CHRISTMAS AND GOOD SAMARITAN!!!
One of the outstanding aspects of the Saviour’s Ministry was his narration of parables. The word parable is a transliteration of the Greek word "parabole" (para-bow-LAY), and comes from two Greek words, "para" (translated "beside") and "ballein" (translated "to throw"). Literally, the word parable means "to throw beside," or "to place beside, or to place together for the purpose of comparing, or making a comparison." They can usually be identified by the use of the word "like," as in Jesus’ statement, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed," or "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven" (Matthew 13:31, 33). In these examples, Jesus was comparing the kingdom of heaven to the attributes or characteristics of a mustard seed and to leaven (yeast). Some have defined the word parable as "a story by which something real in life is used as a means of presenting a moral thought." Others have said a parable "puts the known next to the unknown so that we may learn." They are usually a story or a narrative taken from nature or from everyday human experiences. Perhaps the simplest definition of all is that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
While all the parables’ of the Master fire the imagination of the Reader the one (on closer scrutiny) that symbolically ENCAPSULATES the entire Biblical history is good ole "Good Samaritan" parable...beginning with Garden of Eden it would reflect the Fall before coursing its way to CHRISTMAS DAY, Redemption, the Day of Pentecost finally ending with a heady climax of Second coming. So what are the lessons that can be gleaned from this most quoted parable of the Master? Since this parable was narrated in CAPERNAUM the name of the town beginning with the alphabet C, we shall in the course of this message use sub-headings all beginning with the letter C. By the way, this town beside the Sea of Galilee virtually served as the headquarters’ of our Lord’s Ministry after his rejection at Nazareth. If "Preparation" (growing in favour with man and God-Luke 2:52) and "Passion" (Matt 26-27) parts’ of his Ministry can be associated with Nazareth and Jerusalem respectively, Capernaum is intrinsically linked to His "Proclamation" (Matt 4:23-25) Ministry, when His popularity touched its peak.
1. CORNER
Action: Display of picture of moves in a Chessboard (animation)
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to TEST Jesus...Luke 10:25
The setting was somber. The ever growing popularity amongst the masses of the humble, miracle-doing Carpenter of lowly Nazareth was not going down well with the Religious leaders of Jesus’ day, who openly craved fame (Matt 23:5-7). Both in preaching and in performing miraculous signs, the One calling himself the Son of God, stood head and shoulders above contemporary Orthodox teachers. Add to this, Jesus’ radical (contextually that is) teaching of looking beyond this World to a FAR BETTER ONE at a time when traditional Jewish teaching was all about obeying the Almighty to secure the blessings of Earthly Land flowing with milk and honey and the scene of Jesus’ opponents sharpening their swords both literally and figuratively "to take him on" becomes complete. What better way to bring down Jesus’ popularity then by publicly leaving him clueless with some tricky questions. Thus the poser all with a clinical mind of chess player intending to checkmate his opponent...
"Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"- Luke 10:25
2. COUNTER
ACTION: Display of picture of USP
History keeps getting repeated. Do not we see a envious, conspiring Cain in this question? Even literally were not the Orthodox Jewish teachers’ in a way "Elder" brothers’ of Christ, having been in "spiritual business" for a longer time, then this radical new entrant from Nazareth?
The USP about our Lord defense tactics, was to often throw the ball back into the court of his critics, by asking them some searching counter questions. So there it comes...
"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" --Luke 10:26
This leads us to the third "C" headed Sub-title
3. CONCISE COMMANDMENTS
ACTION: Display of picture of TWO commandments of Jesus.
Now this Critic of the Master was quite conversant with sum and substance of Jesus’ teachings’. For prompt was his reply
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’[c]; and, ’Love your neighbor as yourself."- Luke 10:27
Evidently, He had heard the Master proclaim before that if we concentrate on obeying these two commandments, we would quite naturally be obeying the rest. Had not the Master also earlier spoken of "lighter burden" He places on His followers (Matt 11:28-30) vis-à-vis myriad Laws the other Jewish religious leaders were imposing on the hapless public (Matt 23:4). On receiving this reply, with all the authority that goes with being the Son of God, Christ gives his detractor an answer...
