The Good SamaritanLuke 10:25-37Key Verse: 10:28 "`You have answered correctly,' Jesus replied. `Do this and you will live.’?” In the last passage Jesus sent out seventy-two other disciples to proclaim, "The kingdom of God is near you." It was a mission that held out many possible dangers. Up front he told them, “I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” Nevertheless when they went out in Jesus’ name God protected and provided for them. When they came back from their mission Jesus welcomed them back by telling them: “I saw Satan fall like lighting from the heaven... However do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Now that Jesus had a huge spiritual victory you would think he would continue to take the spiritual inactive. Instead he slows his ministry so he can answer two important questions from a man who was an expert in the law. From Jesus’ answers comes one of the best stories ever told that answers the question: “Who is my neighbor?” This is the question we should all ask today. “Who is my neighbor?” Let us find out from Jesus who our neighbor is and what it means to love our neighbor like ourselves. First, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" (25-27)
Look at verse 25: “On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher, he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” In the King James Version this man is called a lawyer. This lawyer was an expert in the law. In this case it means he was an expert at finding wrong interpretations in the law. Now let us see how Jesus responded to his test question regarding; “what he must do too inherit eternal life” Look at verse 26: “What is written in the law? He replied. How do you read it?” Isn’t Jesus response the best? Jesus is more than an expert in the law. Jesus is the author of the law. Jesus in his great wisdom knew the best way to respond to an expert’s test question is to have the expert answer his own question. It is impossible to teach an expert anything in their area of expertise. The most that can be hoped for is to help them answer their own question. Indeed the question this expert posed to Jesus was an extremely important question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Many people are extremely concerned about an earthly inheritance for wealth that will perish. This man we see had heavenly and an eternal sense of value. Most of us here hopefully have asked this same question. The correct answer to this question should be very dear to our hearts. For as people created in our creator’s image each of us has a great desire for eternal life. On the other hand each of us has three big problems we need resolved before we can achieve eternal life. These problems are our own personal sin, our own death and our judgment to come. The Bible guarantees us in Hebrews 9:27: each one of us is destined to die once and after this to face judgment. Therefore not only is this an excellent question for this expert in the law to ask, we should all be asking Jesus the same question. “Jesus what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Let us see how the expert in law used his knowledge of the law to answer his own question. Look at verse 27: “He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with your entire mind and Love your neighbor as yourself.” This was an incredible answer. This man in his expertise was able to sum up more than 600 laws into two laws that encompass all God’s laws- Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself. Now let us see how Jesus Christ the author of life and the author of the law judged this man’s answer. ”You have answered correctly.’ Jesus replied, ‘Do this and you will live.’” First Jesus congratulated him for giving him a correct answer. For a moment a big self congratulatory smile formed on his face. Next Jesus humbled him and told him: “Do this and you will live.” According to Jesus Christ it is not enough for us to know concisely in our minds what we must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus teaches we must “Do what we know and then we will live.” When I was leading the study of this passage with other group bible study leaders, I said: Jesus said we must Do what we know.” Upon saying this one group bible study leader spoke up and said; “Are you telling me I must do something to have eternal life?” Right after he said another group bible leader spoke up and read from John 5:39: “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” I told both these individuals they made excellent points but reminded them it was not me that said; “Do this and you will live”. It was Jesus Christ that said those words. In one sense it seems this teaching about what we must do to inherit eternal life contradicts other bible teaching. Therefore the question is how we reconcile the two different teachings. When we have questions like this it is good to go back and study the life of Abraham. Isaiah 51:1, 2 teaches:
“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord; Look to the rock from which you were cut and the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.”
