Luke 10:25-37
The Jews have a way of teaching that was based on the idea that the shortest distance between a speaker and the truth is a story.
Jesus knew this, and when addressing groups of people or individuals who may have understood a thought or a concept in their heads, but not in their hearts, he too used a story, or what we call a parable, as the shortest distance to the truth.
Now the priest, the Levite and perhaps especially the lawyer who initiated this beautiful response from Jesus, had a great head knowledge of the Old Testament law, which was not at all reflected in their hearts.
As he did on the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7), and many other places, Jesus radically reinterprets this law to show its original intention. Jesus wants his listeners to understand who their neighbour is, and what love is.
He also wants them to know that this love will be demonstrated in himself for them and for us and for all the world.
I think the two greatest parables Jesus taught are the parable of the prodigal son, and today’s parable, the parable of the Good Samaritan.
We can only love God with all we are and have when we know how much God loves us and the knowledge of which is a sheer gift of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, all things will remain head knowledge. A modern form of the same legalism shown by the Levite, the priest, and the lawyer.
This is our starting point. It is our submission to this love and our thankfulness for this love, that allows the Holy Spirit to work in us, and by his power, allows us to love our neighbour.
Today we look a little bit differently at the parable of the good Samaritan in that not only is Jesus definitively showing us what loving our neighbour looks like; but also, for us today, as a parallel of what he is doing, has done, and will do for all people; for every single soul.
To justify himself, the lawyer asks, “who is my neighbour?” And this is Jesus’ response. The picture of the lawyer is one who is very clever in law, but who keeps testing Jesus in order to justify or glorify himself instead of God.
Jesus picks as the hero of the story the very person the lawyer would have despised – a Samaritan, whom he would have viewed as not part of Israel and racially inferior.
The opposite of a Levite, a priest, and a lawyer.
Someone a bit like Jesus himself really. Marginalized. Looked down upon. An outsider to the insider circles of the priests, Levites, and lawyers of the day.
So it’s this Samaritan who comes to where the injured man is, and he has compassion on him. Just like the Son of Man came down from heaven and came to where we are, lying half-dead on the road, unable to save ourselves.
Jesus looks at us, and he has compassion on us. He is moved with love, and his love moves him into action.
Which is what the Samaritan in the story does (v.34). “He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Loving your neighbour means actually helping your neighbour, not passing by on the other side.
And so Jesus comes to us with healing, and his wonderful restorative care. It is by Jesus himself being wounded and beaten up by soldiers, whipped, nailed to a cross; it is by his wounds we are healed, healed for everlasting life.
Christ’s love is sacrificial love, like how the Samaritan helps the man in the story (vv.34-35):
“Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.”
In the same way, Jesus pays the price, whatever it takes, for us to be saved. And, like the Samaritan supplied the innkeeper, so Christ gives the church the resources we need to extend his love to others until he comes back. This is the church’s work of mercy.
Now we see what loving your neighbour looks like, both in the story that Jesus tells, and in the story that Jesus lived, in the life and death and resurrection with which Jesus loves us.
So Jesus brings this story home to the lawyer. Of the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?”
Look what Jesus has done with the lawyer’s original question. The lawyer asked, “And who is my neighbour?” Jesus turns it around and says, “It’s not about who qualifies to be your neighbour and thus receive your love. No, it’s about you being a neighbour to others, whoever happens to come across your path. That’s what loving your neighbour is all about.”
The one who shows mercy to others is the one justified before God. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matt 5:7).
Don’t trust your great knowledge Mr Lawyer but go and do like the good Samaritan did, and look to what I will do for you, the Kingdom of heaven has come near to you this day.
This is our experience today too, and once we have acknowledged this, we allow ourselves to be taught to love our neighbour.
And the good news has never changed and is this: Jesus is our Good Samaritan. He comes to us where we are, he has compassion on us, and he does everything it takes to give us the care and the healing we need.
Now not all of us have the resources that the good Samaritan had. I suspect he was quite a wealthy man, but that’s not the point. As Children of God we are clothed in Christ, and if we take the step to become involved in another’s welfare, God will step in and use the resources we do have.
What matters is our hearts and actions. Our Lord God only operates in reality. The reality of this parable is that a person was beaten up and left half-dead and someone happened to be passing by.
During our lives, we will happen to be passing by many real problems and situations that people are suffering, and they will be strangers to us. Let’s trust our conscience as Christians and not cross the street and pass by.
But, in great love, tend their wounds, just as our wounds have been tended to by our Saviour Jesus. Let me pray …