Be and Do like the Good Samaritan!

Be and Do like the Good Samaritan!

Luke 10:25-37

An expert in the Law (Old Testament) tested Jesus with the following question: " Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Have you ever asked yourself this question? Do you know how to inherit eternal life? how to get to heaven after you die?

Jesus did not answer his question directly. He answered him with another question " What is written in the law? how do you read it?"

V 27 He (the Law expert) answered:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus told him that he has answered correctly. One inherits eternal life truly if one can love God with such total devotion continuously.

The problem is: Can someone love God with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind and their neighbor (including their enemies) as himself or herself in his own flesh? Love God with such total devotion continuously! NO. That is why in John 3:3,7, Jesus told Nicodemus: You must be born again in the Spirit of God. It is this Holy Spirit that will enable the believer to love God and their neighbor as God does and hence inherit the eternal abundant life. So, to become a genuine Christian, we must be born again by believing and receiving Christ Jesus in our hearts, and this new birth in the Holy Spirit will then empower us to love God and others wholeheartedly.

The Law expert knew the answer to his first question already from the Old Testament in Dt 6:5 and Lev 19:18.

Dt 6:5
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Lev 19:18
" 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

So, to gain credibility, he asked for an interpretation: "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus did not answer him directly again but told him the parable of the Good Samaritan.

A Jew has been attacked and left beaten/half-dead on the side of the road between Jerusalem and Jericho.  Both a Jewish priest and a Levite pass the victim by. However, a Samaritan stops to tend his wounds and then takes him on his donkey to an inn where he pays for him to be looked after. Jesus ends the parable by posing the question back at the expert of Jewish law by asking him who was the neighbor to the man. "The one who had mercy on him." is the reply. Jesus commands him to go and do the same.

1. Jerusalem to Jericho

This was a dangerous and perilous road and journey of 17 miles. At its peak it is about 2,500 feet above sea level. As it nears Jericho it is more than 800 feet below sea level. The road ran through rocky, desert country. Hiding on the side of the road, robbers and criminals often would lay in wait for defenseless travelers.

Life journey is sometimes dangerous in this fallen world. Evil and wickedness do exist. Tragedies happen...

2. Racism

There was a racial and spiritual barrier between the Jew and the Samaritan. Jews viewed Samaritans as half-breeds, both physically and spiritually. Samaritans are a mixed-blood race resulting from the intermarriage of Israelites left behind when the people of the northern kingdom were exiled and Gentiles brought into the land by the Assyrians (2 Ki 17:24).

Do we not face any racial or nationality barrier at all today? black-white, Chinese...

3. Hypocritical priest

The first to spot the victim is a fellow Jew - a Jewish priest, and he passes him by. Perhaps he considers it too much of a risk to help. It might be a trap, or worse still the victim might already be dead and the priest would become "unclean" by touching him according to their mosaic law.

No hypocritical modern day priest or pastor today?...

4. Hypocritical Levite

The next traveler is a Levite. Levites helped in Temple services in Jerusalem. It is possible that he too would not have wanted to risk becoming unclean.

No hypocritical elder or deacon or church leader today?...

Fear and self-preservation ruled in the hearts of both the priest and the Levite above compassion and love for others. They substituted religion for relationship; religious activity for right living; complacent indifference for compassionate concern.

Is it any different today?...

5. Good Samaritan

The third traveler is a Samaritan. Samaritans were generally despised by Jews in first century Palestine. However, the Samaritan lays aside any enmity and does all that he can to help. He loves others, even his enemies. He puts into practice the Proverbs 25: 21 -22 which says: " If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

The Samaritan shows compassion in two ways:-

1. First aid - treating his wounds with oil to help ease the pain, and wine (which has mild antiseptic properties)

2. Food and shelter - the Samaritan pays for lodging whilst the Jewish victim recovers.

Two denarii/Two silver coins is the equivalent of two days’ work wages, which would keep the man for up to two months in an inn.

