Genesis 1:26-31

Luke 10:26-37

The sixth spiritual fruit that the apostle Paul names is goodness. Or sometimes it is translated as generosity. The word that the apostle Paul uses in Greek means something like an ‘uprightness of life’, virtuous, beneficial. It’s like if you mixed generosity, joy, and righteousness up – that is goodness.

I thought today before the heat sets in too much, we’d think about what it means to bear the fruit of goodness. What does it mean to be good? What is good in the Christian way? What does it mean to lead a good life?

The Lord answers that very early in the Bible. In Genesis, the first book of the bible, we hear the  creation story. It was our Old Testament reading today. We don’t need to take this story literally as if God made the world in seven days. Instead it’s more like a poem, a song. It tells us the truth on a deeper level. The truth is God created all things seen and unseen – the birds, the mountains, the plants, the cattle, and us, human beings. All things in this world and this life are from God, have their beginning in God, have their middle in God, have their end in God. And what is the word that the Lord uses to describe his magnificent creation – good. After each part of creation is named, we’re told the Lord looked out and said “this is good”. And in the part of the creation story we heard today, when God creates human beings, we’re told two things: first, that God created us, human beings, in his image, and second, God looks out over everything that he has made and says that this isn’t just good, it’s very good. Here is the truth: God created you in his image and you have value because God sees you as a very good part of his creation.

What we can say about being good and leading a good life is that it involves God. Even if we don’t know it or can’t see it, goodness comes from God because God is the creator of all things. What this also means about the good life is that it is not just limited to me or my particular group of people or my way of seeing the world. Here’s what this means plainly: being an American doesn’t make us good anymore than being a German makes us good, just as being a football fan makes us good over being a baseball fan. Or, think about this, saying we are a Christian doesn’t automatically make us good over someone who doesn’t believe in God. How can we say that? Because the Christian message isn’t about outward appearances or saying the right words and prayers. Being a Christian is about what goes on deep inside of us. Christ needs to transform us and renew our minds to bear the spiritual fruit of goodness. 

Goodness is bigger than those categories because God is bigger than any one country or group of people. In fact, when we think of ourselves as Americans or soccer fans or this group first, we can quickly get ourselves into trouble.

We learn that in our parable this morning, the parable of the Good Samaritan. We read it last week, but we are reading it again this week because it is so important to understanding God, the Christian life, and the spiritual fruit of goodness. You know the story: A man is beaten by robbers and left for dead along the side of the road. A priest and a Levite, two religious leaders, step right over him and go out of their way to avoid him. Why do they do that? Because they believe their religion teaches them they can’t come into contact with a dead body. They are making their national and ethnic and religious identity the most important thing instead of their humanity, which comes from God. Put simply, they have their priorities screwed up. Instead, it’s a Samaritan, a foreigner, who comes to the man’s aid and Jesus says it’s this Samaritan, this foreigner, who does the Lord’s will. The priest and the Levite should have known better, but they had become religious nuts. It’s the Samaritan who bears good spiritual fruit.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is about what it means to be a human being when other human beings are suffering. It teaches us the ethic of mercy. It shows us goodness in action. And, it is a moral reminder to never let religion or politics or a personal agenda get in the way of doing what is right. 

But, I would like us to consider the parable in a different light today because this parable is fundamentally about a change of heart. I would like us to consider that we are the man in the ditch. We are the one who lies helpless along the side of the road. We are the one who is in such bad shape that we can’t rescue ourselves. For all of our sophistication and virtues and money and religious attitudes, we just can’t do it. We are wounded and left for dead way out in the far country, and the priest and the Levite aren’t going to stop to help us. 

But, a Good Samaritan does, and that Good Samaritan is Jesus Christ – the despised and rejected crucified One. He is moved with pity at the sight of our condition. He draws near to bandage our wounds. He pours healing oil on our heads and offers us life giving wine. He takes us in his loving arms and he fronts our bill at the inn until we are made well. As the apostle Paul said, while were still God’s enemies, God saw us in the ditch and had compassion, and Jesus came to save us. 

How does this help us to understand the good life or what it means to be good? Saying we are Christian or going through the motions with our worship and prayers doesn’t mean a whole lot. That’s not to say that routine is bad. But being a Christian is about being a disciple, a follower of Christ, and that involves a transformation of your heart and a renewal of your mind and a lifting up of your spirit. Being good isn’t about showing off how moral or important we are. Being good also doesn’t mean we have to do everything. Instead, goodness is a fruit that is born. Goodness is produced in us when Christ’s joy and peace settle into us. And we bear goodness when we allow God to help us (the word in the bible for this is ‘save’) like the Good Samaritan saves the man in the ditch. 

What does it mean to be a good Christian? Pray, pray for others, read the Bible, worship, ask yourself the question: what am I doing for others? Those are all important ways of bearing goodness. But even more so, goodness ripens when we stay close to God. When we are close to God, we see people, our neighbors as God sees them, flawed, yes. Smelly, sometimes. Wretched, perhaps. But human beings created in God’s image, who God loves very much.

Amen.