The Law cannot help us or give us life. Rather, it confines everyone

under sin as wounded and naked before God (Gal. 3:15-22). So it is

that two figures of the Law, the priest and the Levite, passed by the

injured man on the side of the road (Luke 10:23-37). Only the

promised Seed of Abraham can rescue us and make us righteous

before God. Only the Samaritan, our Lord Jesus, had compassion, as

did the Samaritans of old (2 Chronicles 28:8-15). He came down to

us in our lost and dying condition, pouring on the oil and wine of the

Sacraments. He placed us on His own animal, bearing our sin and

brokenness in His body on the cross to restore us. Jesus brought us to

the inn, that is, the Church, and gave the innkeeper two denarii, that

His double forgiveness might continue to be ministered to us. In this

way the Lord, by whose Law we are torn and stricken, heals us and

revives us by His Gospel and raises us up with Himself. LCMS Lectionary