Sermon Brief
Date Written: September 16, 2008
Date Preached: September 10, 2008
Where Preached: OPBC (Wed PM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: A Study of the Parables
Sermon Title: The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Sermon Text: Luke 10: 30-35 (NKJV)
30 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. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 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. 35 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.’
Introduction:
Before we can fully look at this parable with any sort of understanding about it, we need to understand why it was so important that Jesus uses the Samaritan as the ‘good’ person in this story.
The story Jesus uses is a story of doing the right thing at the right time for the right reasons, regardless of who you are doing it for! Jesus uses the Samaritan in this story because the Jews believed the Samaritans to be almost sub-human and definitely not part of the people of God.
You see the Samaritans were Jews who had settled in the northern parts of the Promised Land after Israel had subdued the Promised Land. The schism takes place, according Jewish teaching, at the time of King Shalmaneser’s rule over Assyria. King Shalmaneser laid siege to the northern kingdom and overthrew it in 722 B.C. As was custom by a conquering army, many people were deported back to Assyria to be used as slaves and workers in the Kingdom.
With that move, the king would then replace those people with people from his kingdom and settle them in their ‘new’ home away from home so that their culture would spread throughout the empire.
These new residents in the Northern Kingdom began to intermarry with the Hebrews who were not deported and this is where the Jewish people believe the defiling of the Jewish race began with the Samaritans, and from that point on the Jewish people were prejudiced against those who were from Samaria.
One of the derogatory statements a Jewish man could make to another Jewish man was, “You are a Samaritan and you have a demon!” This was the ultimate slur against another Jewish person and would have been considered highly offensive to any Jew.
For us to place this in context in our country we have to go back to some more difficult times in our nation’s history when in our country there was a group of people who were treated less than human… the time of slavery. This was a terrible time for our nation and it was an awful thing that so many believed that these people were somehow ‘less’ than human.
Out of that time came a term that began as a description of race, the term ‘negro’ but it evolved into a derogatory and pejorative term that when used would offend the one being spoken to… I don’t have to mention that term, in fact the mere mention of it turns my stomach, but it is there none the less and even today, several hundred years later, that term still engenders offense and hostility.
The point I am trying to make here is that the way many white people in our country felt about black people is how the Jewish people felt about the Samaritan people… they believed that they were inferior in all levels of life and some even thought they were not even human… but somehow less than human.
I say all this to set up this story and why it was such a powerful statement and teaching by Jesus! He was tearing down social, ethnic and even religious walls by teaching what He was teaching in this story… and I believe that this story was one of the ‘proverbial straws that would eventually break the camel’s back’ in the eyes of the religious leaders of His day.
Now that we have established the baseline and history behind this story, let’s begin to look at this parable and what it says for us as believers today.
Structurally this parable is what is considered to be a 3 point, complex parable. That means that this parable displays a triangular structure with one role, usually the good (or bad) subordinate can be illustrated by many different examples. In this parable for instance the priest and the Levite are both examples of one reference point within the parable.
Usually there is an authoritative figure in a 3 point, complex parable that represents God, however in this parable this form does not hold true. As the main character is the one who is being discussed throughout the parable (the man who was attacked) and then there are 2 other reference points or characters… one is represented by multiple people (priest and Levite) and the other is represented by one person (Samaritan).
This parable actually could be considered to begin in v.25 as the lawyer here is asking the question, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”and Jesus takes this opportunity as a ‘teachable moment’ even though His words are directed to the religious leaders, His teachings are directed to any who would follow Him and become His disciple.
In v.26 Jesus asks the lawyer, “Well what does Scripture say about it?” and the lawyer answers with the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4 that basically tells the Jewish person to, “love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself!”
In v.28 Jesus tells the lawyer that he is on the right track and that if he was to live as such he would be able to guarantee an inheritance of eternal life. But we find in v.29 it seems as if the lawyer is looking for a loophole because he asks Jesus, “But just who is my neighbor.” Jesus then pounces on this opportunity to teach and reveal truth to someone who is lost.
So in v.30-35 Jesus launches off into a lesson on God’s Kingdom and He tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Many people believe that Jesus never answers the lawyer’s initial question.
However, when we read what Jesus says in this parable we can see that He was actually answering the question by teaching the lawyer that our neighbor is whomever God places in our life, and we are called to help them regardless of race, creed, color or socio economic station in life.
So in this parable we can see 4 very specific areas where Jesus is ‘teaching’ this lawyer WHO his neighbor is and they are…
How God’s people are to reveal God’s unconditional love to the world. Compassion for those in need, physically, emotionally and spiritually. [Deals with going that extra mile]
How God’s people are to love others unconditionally as God has loved us… [Deals with us helping without expecting anything in return]
How God’s people need to assist those in danger…and how dangers happen in the most mundane places… in everyday places (physical, emotional and spiritual dangers) [Deals with the dangers of this life]
How God’s people see others thru God’s eyes and not thru the fallen and broken eyes of this world [Dealing with prejudice]
How God’s people are to reveal God’s unconditional love to the world. Compassion for those in need, physically, emotionally and spiritually. [Deals with going that extra mile]
Let’s look at v.33-35 here:
. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 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. 35 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.’
We can see that in the story the Samaritan came upon a man who had been beaten and left for dead. His immediate concern was not for his safety or any form of social structure, but that of compassion for one who was in need.
We see in v.34 that he goes directly into a helpful mode and begins to meet the needs of the one who is hurting. But notice what it does not say here… it does not say that he checked with the government for any special programs or that he hesitated to see if the budget for the benevolence fund was over budget or not… he went about meeting the needs of this man out of his own resources.
