Tell Me a Story
The Good Samaritan
I want you to imagine for a moment, that you are single woman, living in the city. By day you work as a check out girl at a local grocery store and to try and make ends meet you are also working at an all night diner waitressing during the night shift. Life is hard in this age of rising prices.
There are bills that are due, but you had some pretty good tips tonight so you should be able to pay the gas bill and the electric bill that is a week overdue. It is March, but winter has been sticking around longer than expected.
As you get home from your waitressing job, it is about 3 am and as you park the car and get out, you feel the chill in the air. It is about 30 degrees but you only have your spring coat on. You found a parking spot on the street that was only about 2 blocks from your apartment. In the city you could almost classify that as a miracle, especially at 3 in the morning.
You begin walking to your apartment down the street. You get this strange feeling that there is someone watching you. You pick up the pace.
Then you hear footsteps approaching you, running. You run. You don’t feel the cold anymore. Your heart is racing. Then someone grabs you from behind and you feel a sharp pain in your back. You have been stabbed. You scream out for help.
The man stabs you again. You scream again. You see a couple lights go on. The attacker jumps on top of you. Someone screams out from a window for this man to leave you alone. Your attacker takes off. The window closes. You’re lying there. You don’t feel cold anymore. You feel the warmth of your blood on your back.
You notice it is quiet again. There is no one around. The lights that had come on are off again.
Where is that man who opened his window?
Where are the police who have surely been called?
You don’t hear sirens.
You don’t hear anything.
Maybe if you get to your apartment, you can call an ambulance.
You get up, but you are dizzy. You stumble, but catch yourself on a tree. You are feeling light headed now. You fall when you are almost to your building. You crawl up to your apartment door which is in a small enclave. Still no sirens. No help. Then you hear some footsteps coming. Finally, someone to help.
You turn to sit and say please help me, only to discover it is your attacker with the knife. He tries to stab you again but you put your hands up and get stabbed in the hands.
You scream again and his knife finds its way to your stomach.
Through the glass entrance you see a door open up the stairs, and a head peak out.
Finally some help, but the door shuts.
The man continues his attack as you pass out.
Transition
Most of you here right now are probably empathizing with this woman being attacked.
You may be outraged that nobody has helped her.
You are wondering is there any compassion in those people, any love at all?
This is because you heard the story.
Stories have much more of an effect on you than if you would have read a headline.
Woman attacked…No one helped.
We could probably read that headline and really not be too moved by it.
Just another problem in our society.
But the story of it affected us.
Stories can teach us things in ways just propositional truth cannot.
Jesus often told stories. Most of his stories were parables, brief narratives that have an intended effect to help people learn something.
Jesus used many forms of teaching, but parables were very common for Him.
Why?
For a couple of reasons,
Listen to
Matthew 13:10-13
10 The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"
11 He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.”
Those who really did not desire to know God or what God wants would not get it.
But he also spoke in parables so those who desired to understand would remember and think through the implications and truly begin to understand.
Mark 4:33-34
33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
He spoke in parables to help those who were willing to understand, to understand deeply.
It is my hope that through this series, that those of you here desire to understand more and live life in accordance with Jesus’ teaching so that as we discuss the parables, the Lord would draw our hearts closer to his and compel us to action in life.
As the story I told this morning made us wonder about were the compassion is of people in this world, we are going to look at a story that Jesus told that also talked about compassion.
It is a familiar story to most of you here, even if you are not regular church goers.
It is the story of the Good Samaritan.
Turn with me to Luke 10:25-37
Slide
Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan in response to a question.
Today we are going to be asking and answering several questions about what Jesus is talking about, but I want you to keep in mind this first question he is asked.
Luke 10:25
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?"
That is a good question.
One that I am sure that many people want the answer to.
There are others, though, that really aren’t looking for an answer, but only a way to justify what they think.
I want you to notice that this person really did not want the answer to this question.
He wanted to test Jesus because he thought He knew more than Jesus.
He knew what the OT said.
Jesus, of course, knows this, so He replies back with a question.
Luke 10:26-28
26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27 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.’"
