I love Jesus’ parables. Sometimes they’re like exploding birthday cakes. Sometimes they’re like a mirror. Sometimes they’re like an onion. And sometimes, like Jesus’ parable of “The Good Samaritan,” they can be all three.
[Read Luke 10:25-37]
Let’s begin to examine the different layers of this parable and Jesus’ encounter with this lawyer to see what it reveals about Jesus and about us, shall we?
Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem where there is a cross awaiting Him. At the beginning of chapter 10, Jesus sent out 72 of His disciples into the countryside to prepare the towns and villages to receive Him as He made His way to that cross. As the disciples return to Jesus, many of the people from the towns and villages that the disciples visited followed them back to Jesus. Jesus was speaking and teaching a crowd of these people when a lawyer stood up and asked: “Teacher … what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (v. 25). Luke says that he asked Jesus this question to “test” Jesus.
On the surface, the lawyer’s question doesn’t seem like much of a test. It was a standard theological question that was thrown at Jesus from time to time in His ministry. In order to understand the nature of the lawyer’s test (or trap), we have to go back to the point where Jesus sent out the 72 disciples. Before He sent them out, He gave them these instructions:
"The Kingdom of God has come near you. But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into the streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you.’ I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town. (v. 9-12)
“Whoever listens to you listens to me and whoever rejects you, rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the One who sent me.” (v. 16).
The consequences of that rejection is not exaltation to Heaven but being brought down to Hades.
THAT was the answer that the lawyer was expecting. If the people wanted to “inherit eternal life,” if they wanted to get into Heaven then they had to follow the Law (of Moses), which had been handed down to them by God Himself. If Jesus repeated what He said to His disciples, “whoever rejects me rejects the One who sent me,” then the lawyer could accuse Jesus of blasphemy for preaching that faith in Him and not obedience to the Law was all that one needed to do to inherit eternal life. Blasphemy of the highest order!
What the lawyer wasn’t expecting was for Jesus to refer him to the Law and then command him to follow the Law! “What is written in the law?” Jesus asks. “What do you read there?” (v. 26). And the lawyer answers by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind” (v. 27). And then he adds something: “And love your neighbor as yourself” (v.27). Hummm … the same words that Jesus Himself used when He was asked what the greatest law or commandment was. Love God. Love your neighbor. “You have answered correctly,” says Jesus. “Do this, and you will live” (v. 28).
The lawyer, desiring to justify himself, asks Jesus: “Who is my neighbor?” (v. 29). This question – “Who is my neighbor?” – reveals the true heart of the lawyer’s intent. Jesus had already answered his question. Well … actually … Jesus had gotten him to answer his own question. “What does the law say?” “How do you read it?” If you love God, you follow and keep His laws, amen? If you keep God’s laws, guess what? You love and take care of your neighbors. As Jesus said, all of the law can be summed up in these two thoughts. If you love God, you keep His laws … His laws which outline how we are to relate to Him and how we relate to and get along with our “neighbors.”
The law of God IS love and Jesus was the embodiment of that love. He never ceased to have compassion on His neighbors. The very reason for His coming into the this world was because God had compassion on His people. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have” … have what? … “eternal life” (John 3:16).
When the Lord Jesus walked the face of the earth, He had compassion not only for the people of Israel but for all His children … for all the children of God. He ate with sinners and tax collectors … with prostitutes and … gasp! … Samaritans. Remember the Samaritan woman by the well? He shared the good news of the Kingdom of God with her and with everyone else in her village. Stayed with them, ate with them. God is compassionate by nature, as evidenced by Jesus’ love and compassion for everyone that He encountered.
The lawyer already knew this … about God at least. Love God … love your neighbor, right? He’s a lawyer. He knows the law. But Jesus is telling him that he needs to do more than just “know” the law … he needs to keep the law … he needs to follow the law … he needs to “do” the law. And the way he should “do” the law is by loving God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his strength, with all his mind and … love his neighbor as himself.
The law of God is the law of love, but that wasn’t what the lawyer was looking for. He was there to test Jesus, to trick Jesus, to get Him to trap or condemn Himself. He wasn’t there to learn about compassion or to follow Jesus or become one of His disciples. Just the opposite. And Jesus knows this. Jesus knows his intentions, his heart. Ah … but this is Jesus he’s talking to and trying to “test.” Jesus uses the lawyer’s test as a springboard or an opportunity to teach His disciples and those who came to hear Him a valuable lesson about compassion and being a follower of Christ … and He does it by telling them the parable of “The Good Samaritan.”
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead” (v. 30).