The Bible tells us we should look to Abraham to help us answer questions that arise concerning the ways and teachings of God. Abraham we know will be at the head of the table at the feast that will take place in the kingdom of God. He no longer needs to answer the question what he must do to inherit eternal life. Abraham right now lives with God for eternal life. Therefore we can use his life of faith as a good example what we must do to inherit eternal life. When we study his life of faith we find indeed in Genesis 15 God declared him righteous after he believed God would do for him what he promised. Further study of Genesis shows this act of faith was not all Abraham did to show his love for God. We also find he was a man who did what God told him to do. God told him in Genesis 12 “Leave his country, people and his father’s household and go to the land I will show you. The Bible says: “Abram left as the Lord told him.”
Another time God told him in Genesis 21 to listen to his wife and get rid of his maidservant and the son he had from her. Even though this matter distressed Abraham, Abraham did what the Lord told him to do. Finally God told him to go and sacrifice his one and only son Isaac whom he loved in Genesis 22. Abraham obeyed and did what God told him. God had to stop him just before he drove the knife through his son’s heart. When we look at what God asked Abraham to do we see much of what he asked him was not very pleasant. Frankly it was inconvenient, distressing and even unreasonable. Nevertheless he obeyed and did it. By his action Abraham was able to do something practically to show God that he loved him with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength and with all his mind.
I think this is what Jesus is trying to encourage this expert in the law to inspire to. He has a heart and soul, strength and mind. Jesus is trying to encourage him to give these to God just as Abraham his forefather gave them to God. From my observation most of you do way more for Jesus than I do. Last week Missionary Hannah Kim came to our group bible study very hot and sweaty because she had just come back from campus asking people to study the bible. I could tell she didn’t feel very comfortable and probably much rather go home and take a shower. Her gracious action at that moment of discomfort showed me Missionary Hannah was hewed from the rock of Abraham and Sarah. There is no denying we much rather sit in front of a computer but God has given us more than a brain and fingers. He has given us a heart, lungs, a tongue, eyes, ears, arms, legs and a soul. Jesus does not deny these. Instead Jesus encourages us to use them to love our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all strength and with all our mind.
Second, Love your neighbor as yourself (28-37)
Let us again go back and look at this passage. Jesus very graciously helped this expert in the law. Nevertheless because he was an expert, his pride was hurt and he wanted to justify himself. Look at verse 29: “But he wanted to justify himself so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Again we cannot deny this is an excellent question. In fact we thank God this expert in the law pride was hurt. He was smart enough to ask a question we too all wanted ask but weren’t expert enough to ask. When people in my fellowship read his question they said: Good question, “Who is my neighbor?” Some said people in UBF are our neighbor. After thinking about this we decide instead they are more like family members. Like family sometimes we love each other, other times we have disagreements.
Let us learn from Jesus who our neighbor is. Jesus begins teaching who our neighbor is by directing our attention to one nameless, unfortunate man who was traveling on the very dangerous road connecting Jerusalem and Jericho. While traveling on this road he fell into the hands of robbers. Look at verse 30: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his cloths, beat him and left him half dead.” The robbers this man fell victim to were exceptionally ruthless and extremely dangerous. My nephew came from Korea to visit my family. Since he didn’t know about the many crime-ridden areas of DC he thought it would be a good idea to check out the area around the Rhode Island Metro Station. Those who are familiar with D.C. know that area is a robber’s backyard and a tourist nightmare. He had only walked a short time when he fell into the hands of about three robbers. They punched him in the stomach and eye, showed him a gun and demanded his money. Yet in comparison to the robbers in this passage they were much nicer. My nephew was brave enough to ask for at least one of his dollars back so he could take the Metro home. I think those young men in the past had been in the same situation of needing money to take a metro so they empathized with his plight. They took out one of the dollars he had handed over and gave it back to him.
Unfortunately for the man in this story these robbers were sadistic to the core. First they stripped him of all his cloths. Then when he was completely naked they beat him with their fist, kicked him and stumped him and some probably clubbed him with a crude weapon. After they almost beat him to death, they took whatever valuables he had and left him half dead. Sadly to say this sounds like a typical news story we can find weekly in the Washington Post Metro section. Time now became a life or death matter for this crime victim. Very quickly this man could die either because of shock, bleeding or some kind of internal injury.