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."-Luke 10:28
4. CONTENTION
ACTION: Display of picture of "Holier than thou" attitude in graphical form
With the prejudicial bent of mind we now see the Jewish orthodox leader contending with the Master
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"-Luke 10:29
He of course was not averse to loving fellow Jews but loving the despised Samaritans ? NO WAY!!! Through the centuries the Jews with pure Jewish lineage had looked down upon the Samaritans as the "mixed breed". For more on the origin of the Samaritans reading of 2 Kings 17th Chapter would help. In a nutshell, they were the children of resident Jews in Samaria after the Assyrian exile and the gentiles whom the Assyrian King Shalmanesar had relocated to Samaria from other parts of his vast empire at that time.
Now the setting was perfect for the Lord to narrate a parable to drive home the point of loving everyone in need unreservedly. Though prima facie, it would seem that the main motive behind this parable of the Good Samaritan is to convey the significance of the unconditional agape love, its contents have been so spiritually woven so as to represent symbolically the entire Biblical history from the Pristine Creation onwards. Going by our Lord’s attention to even minor details in this account, I would even go so far as to conjecture that it was a true story that the good Lord saw unfolding from the Heavenly realms, long before His Earthly sojourn began in Bethlehem. Hey, was He not in existence from times immemorial...even before Abraham was born (John 8:58)!!!
5. COURSE
ACTION: Display of a map showing the route from Jerusalem to Jericho
In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho,...Luke 10:30
No, No, it was not a case of man going from Jericho to Jerusalem but the other way around. Bible students would be aware of the fact that not only geographically, it is a case of going from "top to bottom" (Jerusalem is located on a mountain and Jericho is on a plain) but even in the spiritual sense, it was a case of leaving the secure environs of the "Blessed, Holy" City of Jerusalem (Psalm 87) where the temple is located to go the cursed city of Jericho (Joshua 6:26)/1 Kings 16:34). How nice, it would have been for Adam and Eve to have remained in the "Holy city of Obedience" (away from the Forbidden tree) rather stepping off it into the domain of darkness and disobedience!!!
6.CONSEQUENCE
ACTION: Display of pictures of
a) Man attacked by robbers
b) Roaring lion on the prowl
when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.-Luke 10:30
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.-I Peter 5:8
Where do you find armed robbers? Busy malls or lonesome dark alleys? Where do you find lions? In the Cities or Forests? When we are in the "Cities of obedience", no roaring lion (read Satan) can attack us, only when we stray into the "forests of disobedience", we are ripe for trouble. When Adam and Eve stayed away from the Forbidden tree, everything was going well for them, when they strayed by going near it, it was curtains for them!!! It was curtains for one Mr Samson too, when he strayed into the forbidden Gaza away from the secure environs of his "Holy" hometown in Israel...(Judges 16:1-4)
7. CALLOUS
ACTION: Display of pictures of
a) Jewish priest walking past the injured man
b) Levite walking past the Robbers’ victim
A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.-Luke 10:31-32
Forget the Clergy, even the common Jews take pride in memorizing the first five books of the Bible. So were not Priest and the Levite aware of what the Law commanded...
If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.-Exodus 23:5
Now leave alone, a human being in need, the Jews were divinely commanded not to be callous towards even a needy donkey of an enemy. But there they were, the Priest and a Levite when they saw a dying Jew-the very definition of indifference. Hey, be wary of not only obvious Sins of commission but also of more subtle Sins of omission as James exhorts us in his oh-so down to earth, practical epistle. It is one thing to know the Bible, it is quite another to obey it.
If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.-James 4:17
In a way were not the apathetic Priest and the Levite symbolic of the Law which came BEFORE the Saviour? It can "see and identify" the problem areas’ in our body like a good scanning machine does but can do precious little in remedying them. The Priest and Levite "saw" the problem but did precious little in fixing it.
We can obey the Written Word, only if we have the Living Word indwelling us, for then His likes and dislikes become ours too.
8. CHRISTMAS COMPASSION
ACTION: Display of pictures of the Good Samaritan helping the injured man/putting him on the donkey
Even as badly bruised Jew lay dying, there came the compassionate Samaritan. Hey, it cost him to render help. He may have been on a business trip for all we know. But there he was willing to expend his time, talent and treasures for the very one who in normal times would have cold-shouldered him. He preferred to walk, putting the injured one on the donkeys back. Now was not Samaritan aware of the Jews’ historical prejudice and hatred towards his ilk but propelled as he was by unconditional, agape love he set out helping the dying Jew, come what may.