Jerusalem is some 2,300 feet above sea level and Jericho, which is about 17 miles from Jerusalem, is at about 800 feet below sea level, so the road where the traveler was left for dead was steep and filled with narrow gorges and short, sharp twists and turns that provided excellent hiding places for robbers. The dangers of the Jerusalem/Jericho road were well-know to the lawyer and to those listening to Jesus’ parable.
“Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.” (v. 31)
We don’t know how or why the priest was walking, also alone, on that same road that day and we don’t honestly know what his thinking was or his motivation for avoiding the injured, possibly dead, man on the side of the road. I don’t think that was germane or relevant to Jesus’ point or He would have told us. I think what is significant is simply the fact that he’s a priest and priests are to fulfill the law by … you guessed it … loving God by serving Him at the Temple and loving their neighbors by teaching them about the law and serving them as God’s intermediary at the Temple. They, like modern day preachers, were called or chosen by God to serve Him and serve His people.
The priest also reflected the attitude that most priests and Jewish people would have had towards “foreigners” or gentiles, like a Samaritan. Think about it. Most Jews would walk all the way around Samaria, literally go days out of their way, then set foot in Samaria or get Samaritan dust on their sandals. Help them? Why, they wouldn’t even ask a Samaritan for a glass of water if they were dying of thirst.
Perhaps the priest’s concern was simply “religious.” In order to find out if the man were dead or alive, he would have to go over to the man and possibly shake him or touch him … and that would render him religiously or ritually impure … and he would be inconvenienced by having to isolate himself and go through a series of ritual purifications before he could return to work or home. How many times had the Pharisees and Sadducees and religious leaders used the “law” to try and trap Jesus … oh, I don’t know, like the lawyer in our story today. How many Pharisees and Sadducees accused Jesus of breaking the law and failed to see or celebrate the healing that He did … for Jews and gentiles, bums and beggars, Roman centurions and traitorous Jewish tax collectors … spiritual leaders called by God to care for His people crossed the street when they saw Jesus coming, so to speak. Don’t miss the rich, rich irony here. A lawyer is asking how to acquire or inherit eternal life … a lawyer, who knows the law yet it is the law that keeps the priest from going over to “touch” the man and possibly get the stranger’s blood on his hands. And isn’t it the law that the lawyer is trying to use to trap or “test” Jesus and in so doing miss out on who Jesus is and what He came to offer – eternal life.
“Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side of the road.” (v. 32)
Again we have the same situation. A Levite, who serves the priest who serves the people, came along, alone, and gives the injured man a wide berth. And, again, we don’t know what he was thinking or why he would do that … what’s important is that he did it. I think there’s a valuable lesson for pastors and church leaders here. I think Jesus wanted the lawyer, a religious leader in his own right, to understand the responsibility that he had been given by God … the same responsibility that God gives to all His servants who lead. Where the leader goes, the people will follow. They are before the people and they are to lead the people … by teaching them, by interpreting the law for them, by serving as flesh and blood examples or models of how to live as a child of God …. To show them how to achieve or attain eternal life by following the Law – and in so doing, loving God with all their hearts, with all their souls, with all their minds, with all their strength … and loving their neighbor as themselves. Look at where and when the lawyer asked his question. Not in private. How many uneducated people could have been led astray by this “educated” lawyer’s attempt to trap Jesus that day? But, again, Jesus uses it to lead people to the truth … to eternal life.
Jesus taught the law. Jesus embodied the law. Jesus led by example and He called us, as disciples, to follow His lead. Like the next traveler, He saw no distinction between Jew and gentile, rich or poor. We know that He would have gone straight over to that man and given him aid and comfort because He is our Father, a Father who loves all of His children and does not abandon us on the side of the road and leave us there to die.
“But a certain Samaritan” … (v. 33)
Remember the lawyer’s question and why Jesus is telling us this parable? “But who is my neighbor” (v. 29). The Jews and Samaritans were quite literally geographical neighbors. Their lands bordered each other for many miles … but their relationship was anything but neighborly … unless the neighbors were the Hatfields and McCoys. The centuries … centuries! … of animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans is reflected in the Wisdom of Sirach:
“There are two nations that my soul detests, the third is not a nation at all. The [Edomities] and the [Philistines] and the stupid people living in Samaria.”
The Samaritans were cursed daily in the synagogues and prayers were lifted up hoping that the Samaritans would be prevented from entering into eternal life. How ironic but typical of Jesus to use a person that the Jewish people prayed would not enter into Heaven and receive eternal life to answer the lawyer’s question about how he can earn or receive eternal life.
