Rev. Dr. Jonathan Blanke, Senior Pastor
Pastor’s Corner for July 13-19, 2025
Help Found in Unlikely Places
(Luke 10:25-37)
Have you ever found yourself an unlikely “Good Samaritan”? I have. I will never forget the day I, though a foreigner in an out-of-the-way corner in one of the world’s major cities, was asked by a passerby for help. It wasn’t a big deal. I was young, and this older gentleman who clearly didn’t know where he was asked if I could help him find a landmark I knew was a couple of blocks away. Never mind I didn’t look anything at all like the other pedestrians on the street that day — including my questioner. Never mind I could barely speak the language he and all the other people around him were using. Never mind the road we stood on was not exactly familiar turf for me either. But I did know just enough about my surroundings that I could walk up the road a bit to show him the path he needed to take. In that brief encounter, the absolute last person on that crowded street who SHOULD have been able to help, did. The fact that it was yours truly made it a moment I still carry with me almost 40 years later.
“Who is my neighbor?” a lawyer trying to justify himself as someone who truly loved his neighbor once asked Jesus. Ironically, the moment the lawyer tried to justify himself was the very moment he no longer cared for the very “neighbors” God was putting in his path! How does Jesus answer the question about neighbors? With a parable about a Good Samaritan. Samaritans would have been the least likely heroes in a story told to Israelites in Jesus’ day. They were generally shunned by the people of Israel as outsiders. They were believed to have possessed a misguided half-pagan faith. Yet this Samaritan — not the fellow countrymen of the man left for dead by the side of the road — was the one who had compassion on the poor man, cared for him, and lived as one who was truly a “neighbor” to him. Jesus’ parable reveals God at work in the most unlikely and unexpected places: A Samaritan…a cross…a garden tomb. Perhaps even a lawyer inclined to justify himself. Even me. And yes, even you!
This week we remember and celebrate that no one is outside the reach of God’s love. Similarly, anyone can be used by God to be a “good Samaritan” to someone else. Why? Because God is used to showing up in the most unlikely places. Jesus, our Good Samaritan, has done all that was needed to rescue us — so that we might care for one another. Let’s keep our eyes and ears open for opportunities to be a good neighbor to someone this week because of all that Jesus has done for us!
Love in Christ,
Pastor Jonathan
Pastor Jonathan Blanke grew up in Richmond, Virginia. He received his Bachelor's degree from College of William and Mary in Virginia and attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, where he earned a Masters of Divinity degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biblical Studies, Book of John. He served as a Vicar at Messiah Lutheran Church in Richardson, Texas.
The Blanke family lived in Japan while he served as pastor and missionary to Okinawa Lutheran Church and taught Biblical Studies at Japan Lutheran College in Tokyo.
Pastor Jonathan lived in southern Maryland from January 2014 to November 2019 and was thankful to have served as the Sole Pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lexington Park, Maryland.
He and his wife, Juli, have two grown children. In his free time, Jonathan likes to travel, "play around" on the piano, and enjoy the outdoors.
Click HERE to view a brief video from Pastor Jonathan.