Look at verses 31-33 “A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity him.” As this very unfortunate man lay naked and half dead in the road we see two of Israel’s servants of God came upon him. For an instant we think surely they will do something for this man once they see him. Then to our great disappointment after seeing this man both the priest and the Levite crossed to the other side of the road to avoid this man and walk on as if they saw nothing. Let us briefly use our imaginations and think why these two men of God did absolutely nothing for this man.
In our question sheet it alluded to the fact maybe they didn’t want to become unclean by touching a dead person. This could be a reason. Or maybe they had an important ecclesiastical meeting to attend such as setting up for a Sabbath service or giving some kind of bible message. What would cause us to do what they did? For one thing our own personal busy schedule. To help this man could in effect cause us to cancel our busy schedule. In each of our lives our own busy schedule is a serious priority. It would not be surprising these men simply wanted to keep in tack their busy schedule. Another reason these two men didn’t stop and help they simply were afraid they would become the next victims of the Jericho road robbers.
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a dangerous road in Jesus’ day. It is like the streets of Washington DC at 2am in the morning. In Jesus’ day it was known as the highway of blood because of all the people robbed and murdered on it. Jericho was a city of major commerce in Jesus’ day. It was situated one mile in elevation below Jerusalem. This means the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a winding, meandering road, with many sharp and narrow turns. It offered many places for robbers to hide to ambush travelers who went to or from Jerusalem and Jericho to carry out business or shopping plans. These men did not live with their heads in the sand. They had heard about the many ambushes that occurred on that road. When they saw this naked and wounded man maybe they thought the robbers were still close by. It could be they thought this man was strategically laid there as some kind of bait to lure them in for quick robbery. Therefore they didn’t stop for a moment. Instead they felt the more prudent action was to cross the street and quicken the pace of their journey.
Let us look at the Samaritan who Jesus turned into the example to teach us who our neighbor is. First we must ask why did Jesus choose to use a Samaritan as the hero in this story? Why didn’t he use a full blooded Jew since this area was in Israel? I was told Jesus didn’t use a Jew because Jews believed only other Jews are their neighbors. In a word Jews like us and all people are very selective about who their neighbors are. When the law says: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” a Jew only applies it to other Jews.” Samaritans on the other hand they were Jews who had intermarried. Therefore to Samaritans anyone could be their neighbor. Most Samaritans never discriminated because of race, religion or nationality. Samaritans had their faults but to Jesus they were the poster people of being a non-discrimitory people. This maybe the first thing we need to learn to know how to answer the question who our neighbor is. To be able to see our neighbor, first we must make sure we are not allowing some kind of prejudice to blind us. We have to change and become like a Samaritan who looks at all people as a brotherhood.
Second let us see the Samaritan’s reaction to this badly beaten man on the road. When this Samaritan saw this badly injured man lying of the road he had pity on him. The King James Version reads he had compassion on him. This is the same compassion a mother or father has for their child when they are injured. Most parents will sacrifice all their time and pay any expense to help their injured child. Missionary Joseph Chun confessed his life is filled with stress but his compassion for his children is even greater. This compassion empowers him to overcome his stressful life. This is the kind of compassion this Samaritan had for this wounded man. It is hard to describe the power of this compassion. What we do know is this compassion empowered him to sacrifice whatever he had to help save him and even sacrifice his busy schedule and possibly his own life. When this Samaritan saw this injured man on the ground, because he saw him with compassion he thought to himself, “If I was in this man’s situation I would certainly want someone to stop and help.” The Samaritan was able to stop thinking only about “I” and think instead about “Thou” because his code of life was to love his neighbor as himself.