Out of all those that Jesus could have chosen to be a “good neighbor” to this man lying near dead on the side of the road, Jesus chose the most despised person possible. Oh, but Jesus goes much further than that, as we shall see. The Good Samaritan did more than just observe the fallen traveler as the others had. In fact, he goes above and beyond the requirements of “the law” when it came to helping out a stranger in need. He performed nine different acts of compassion for this wounded stranger. He went to him (1) … poured wine and oil on his wounds (2) … bound his wounds (3) … set him on his own beast (4) … brought him to an inn (5) … took care of him (6) … paid the innkeeper two denarii (7) … asked the innkeeper to take care of the stranger until he could come back (8) … and then offered to pay any additional bills and charges when he came back (9).
Not only did the Samaritan stop and help this poor stranger in need, he did so at his own peril. The stranger lying there could have been a trap. It was common for thieves to pretend they were wounded … much like a person putting up their car hood today to get victims to stop and help … or they would attack someone and leave their body there to attract the next kindly traveler. The Samaritan could have ended up like the man on the side of the road … or worse … because he stopped and helped. Hummm … just like Jesus, who came to us, lying bruised and beaten on the side of the road, mugged by our sin and left for dead … only Jesus was in turn mugged … and survived, amen? And we survived because of Him.
Unlike the priest, the Samaritan touched the traveler with hands of kindness and compassion. No ceremonial reason restrained him. He didn’t even hesitate. He bandaged the stranger’s wounds. He bathed his sores. He helped him to get to a safe place where he could recover. This was a beautiful picture of true compassion. This was a poignant illustration of compassion at work. “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need,” writes the Apostle John, “and shuts up his heart from him …. How does the love of God abide in him? My little children,” John advises, “let us not love in word or in tongue but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:17-18).
A Christian leader was invited to speak at a large gathering of women in an affluent church. Before he spoke, the woman leading the meeting relayed an urgent financial need from one of the church’s missionaries. She asked if the speaker would lead the group in prayer for God to supply the need. He came to the podium and shocked the group by saying he would not lead the group in the requested payer but that he would do something else. He would contribute all the on ey he had in his pockets to meet the needs of the missionary if all the women in the group would do the same. If, when the money was collected and counted, funds were still lacking, he would be happy to lead in payer for God to supply the rest. You can guess what happened … when the money was collected, there was more than enough to meet the missionary’s needs. (“A Life Beyond Amazing,” Thomas Nelson Pub., 2017, p. 96).
When Jesus asked the lawyer at the end of the parable which of the three men had demonstrated that he was a neighbor to the wounded man, the lawyer said: “The one who showed mercy” (v. 33). He couldn’t even bring himself to say “the Samaritan.” Which brings us to the most shocking aspect of Jesus’ parable …
Are you ready for this?
Not only was the Samaritan the good neighbor, the compassionate neighbor … are you sure you’re ready for this?
Not only was the Samaritan the good and compassionate neighbor …. Okay, this is going to blow your mind!
Jesus not only uses the Samaritan as an emblem of compassion but uses the most hated people in his audiences’ eyes to describe …
Himself!
To describe Himself and His ministry!
Jesus declared Himself the fulfillment of Isaiah 63: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted … to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of the vengeance of our God … to comfort all who mourn and to provide for those who grieve in Zion … to bestow upon them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and the garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (v. 1-3).
I want to compare verse 33 with verse 37 in today’s lesson. In verse 33, Jesus said that the Samaritan had “compassion” on the man who had fallen victim to robbers and was left for dead on the road. In verse 37, the lawyer says that the Samaritan showed “mercy.” Hummm … the Samaritan showed compassion and mercy … The Bible uses the words “compassion” and mercy a lot when they describe whom? Hummm … The Lord God Himself. In other words, the Samaritan was demonstrating the attributes of God when he helped this poor man lying half dead on the side of the road.
Hummmm … who else constantly and consistently demonstrated the attributes of God? I wonder. Anyone pop into mind? Hummm … our Lord Jesus never ceased to have compassion on his neighbors, amen? The very reason for His coming into the world was that God had compassion on His people who, as I said, were lying bruised, beaten, and almost dead in their sins. He sent the Lord Jesus into the world to save those who would believe in Him, as the Apostle John so brilliantly and beautifully declares in John 3:16-17, amen?
Jesus was and is the ultimate “Good Samaritan.” When Jesus looked around, he saw opportunities to help everywhere … and He was moved to compassion over and over and over again. He demonstrated His compassion in so many ways to so many people. To the sick. Unlike the priest and Levite, he wasn’t afraid to physically touch them and heal them. He was compassionate toward the needy. He was compassionate toward widows and mothers. He touched lepers and cleansed them. He touched dead bodies and brought them back to life. He befriended social pariahs and made them His disciples. He was compassionate towards everyone … Jews, Gentiles, and, yes, … Samaritans … even Samaritan women.