28 "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
Wow!
We have an answer to the question.
Jesus tells us if we would just
Love God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind and
Love our neighbor as our self
we will have eternal life.
Excellent! Let’s go do that.
Wait.
This response leads us to a couple of further questions.
What does that look like?
How do I do that?
Let’s take the first part of that.
How Do we Love God?
Slide
Well ,Jesus, who is God, said
John 14:15
15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command.
Obey His Commands
Slide
So we love God by obeying His commands.
Now if I was a betting man, I would bet that this teacher of the law thinks he has obeyed God’s commands pretty well.
This man was very much like the rich young ruler. He thought he was good enough to earn his eternal life. In fact the rich young ruler asks a similar question of Jesus.
Matthew 19:16-17
16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
17 "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
Jesus did not say Love God, but obey the commandments.
We show our love for God by obeying what He says.
So those who were listening to Jesus, those who had ears to hear, were probably thinking of their own lives and asking themselves these very questions.
Do I love God?
Do I obey His commands?
Let those thing percolate in your own minds this morning as we continue.
The other question we need to ask this morning is
How do we love our neighbor?
Slide
And that is already answered in a general way.
Luke 10:27
’Love your neighbor as yourself.’"
As our self
We treat our neighbor as we treat our self.
Now that is a nice saying and all, but what does that look like?
Now in the story of the good Samaritan, Jesus tells us 2 things.
What does love look like
Who are we to love this way.
We are going to look at what does love look like first as we read this story.
Luke 10:30-37
"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins 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.’
Jesus tells us 3 specific things about how we are to love here.
First,
We love with a love that is Compassionate
Slide
In Luke 10:33, it says that the Samaritan took “pity” upon the man as he saw him
That word pity is the same word that we would translate as compassion.
We have compassion for ourselves.
When we hurt, we feel it and we feel for ourselves.
That word that is translated pity or compassion means
“to be moved as to one’s bowels” NT:4697
(from Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 2000 by Biblesoft)
It is to feel it in your gut.
As we love others, we need feel their pain as we feel our own.
When others have hardship, we experience that hardship with them.
Others pain should affect us.
So we love with a love that is compassionate, that is feeling.
We also need to
We love with a love that is Caring
Slide
Luke 10:34
34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.
The Samaritan man cared for this man in his actions. He did things that showed he cared.
To love others we can’t just feel their pain, we need act in a way that shows we care.
Unless we are acting in accordance with the compassion we are feeling, then we are not loving.
This care that we give to someone to show our love means also that
We love with a love that is Costly
Slide
Luke 10:35
35 The next day he took out two silver coins 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.’
If we are really going to love others like we love ourselves, it is going to cost something.
The Samaritan used his own money and it cost him time and his plans as well.
In the story of the rich young ruler, this was his problem.
He may have had compassion, but his care for others did not cost him anything.
Jesus exposed his unwillingness to care when he challenged him to sell everything and follow Jesus.
Transition
Ok, so that is how we are to love.
Now the people who were listening were probably feeling challenged.
If loving God means obeying his commands and loving our neighbor means loving with compassion, care, and cost, am I really loving? Am I living up to this standard?
We probably should be feeling this way as well.
Because there were none of them listening who were living up to those standards of love.
But maybe there is a loop hole.
Maybe we have loved some this way.
Those closest to us.
Maybe it just all depends on how we define who are neighbor is.
The expert in the law seeks to justify himself, because surely there must be a loophole.
So He asks
Who is my neighbor?
Slide
Verse 29
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Now this question is not really a question to find out who his neighbor is.
The question who is my neighbor is really asking who do I not have to love?
Who is my neighbor? = Who don’t I have to love?
Slide
That is what he really wants to know.
Just how far does my love have to extend and where can it end?
So Jesus tells the story of the Samaritan and asks the expert in the law,
Luke 10:36-37
36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
Now, as I read the story of the Good Samaritan before, I seriously doubt that you feel the same outrage you may have had during the story I read at the start of this message.
We hear the story of the Good Samaritan and think that is terrible that those first 2 people did not help. That Samaritan man was so nice.