But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.-Luke 10:33-34
There we were Children of the fallen human race with neither love for God nor hope for deliverance languishing in darkness, when arrived the precious Saviour on the FIRST CHRISTMAS DAY to bail us out of trouble. Now will I be able to adequately recount what it cost the Redeemer to liberate us from the clutches of sin? Let the Scripture take over...
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! --Romans 5:10
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-Colossians 1:21
9. COMFORTER
ACTION: Display of picture of the Good Samaritan handing over the custody of the injured man to the Inn-keeper
Mind you, the compassionate Samaritan after saving the robbers’ victim and nursing him back to health did not depart from the scene just like that. He left him in the safe custody of the Inn-keeper. Job entrusted to the Innkeeper by the Good Samaritan would be considered to be complete, only when the injured victim of the Robbers REGAINS his original health he had before the murderous attack.
The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ’Look after him,’ he said, -Luke 10:35
Our Redeemer too after emancipating us from a spiritual slavery has left us in the custody of the Comforter --The Holy Spirit, who is completing the left over job. That of transforming us into Christ-like image (2 Cor 3:18) which Adam had originally (Genesis 1:27) before the Fall!!!
"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; ...No, I will not abandon you as orphans..." --John 14:15-18
Christ’s First advent was not only about merely saving us from sins but saving us in order we get back the image we had lost at the fall. The Divine process of we regaining the lost image is set rolling in us the moment we are born again. If by His stripes, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5), would we not get back the pristine pre-fall figure again by His disfigurement (Isaiah 52:14)!!!
10. COMING AGAIN
ACTION: Display of Christ coming back majestically astride a horse
’and when I RETURN..." Luke 10:35
Hey, the Good Samaritan has promised to return. Yes, the Master shall return first to the mid sky to rapture His Church, saving it from 7 year tribulation period and then return full of majesty (not in a humble donkey-Rev 19:11-21) to finish off the Anti-Christ who will rule the World in 7 year tribulation period.
Are there signs preceding the Church rapture? Amongst others, what are the two distinct signs of recent times that trumpet the truth about the last trumpet call signaling the Church’s rapture (I Cor 15:52/2 Thess 4:16)? Consider this verse:"When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noahs day." (Matt 24:37). What two evils conspicously marked Noah’s time? Violence and corruption, for you ladies and gentleman (See Genesis 6:12-13)! Do I need to furnish proof to substantiate these plain facts? Does not media overflow with accounts of terror strikes (now there are female suicide bombers also)? Feudal killings in real and reel life (minus a smoking gun or a bloody knife the macho-image of any cine hero in a poster is said to be incomplete) are a way of life now?
Some irrefutable proofs here...
ACTION: Display of pictures of terror attacks/shooting incident at Denver etc
In Denver the other day, what came was not Dark Knight but even a Darker night experience, which victims (who survived) would like to forget. There they waited for Batman instead arrived a gun-man with a "gun-spitting" fire.
Sky-rocketing violence everywhere...tell-tale signs:
ACTION: Display of pictures of a Burqa-clad Female suicide bomber/Cine heros’ with a smoking gun...
Is Jesus right only when it comes to his sayings such as "Those who live by the Sword, die by it"(Matt 26:52). Why shouldn’t we take His other Prophecies as regards His Second Coming seriously, just as we take earnestly his time-tested ones such as the one quoted above? No cherry-picking please...
And Corruption...oh boy...oh boy...
ACTION: Display of pictures of Corruption cases/Scams hitting the media headlines...
It is "news" nowadays only, if there is no scam in 24 hours!!!
So will the "Good Samaritan" return soon as a righteous King to set right all the wrongs...bringing order, where is disorder, peace where peace has gone to pieces, morality where there is immorality, hope where there is despair, joy where there is sorrow? You can take Him at His word...
"’Yes, I am coming soon!’ Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev 22:20)
Are you alert? Have you alerted others? The Gospel of this era is not only that Christ came, but that He is also coming again...Soon!
ALL THEOLOGY OUGHT TO END WITH DOXOLOGY!!! HALLELUJAH!!!
Suresh Manoharan
ps...This message replete with pics/animations is also available in the following URL...
http://www.jandsmministries.com/message_nov1_12.asp