Understand me when I say that government programs have their place and a church’s benevolence fund is a good thing, but what Jesus is teaching here is that it is OUR responsibility to see that the one in need gets help… we need to attend to it.
The Levite and priest, did not see this and they passed it on to someone else or didn’t care about the one in need, but this man actions in this story represent the unconditional love of God for this world!
In John 3:16 we see that God’s unconditional love was made evident in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. His love moved Him to the incarnation of His being so that He could come and give His life for the sins of His creation. God’s love caused Him to reach out to show compassion on a world lost and dying…
But let’s look at v.35 and we can see that this Samaritan did not stop at merely binding this man’s wounds but he picks up the man, takes him to a hotel and cares for him, and when he has to leave, he leaves the hotel owner money to continue the care for this man and tells him, if it costs anymore… I will repay you!
This is ‘going that extra mile’ and it is something that many Christians are not used to doing. We are eager to help those in need and get them out of our hair (so to speak) so that we don’t have to deal with them… we are too eager to treat the symptom but not really deal with the problem.
We are called by God to go that extra mile to help those in need, we are called to share God’s unconditional love to those in need, physically, emotionally and spiritually and many times that is going to COST us… many times that is going to upset our routine… many times it is going to cause us to have to do MORE than we may think we need to do… but we are called to share God’s love!
God’s love goes that extra mile… God’s love provides for ALL our needs… God’s love is a complete love that does not leave us when we are in need. We must emulate God’s love to the world around us!
But I also see in this parable…
How God’s people are to love others unconditionally as God has loved us… [Deals with us helping without expecting anything in return]
Look again to v.35. Here the Samaritan shows us that his concern is for the man in need and not just for the appearance of helping this man…or to make himself look good in the eyes of others.
This man helped the one in need with no expectation of anything in return for his favor! God loves us just that way… He has shown His love and He requires NOTHING in return. Now for us to fully experience that unconditional love we must submit to Him, but He is not going to force us or twist our arms!
However, even if we respond in confession of sin and repentance in our hearts to God’s unconditional love, there is NOTHING we can do that would return the favor (so to speak) to God. There is nothing we can do to do for God what He has done for us!
But we are called by God to show that kind of love to those around us here in this world. We are to reach out to them with NO expectation of return. We can’t just help people in hopes that they are going to join our church.
We can invite them and asking them to come is a good thing… but our reason for helping has to be based solely on the basis of God’s unconditional love and NOT them joining or coming to our church. This is a matter of heart!
I believe here Jesus was speaking to the heart of this lawyer. Jesus knew that there would be those who may show acts of kindness outwardly but their heart was not in it… and the attitude and reason behind their charity was not what God desires from His people.
We are called to reach out to a world in need and do it because it is what God has done for us… we cannot repay God but we can be obedient in His call for us to help each other.
The 3rd area of teaching that I see Jesus delving into is…
How God’s people need to assist those in danger…and how dangers happen in the most mundane places… in everyday places (physical, emotional and spiritual dangers) [Deals with the dangers of this life]
So many times in life we pass people by who are in need because everything looks normal or we think things are safe. But we have to be aware of those around us and aware of the dangers in our communities and fellowship.
You heard the joke about the Cajun who heard that the most dangerous stretch of road was that road within 5 miles of your home, so he up and moved! Well there are areas in this life where danger lurks and we may not see it at first, but it is there and there are people hurting because of that danger!
We must be on the lookout for those hurting… and sometimes we have to go into a dangerous place to help someone who is hurting. This man could have walked by but he didn’t… there are so many times when we HAVE walked right by a divine appointment because we simply were not paying attention to what was going on around us! I know that I am guilty of that myself!
Finally tonight I want to share that I see Jesus teaching…
How God’s people see others thru God’s eyes and not thru the fallen and broken eyes of this world [Dealing with prejudice]
In v.33 we find a word that reveals much about the character of this Samaritan man. That word is ‘compassion’… compassion is defined by the Encarta English Dictionary as sympathy for the suffering of others, often including a desire to help.
That compassion reveals something much deeper in this man, in that his concern for others tears down any social stigma or economic boundary or ethnic wall that may hinder him from doing what he knows needs to be done!
God in His infinite grace and mercy sent His Son to a world who did not deserve Him. His plan of salvation was to save those who were His enemies…those who hated Him! God showed great compassion in His perfect love!
We are called to that compassion when it comes to people who are different from us… so often we are eager to help those who look, or believe like us, but when it is someone who looks different or believes different… we tend to shy away! Not all of us, but there are more than there should be who do turn away!
We are called to love these people with that same compassion… reach out to them and help them regardless of how the world sees them… we are to see them as God sees them… we are to look past the outward veneer and see the inward hurt and need. That is difficult for humans to do as we tend to pre-judge people and situations based on strictly the outward appearance!
This man saw the need of the one who was hurting, he jumped to meeting that need, driven by his compassion for him, and he continued to minister to this man after his initial help was given… he went the extra mile!
Jesus reveals to this lawyer… and ultimately to ALL who read this passage that our neighbor has NOTHING to do with who lives on our block but EVERYTHING to do with service and submission to the calling of God in our lives.
When God brings someone across your path… that is your neighbor… no matter how inconvenient… no matter how irritating… no matter how costly… God expects us to reach out and minister to these people.
One item we need to address before we close here and I believe this is very important. This man ministered to the hurting one with what he had, and that is what and how we should minister to those God places in our path.
We all have spiritual gifts and talents that God has blessed us with and those are to be used to minister to those in need… which in turn brings glory to God! Use what you have to do what you can for those God places in your path.
Next week we will be looking at the Parable of the 10 Virgins Matt 25:1-13