That is because we have heard this story so many times AND We don’t have the cultural reference points of those who were hearing this story the first time.
Explanation of First story
What if in the first story I told you this morning that the man who opened the window and yelled was a pastor.
The second person who opened the door was a deacon.
And then, after the women passed out there was a Muslim man who came out on his way to morning prayers and kicked the attacker and he fled.
He saw she was bleeding and took his head scarf to slow the bleeding.
He called the police and an ambulance.
He stayed with her until they came.
He gave his statement to the police.
He missed his morning prayers and arrived at the cab company where he worked late so he didn’t make as much money that day.
You might be appalled and shocked that I would tell a story like that using those characters that way.
I can guarantee that most of those who were listening to Jesus were shocked that he would tell such a story with those characters he included.
Jews felt the priests and the Levites were good people, righteous in fact.
And a Samaritan was one of the most despised people to the Jews.
They were half breeds.
They did not keep their race pure or their religion.
Their doctrine was not what it should have been.
What was Jesus saying?
Be a Samaritan so you can inherit eternal life?
No. Jesus knew that the Samaritan’s did not believe correctly, that their theology was wrong.
He even tells this to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.
John 4:22
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
Jesus is not teaching people to believe like Samaritans.
In this story He is not even teaching that all priests and Levites are bad.
Jesus is answering basically 2 questions and doing it in a way that is going to offend some and challenge those who have ears to hear.
What does it mean to love and
Whom do I have to love that way if I am going to be justified in my actions to earn eternal life?
The point Jesus is making by telling this story is that
You can’t justify you by your actions
Slide
To those who think they are pretty good, Jesus says you are not good enough.
Jesus will expose your heart.
He exposed the heart of the rich young ruler
He is exposing the heart of all those who are listening.
If you are really hearing, you aren’t good enough
You really can’t love God because you can’t obey all his commands
You really don’t love others the way you should either.
Jesus exposes our hearts.
Abe Lincoln Family
About a year and a half ago, I had an opportunity to help a family.
Staying at the Abe Lincoln Motel
Helped them with some Jewel gift cards
Man and woman and 2 kids
The guy was willing to work
He got a temporary job on the west side of Joliet unloading trucks for $10 an hour.
No car.
Would ride his kids small bike there.
It would take him an hour and a half to ride there.
Had to move out of Abe Lincoln
So I was helping them load up their stuff and taking them to a shelter in Joliet.
That evening I had dinner plans with a family and I really wanted to be there.
It turns out they couldn’t get in to the shelter.
Here I am with a bunch of this families stuff in my minivan, and this guys family, and the first thought that comes into my mind is I can’t deal with this right now because I have important stuff to do.
Maybe I can just put them up in the church overnight and they can be on their way in the morning.
And then Jesus exposed my heart.
You are just like the priest and the Levite.
I ended up putting them up in a motel and we got them a place in Joliet closer to his work for the next week to help them get on their feet, but it just reinforced the fact that
I will never be justified by my own actions and my own heart.
I am a sinner.
But thankfully, when we come to that realization, there is hope for us.
The hope is
Jesus can justify you by His actions
slide
The story of the Good Samaritan shows us our inability and our need.
Romans 3:20
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Galatians 3:21-24
21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
Anyone listening to the story of the Good Samaritan will either
Become hardened to their own sin and justify their actions or
become conscious of their own sin, their lack of love, and recognize their need to be justified in some other way.
Luke 18:9-14
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ’God, I thank you that I am not like other men-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ’God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
This morning, it is my prayer that this story will help you recognize your need for a Savior.
Recognize that we will only be able to love by the power of God and even then our sin nature will betray us.
If you are here today and thinking you have been pretty good, thinking you can justify your own actions, thinking you are a person who loves, it is my prayer that you have ears to hear and will cry out for mercy and put your trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.
If you are a believer, we need to take those points in how to love others and pray that God would empower us to make those things a reality in our life to His glory, not to our justification. As believers, He wants to glorify Himself through you. Submit yourself to him and pray for the strength to love in His power as He taught us.
Let’s pray.
