Folded By Jesus

Folded by Jesus

Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.

So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’

So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Luke 10:30-37

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Some of you may be confused by the title of this message. What is “folded”? Is it referring to Jesus folding some clothes? I first heard the term “folded” from one of my sons, and when I asked him what it meant, I was confused as well. So, to help clear up your confusion, here is the Urban Dictionaries definition:

When you get hit so hard that your body folds over like, you’re Folding a t-shirt or a pair of pants.

Just so you can really understand it, here is a usage of it:

You better scramble like an egg before you get folded like an omelet.

Plainly said, it means to beat someone up, or the newer past tense version of that, to receive a beat-down.

Now outside of Jesus turning over the money changer tables and brandishing a whip, Jesus has never physically folded an individual. But throughout the Gospels He has verbally, mentally, and spiritually folded the religious leaders who tried to test Him.

Now this may raise another question…what does the simple parable of the Good Samaritan have to do with Jesus delivering a smackdown? Well, I will give a full answer to this question as the sermon progresses, and when I am done you will nod your head saying so there was a smackdown in there.

This parable is one of about forty that Jesus gave in His Gospels. On the surface it seems so simple and to the point, but I will say this, most of us missed the point of the parable…yes, the point you understood about helping one’s neighbor in their time of need is there right before our eyes, but there is more to the story that delivers a knockout blow. Let understand a few things about the parables Jesus spoke: first, all of them are meant to lead a person to salvation. Second, they are fully understood until we have accepted the gift of salvation.

But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables,

so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.’ ”

Mark 4:10-12

So, in this Jesus says that the parables are meant to befuddle those how are self-righteous, self-important, self-justified, entitled, those that think they have the absolute answer to what it takes to get into heaven, aside from believing in Jesus, and those who try to find loopholes in God’s laws. The parables only become apparent to those who humble themselves under the hand of Jesus. Now I know all of you are saying to yourself, all this stuff is good, but get to the smackdown, let’s see so heads roll. Be patient because I need to walk you through it so that it becomes apparent.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan there are four characters: a priest, a Levite, the Good Samaritan, and the man who was beaten. The priest and the Levite do all they can to avoid dealing with the man, while the Samaritan does all that he can to help the man. Now all that seems plain, but like Jesus said, we see and don’t perceive; we hear but don’t understand. True to Jesus’ word some have tried to use the parable to tell us that it is about socialism, how the apparently rich Samaritan tickles down his wealth to better society. But that is a stretch on the parable, as it has nothing to down with socialism, but all to do with compassion. This is a case of man using the words of Jesus incorrectly for the purpose of promoting the agendas of man, which has nothing to do with salvation in Christ Jesus.