Third, let look at all that the Samaritan did for this half dead man. Verse 34 tells us instead of crossing to the other side of the street like the first two men, he went to the man and bandaged his wounds. Who here carries around bandages with them? For this man to bandage his wounds shows he may have used his own clothing, ripping them apart and wrapping them around his bloodied wounds and used other garments of his to cover the man’s nakedness. He also poured his own wine on his wounds to disinfect them and placed oil on them to lessen the pain. Isn’t this enough? We think this Samaritan did more than enough. Not withstanding the Samaritan truly treated this man the way he would have wanted to be treated. He knew he wouldn’t have wanted to be left alone on that violent robber infested road by himself. Therefore he placed this badly injured man on his on donkey and gently guided the donkey to the nearest and safest inn. He checked into one of the rooms and laid the man on the bed. At this point we would think now this is enough. Now he has to start thinking about his own busy schedule and many responsibilities people are impatiently waiting for him to take care of. Certainly a responsible man like this oversees many important duties. Nevertheless, the Samaritan still doesn’t’ leave the man’s side. He placed all his important duties on the back burner for the rest of the day and night. He gave this injured man all his time and energy for the rest of the day and night. Very gently and very thoughtfully he nursed this man. His care brought him out of shock and gave his wounds the needed care to begin complete healing. He surrounded him with an atmosphere of protection and security. The next morning he takes out two silver coins and gives them to the inn keeper. This was enough money to provide at least four weeks of room and board for this man and possibly up to two months. Even this was not enough in the mind of the Samaritan. He then gave this promise to the inn keeper. “Look after him, he said and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.” This Samaritan’s help and aid to this man wasn’t a one day, one night event. He provided a promise to help him until he was completely healed.
This story Jesus gave has been the inspiration to help both people and nations to become this type of Samaritan to those in desperate need. There was once a devoted Christian family called the Ten Boom family that lived in Holland. Their home was always an "open house" for anyone in need. During the Second World War, the Ten Boom home became a refuge, a hiding place, for fugitives and those hunted by the Nazis. By protecting these people, Casper Ten Boom and his daughters, Corrie and Betsie, risked their lives every day. During 1943 and into 1944, there were usually 6-7 people, Jews, students opposed to the Nazis and the Dutch underground illegally living and hiding in their home. Their courageous Samaritan type of care eventually led the family to be arrested by the Gestapo and placed in concentration camps. All the Ten Boom family ended up dying in the concentration camps except Corrie Ten Boom. She went on to share the good news of Jesus and her exciting life testimony to people around the world. When the roll was finally counted it was estimated the Ten Boom family saved the lives of 800 Jews and protected many other people who opposed the Nazi occupation.
In closing we must admit Jesus Christ himself has been this type of Good Samaritan for each of us. When our life had only an empty void with nothing to satisfy it, he came in our life and satisfied us by offering to have a personal relationship with us. When our life was dark with the shame of sin he not only forgave us, drove out our demons, he helped us overcome our sins so we could use our lives as instruments of righteousness for God’s holy purpose. In every single trial we experience, Jesus has seen us. He then uses those trials to help make us more mature and complete people of God. One day he promises he will come back to take us with him and share with him his heavenly glory for all eternality. Jesus Christ not only authored the story of the Good Samaritan, he became the Good Samaritan by dying for our sins on the cross and by sharing his resurrection with us. To this day Jesus still walks the mean, thirsty and hurting highways and back roads of this world. To those who welcome him he will come and be the Good Samaritan that will rescue them and give them a new life.
Look at verse 36, 37: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him,” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Jesus finishes his conversation with the expert in the law by telling him to go and do likewise. We have our own important and busy schedule to keep. Helping others holds out possible dangers and fears. Like the Levite and priest it is much easier to just cross the street and go on with our own personal affairs. But we must at least stop and put ourselves in our needy neighbor’s position. Then we must remember the word of God: Love your neighbor as yourself. We must remember our Savior Jesus how he stopped and gave aid to our own life when we were in need. Finally I pray Jesus will help us to listen and obey his words today “Go and do likewise.”