her ministry in the slums of Calcutta in a society where the individual counts for nothing. We have all heard people say that there is nothing that we can do about the problems of the poor in India. What can anyone do about all those people who are sick and dying? We are tempted to say that it is better to let them depart and then we will not have to be worried about them. The Christian need not ask these kinds of questions and need not try to solve them. The Christian says, "If someone is in need and if I can help, I will do so. Let God take care of the rest." This parable is of tremendous influence in the life of anyone who decides to believe in Jesus Christ.

Many churches have memorial windows and statues and they all have inscriptions on them. Occasionally these inscriptions can be taken in more than one way. Probably the best example of this is an Episcopal Church in New England that has a sign on the bell that says, "To be rung only in case of fire, flood, the visitation of the bishop, or any other calamity."

The inscription on our Good Samaritan window also can be taken in more that one way. It reads, "To the glory of God and in memory of Charles Dickey. Born 1861. Died 1931. Go thou and do likewise." There is much truth to this admonition. We are all heading towards our own demise. Death comes to everyone. We will do likewise. We need to remember that the context of the parable of the Good Samaritan is the question as to how to obtain eternal life. This reminds us that if one takes up a challenge to love, one has to be courageous. We have to face opposition, disagreement, violence and maybe even death in order to put this admonition to love into reality. That is why so few people decide to help a stranger. It is dangerous. You can get hurt. You can become infected. You can meet strong opposition. Look what happened to Jesus when he lived out the full dimension of God's love. He was despised, rejected, condemned and crucified. Yet God's love is always triumphant over pain and sorrow. The only thing that the Bible says is as strong as death is love.

We are to move into the world as Christians willing to take a chance on love. The great figures in medical history have all done this. Dr. Walter Reed in his struggle against malaria, which led to victory over this disease, contracted it himself and died. Father Damian, who went out to serve amongst the lepers in Hawaii, came down with leprosy and died of it. Dr. Marcus Whitman, a medical missionary to the Indians in the state of Washington, was killed in a massacre by the Walla Walla Indians. It is risky, dangerous, and difficult, but still the greatest thing in the world to love God and to love your neighbor.

This is the difference between the Christian faith and every other religious faith. It is not negative; it is positive. It is not told in abstract propositions; it is told in living figures. Jesus was the greatest teacher of them all and He taught by telling stories. The best way to communicate anything is to tell stories. Every good preacher knows this.

This parable does not speak only of our Lord's admonition to love our neighbor. Jesus also reminded us that the first part of this great commandment was to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Someone wishing to quibble over the Christian faith today might well ask "And who is the Lord our God?"

Some years ago, as I was celebrating the Holy Communion at the 8 a.m. service here at St. John's altar, the sun was beginning to come up at the east end of the church building which faces the land of the resurrection of our Lord. The sun began to shine through the upper part of the memorial window. Just as I was prepared to consecrate the elements of bread and wine, I looked into the chalice that was filled with the wine for the consecration and there reflected back to me was a perfect image of the face of the Good Samaritan. This remarkable occurrence brought to my mind the interpretation of this parable by a great Christian saint from the second century, Saint Clement of Alexandria. He taught that this parable was an allegory of one who was despised, who was rejected, who came entirely to express and live out the love of God for mankind. St. Clement taught that the Good Samaritan was, in fact, a figure of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Good Samaritan who has come to help and heal and save us.

Each of us, at some time of another in our life, will be like that traveler along the Jerusalem-Jericho road. Somewhere between the city of the plain and the heavenly city on high we will be set upon by the slings and arrows of life. We will become disillusioned, we will lose our faith, and we will lose our ability to continue on.

Then Christ will come into our lives to heal us and restore us. He will bind up our wounded hearts, and care for us spiritually and emotionally. Whether it is because of bereavement and sorrow, or sin and wrong doing, or loss of faith and despair, Christ will come into our broken lives and restore us in the same way that the Good Samaritan restored the wounded traveler. He will set us on our way again and will bid us to respond by faith and love.