The Good Samaritan also offers to pay extra if needed.

The Good Samaritan stopped out of his way to help, to bring support and healing. He gave of himself and his belongings to even a stranger. He really cared. He did not follow the crowd. He did not follow bad examples. He acted by faith in God. He stooped down and humbled himself to minister to the needy. He saved a precious life. He was a blessing to others. He was indeed Christlike and godly. He loved God and his neighbor, even his enemy.

Jesus finished the parable with the poignant question: "which one of these three people was the victim's neighbor? In other words, Jesus asked, "Who out of the three travelers proved he is the good neighbor by his actions?" The lawyer revealed his discomfort with the story by not specifically naming the Samaritan. He responded without even bringing himself to say the word: "Samaritan." Instead, he answered "He who showed mercy on him." (Luke 10:37) .  

Jesus exhorts us to go and do the same.

It is significant that the person Jesus commended was neither the religious leader/the priest nor the lay associate/the Levite, but a hated foreigner/the Samaritan. Samaritans and Jews practiced bitter open hostility, but Jesus asserted that love knows no national boundaries.

How can we be and do like the Good Samaritan?

Do we really love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength like the Good Samaritan?

In Luke 14:26-27, Jesus said: " If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters-yes, and even his own life-he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

In V 33, Jesus said, "...every one of you who does not say good-bye to all his possessions cannot be My disciple...



Do we love our neighbor as ourselves like the Good Samaritan did?

This story is not just about showing compassion to people. Jews only saw other Jews as their neighbors. Jesus challenges this assumption, and exhorts us to show compassion for all, regardless of class, color or creed. We need to think of a group that may be despised or ostracized in our society and then go out of our way to show mercy.

Our neighbors are the people who are ethnically, religiously, morally, and nationally different than we are. And these are the very people God says we must all love as ourselves. National differences are irrelevant in the kingdom of God. We are to treat people who are as irreconcilable to us as Palestinians are (or Samaritans were) to Jews, the very way that we would wish to be treated. Or put another way, Jews and Palestinians are, in fact, neighbors who must love each other. If God declares that these two people groups, with their history of animosity, are in fact neighbors who are commanded to love each other, isn't everyone in the neighborhood? Chinese of the People's Republic of China and Chinese of Taiwan? To live the agape life means to forgive one another and to bless one another. 

agape living implies praying for one another in the Name of Jesus Christ. agape rejects all evil, does good only. agape rejects lies, hypocrisy, and deception but rejoices in the Truth, Joy, and Peace. agape living is sacrificial unconditional loving. It is loving everyone, including enemies like Jesus Christ demonstrated and manifested Himself. Besides the supreme example of Our Lord and Savior who personified agape, a beautiful illustration given by Jesus is the parable of the Good Samaritan.

I Corinthians 13:4-8-agape

Love is patient; love is kind. Love does not envy; is not boastful; is not conceited; does not act improperly; is not selfish; is not provoked; does not keep a record of wrongs; finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends/fails.

Do we truly manifest these qualities towards our neighbor including our enemies? The Good Samaritan did. He was not just a hearer of the Word but a doer of the Word. Faith without actions is dead. The Good Samaritan’s faith was not dead but very alive.

Brothers and sisters, the Good Samaritan was not just any Samaritan but a good Samaritan...
Are you a good Chinese? Taiwanese? American? Teacher? Student? Accountant? Data Processor? Care-Taker? Server? Engineer? Clerk? Salesperson? Retiree?...

So, what does Almighty God require of us?
To love Him, love each other, and love others, including our enemies just like the Good Samaritan did.

Yes, the Good Samaritan loved God and loved his neighbors including his enemies. Let’s do the same! Let’s demonstrate agape love to any needy person of high or low class, rich or poor, black or white, Christian or non-christian, educated or not. 

Let’s do like the Good Samaritan and God will bless and reward us!