The more difficult His life became, the more people crowded around Him with demands, the closer He got to his torturous death on the cross, the more loving and compassionate and forgiving He became. His last acts were to pray for the forgiveness of His murderers, to have John look after His widowed mother, and feel compassion for a dying thief whom He encouraged and promised salvation.
When Jesus saw broken humanity, His heart was moved with compassion. And in this story, the Samaritan saw this broken traveler through the eyes of Jesus and had compassion on him … divine, extravagant compassion for this broken, hurting man! As one anonymous writer wrote:
- The Samaritan gave his eyes to the traveler when he looked upon him with concern.
- He gave his heart to the traveler when he felt true compassion for him.
- He gave his beast and his feet to the traveler when he let him ride, willingly walking beside his own animal.
- He gave his hands to the traveler when he bound up his wounds.
- He gave his time to the traveler when he postponed his own schedule to stay with him that first critical night.
- Finally, he gave his money to the traveler when he paid for his stay at the inn.
Which of these three men do you think you are?
- The lawyer?
- The priest?
- The Levite?
We may never see someone dying on the side of the road but we all meet unlovable people every day, amen? What do you do when you meet these people? Do you honestly ask yourself: “What would benefit that person the most? How can I help that person?” Or do you find ways to avoid them and shun them? Do you give them a wide berth … cross over to the other side of the street, so to speak? Do you follow the example of the priest and the Levite most of the time and the example of the Good Samaritan only occasionally?
If Jesus is the Good Samaritan, maybe we’re the poor beaten, dying soul lying in the road. If we look at ourselves spiritually, we may realize that we are that poor victim on the Jericho Road … spiritually dead in our sins. We have fallen among the robbers of Satan, the world, and our sinful nature. We lay, half-dead, along the spiritual road of our lives waiting for a future of eternal damnation. We are without hope and without help.
Where can we turn? Can we turn to the law to save us? Can we earn our way into Heaven, eternal life, through our own good works? That would be like expecting help from the priest and the Levite in Jesus’ parable. Spiritually, they were just as helpless as the victim.
No … we are in desperate need of a Good Samaritan to rescue us before we are lost forever. Who is that Good Samaritan? It is God Himself who stepped down from Heaven on to the earth. He took on human flesh. He walked the roads of Palestine and taught about the Kingdom of God. The One who told the parable about the Good Samaritan is OUR Good Samaritan … Jesus Christ … amen? Jesus is the only one who keeps the law perfectly. When the robbers of sin, death, and the devil attacked Him, they thought He was finished when His disciples placed His bruised, bleeding, broken body in the tomb. But it was He who was to be the victor! He defeated them and did it in the most unusual way ... by allowing them to attack Him and leave Him for dead. Those robbers thought that they had another victim on their steep road to Sin City but God used the shame of the cross to defeat them. He rose from the dead and declared His victory over our enemies.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus carries us to safety … not to an inn but to the community of saints … the Holy Christian church. It is here, among the other victims of Sin Road, that our Good Samaritan has rescued from death. Just as the Good Samaritan told the innkeeper, “Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back,” so Jesus told us, “I will never leave you nor forsake but will send the Comforter Who will take care of you until I come and take you to be with me forever.”
Jesus Christ has given us a blank check signed in His blood. It is here among the saints that the Holy Spirit applies the comforting message of the Gospel. It is here that we witness as our Good Samaritan rescues another victim through the holy water of baptism. We can confess our sins daily and never run out of forgiveness. It is here that we receive the food of Christ’s body and blood. We can never participate in the things of God too often, amen? It is here that we receive the blessed assurance that our sins are forgiven and that we truly are the heirs of eternal life. It is here that we wait for our blessed Good Samaritan to return and take us to live with Him forever.
And while we wait for the Good Samaritan to return, we meet other victims of sin, death, and the devil every day … and we have the blessed opportunity to tell others how He rescued us. “Yes … the Lord found me half dead on the side of the road just like He did you and let me tell you what He did for me and what He’ll do for you to bring you back to life and more! He’ll give you eternal life!” God works through our message to rescue those fellow victims on the road of life.
It is only after Jesus Christ, our Good Samaritan, rescues us that we can fulfill the law of Christ and become good Samaritans to others. We can’t be good Samaritans in and of ourselves but through Christ, our Good Samaritan, working in and through us. As God said through His Apostle Paul: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippines 4:13). Why don’t you say it with me. “I Can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
