The Good Samaritan

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 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 on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

 “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.”  Luke 10:25-37

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Quickly, some background: 1000 years earlier, the nation of Israel was divided into two nations in the days of Jeroboam and Rehoboam . Israel was composed of the ten tribes to the north, and Judah was made up of Judah and Benjamin.

Immediately after the division, Jeroboam changed the worship of the Israelites to Dan and Bethel.  The folks in Judah hated this—it was not what God wanted either.  Later, after Israel’s fall to the Assyrians, they began to intermarry with the Assyrians, contrary to what God and the written law  required of them,   This is why the Jews hated the Samaritans as “dogs,” or “half-breeds.”  They were not faithful to all that God required of the Hebrews.

The Samaritans were also a continuous source of difficulty to the Jews who rebuilt Jerusalem after returning from Babylonian captivity.

Eventually, the religion of the Samaritans evolved to the point that they held only the Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy) as being the law of God, rejecting all the books of poetry and prophecy. Furthermore, they claimed their copy of the Pentateuch was the only original copy (a claim still made today by what few Samaritans still survive). Obviously, this was/is a claim rejected by the Jews.  The point of all of this is that the Jews absolutely despised the Samaritans—they really hated them. They would walk hour and hours around the land of the Samaritans to avoid even touching the earth they walked upon!

The nearest thing I can compare these folks to would be Muslim extremists—Hamas or the suicide bombers of the World Trade Center.  It’s hard to have warms feelings for the militant Muslims that want us dead.  That’s how the Jews felt to the Samaritans—-but even worse!

The story is that a man was beaten and left for dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.   But let me make the contrast a bit more poignant:  Imagine that  it was a pastor and a deacon or elder, that saw this poor man on their way to church Sunday morning.  But later, an illegal alien, who happened to be transgender and an atheist,  stopped and had compassion on this man and helped him and then took him to a hospital and promised to pay for whatever the beat up man’s insurance did not.

Now, does the insult of the parable not make it more personal?   Christ was talking to some very devout Jews here and he asked them, “Who was being a neighbor?”  Notice the reversal: The question was “Who is my neighbor?” but Jesus turns it into the more important question of who is living and acting like a neighbor. The one that did acted in kindness was the neighbor. Not the ones that believed correctly, or memorized Bible verses, had nice thoughts, or attended church regularly.

The shocking part of he story is in the identity of the good neighbor, a Samaritan, one of those people despised by the Jews—-this was the dirty Muslim of their time.   Jesus was telling the people  he was talking to that they should all be as good as a Samaritan! But how insulting it must have been to the proud Jews!

There are two points being made here, I think:  The first point is  directed mainly to the religious folks, you like you and me—- conservative evangelicals—that somehow think helping those in trouble in our community or being champions of social justice is in some way connected to socialism or progressive politics.  Friends, if they are, we must all endure that kind of label—-be it liberal, progressive socialist, etc,  because this is clearly Jesus taught! We are to  look after the needs of others and not our own. In fact, Paul reminds us that those of us mature in Christ consider the needs of others more important than our own needs.  That’s not socialism, that’s a reflection of the very humility of Jesus Christ.   You cannot have the mind of Christ and neglect social justice!

Progressives and liberals claim to be the voice for the poor, needy or ignored in our society, but the voice should be coming from the body of Christ.  Sadly, some of us who claim to have experienced the rebirth  pass by the wounded and condemn them for being wounded.  And I realize that they are also those whose political views are that only the government is able to properly decide what is best for the poor and injured.  But again, if the Christian church did it’s job there would be no need or place the government in creating agencies and departments!

During WWII, Bonhoeffer said that in the face of German persecution of Jews, Christians HAD to call the evil government to accountability, bind the wounds of the needy, and stop the government from pursuing policies which harm people.  So should we!

But think about it, did the Samaritan take that poor victim to the synagogue, hand him a tract about how to be born again, or  preach a sermon? No, he did what the situation called for,  and that was what God wants!  The Samaritan did this because it was simply the right thing to do. I don’t get the idea that he had to think about it, let alone pray about it! He acted out of his character and belief.

It seems to me that a lot of what we call Christianity comes from folks that have focused on what they have heard about Jesus, but they’ve not met the risen Christ.  Friends, once Jesus Christ is “risen” within you, you’ve got something to say. Until then your witness is probably more religious, like the priest and scribe in the parable.  Think about what Jesus told His disciples in Mark 9:9, “He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead.”

You see, Jesus told the disciples that they should say nothing until the Son of Man had risen. The risen Christ represents a new time in human history and a new understanding of what we’re supposed to be.  But until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth, say nothing, you don’t know what you’re talking about and you become a clanging bell.

When you grow and develop the right condition inwardly, that is to say, the Holy Spirit comes into your heart and opens your eyes and ears, and you become immersed, or baptized into the love God, the words Jesus spoke become so clear that you are amazed you did not grasp them before. In fact, you were not able to understand them before because you had not yet developed the proper spiritual condition to deal with them.  You must meet the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus…. and He must reveal to you who He really is. Has that happened in your life?

Our Lord doesn’t hide these things from us, but we are not prepared to receive them until we are in the right condition in our spiritual life. Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). We must have a oneness with His risen life before we are prepared to bear any particular truth from Him. Do we really know anything about the indwelling of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do,  is that His Word is becoming understandable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we don’t have His Spirit. And our own unyielding and headstrong opinions will effectively prevent God from revealing anything to us. Our insensible thinking will end immediately…. once His resurrection  has its way with us.

Let me close with the question that was asked at the beginning of this parable by an expert in the law:  “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Is there a more salient and essential question to ask?  Is there a better question to ask Jesus than this?  At another time He was asked the same question and told the one asking Him, “you must be born again”. At another  time He was asked the same question and told the young man to obey all the laws—-and then sell all you have and come and follow me.  So is Jesus telling people different things at different times?  Of course not. We know that He was telling the same truth. He was telling folks that something had to happen to cause them to be set apart and prepared for heaven.  Jesus was illustrating in this parable what the people that are going to  heaven are. They are people of love and compassion. And some folks outside the church might be closer to what God wants than some folks inside!  And I am not saying that you go to heaven by doing enough good works, or that you can be a Muslim, practice charity in get into heaven No, no, no!

But if you are born again, you’re not like other folks that are religious actors. How do you know that you have eternal life? The evidence is in the mirror.  Jesus told the religious leader at the end of the parable, “go and do likewise.”    He would say the same thing today!!!

If  you think you are born again and Jesus is your Lord, and you’re not charitable, kind, concerned about the welfare of others—-particularly the ones that are not Christians, something is wrong with you!

If you find that you cannot do what the Samaritan did, it’s because Jesus is not risen in your life. He is risen—-but is He risen in your soul?

-Are you being the good Samaritan…. to the one that hates you?

-Do you see each person, even the lowliest, as worthy of your concern, care, prayers?

-There is no indication that the injured man ever knew who helped him or was ever able to thank him—-think about that this week as you about your good deeds.  Are you able to show love a stranger, knowing that there is no possible way they can thank you or reward you?

-The man that asked the question about eternal life, Jesus told him this parable, and then said,  “Go do likewise”.  Now I ask you, what don’t you or I understand about this???

If you don’t care about others, don’t be surprised if He one day says, “depart from here, I don’t know you.”  If you want to learn how to care about others, you first have to know about how much Jesus cares for you.