Today’s message comes to us from the gospel of Luke Chapter 10. It is the (BIBLE) story of the good Samaritan. It begins with a wrong perspective regarding the effectiveness of our own efforts to get us into heaven, and ends with a commandment regarding the intention of our actions here on earth. It begins with a question about eternal life and ends with a judgment regarding our attitudes toward others. This familiar story, upon close examination, has the ability to strip away our pretenses about what it means to display God’s compassion to each other and to the world.
It is… convicting. Especially to me, as I examine my own life in comparison to God’s standard.
Today I would like us to take a walk through this story, see what truths we can glean from it, and hopefully encourage us to examine ourselves as we seek to serve Christ and display His message of love to a lost, skeptical and hurting world.
Please listen as I read from the gospel of Luke Chapter 10 verses 25-37.
The Story of the Good Samaritan
25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’[h] and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”[i]
28 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
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,[j] 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.’ 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
37 And he (the lawyer) said, “He who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
I would like to open with a story from many years ago captured in the newspapers…
(“The Murder of Kitty Genovese")
“At approximately 3:20 on the morning of March 13, 1964, twenty-eight-year-old [[CLICK]] …(Kitty) Genovese was returning to her home in a nice middle-class area of Queens, NY…. She parked her car in a nearby parking lot, turned-off the lights and started the walk to her second floor apartment some 35 yards away. She got as far as a streetlight when a man grabbed her. She screamed. Lights went on in the 10-floor apartment building nearby. She yelled, "Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me!" Windows opened in the apartment building and a man’s voice shouted, "Let that girl alone." The attacker looked up, and then fled. Ms Genovese struggled to get to her feet. Lights went back off in the apartments. The attacker came back and stabbed her again. She again cried out, "I’m dying! I’m dying!" And again the lights came on and windows opened in many of the nearby apartments. The assailant got into his car and drove away. Ms Genovese staggered to her feet. It was now 3:35 a.m. The attacker returned once again. He found her in a doorway at the foot of the stairs and he stabbed her a third time -- this time with fatal consequences. It was 3:50 when the police received the first call. They responded quickly and within two minutes were at the scene. Ms Genovese was already dead…. " [THE NEW YORK TIMES, March 27, 1964, p. 38.]
Kitty Genovese … was a name that would become symbolic in the public mind for a dark side of the national character. It would stand for Americans who were too indifferent or frightened or alienated or self-absorbed to “get involved’’ in helping a fellow human being in dire trouble.
Detectives investigating the murder discovered that no fewer than 38 of her neighbors had witnessed at least one of her killer’s three attacks but had neither come to her aid nor called the police. The one call made to the police came after Genovese was already dead….
Some of you no doubt may recall this story. That incident may be the defining moment of urban apathy in the latter half of the twentieth century. When it happened, many people thought the incident was shocking and bizarre – but …not typical of the way people respond.
The question was asked,
“What was wrong with those people?”
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Well, today’s text in the book of Luke is about the Good Samaritan and it is the 1st century equivalent of the Kitty Genovese story. Both stories are extreme examples of indifference. Somebody is attacked and left for dead… those who are in a position to help don’t help. And the focus of the story quickly shifts from the plight of the victim to an assessment of the response of the average citizens. Today’s bible story is about Compassion and Indifference.
… a contrast between the two. Between:
? Love in action …. Versus…. Apathy
? A desire to relieve suffering … versus… a lack of concern.
Throughout this story, Jesus stresses compassion. In fact, throughout the bible, love and compassion are often interchangeable terms and are emphasized as two of the highest expressions of God’s character that we as God’s people should display to the rest of the world.
WHY??
WHY is there such an emphasis throughout scripture… on being compassionate even to those who might not deserve it?
Well, let’s get into our bible story and see if we can find out.
At the start of the story of the good Samaritan, the encounter begins with a lawyer (an expert in the Old Testament law) trying to test Jesus by asking "what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Much like the rich young ruler IN THE BOOK OF Matthew he seems to be saying, “What good thing must I do AND how much of it must I do in order to have eternal life?”
So…. we begin the encounter with a warped perspective….another “works-based” viewpoint of salvation. But Jesus ignores that wrong viewpoint, refrains from giving an immediate answer and (instead) throws the question back in the lawyer’s lap by saying "What is written in the law?” The lawyer responds with two commands found in Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19, first “love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind,’ and (secondly) "love your neighbor as yourself."’ (28) And Jesus says to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."
Jesus asks the question; the lawyer gives the answer and Jesus says, “Good answer, go do it.”
Now some people have been troubled by the implications of this answer …that implication being “is it possible to get into heaven through your own good works”!!! But we need to understand that Jesus is not saying that you can be saved by the law. He is reminding the lawyer what the law says. The law requires not only that one keep the law, but that he keep it perfectly… without omissions or failures. To be justified under the law one must be perfect. ((James 2:10 says: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it”.)) Jesus wants the lawyer to FIRST see that the law cannot save anyone because no one can keep the law perfectly. The law is a mirror meant to show our imperfections and – therefore – our need for a savior.
Yet the lawyer misses this point. He instead looks for a loophole in the law and by doing so asks the question that begins today’s lesson. Verse twenty-nine says, “But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus…
“WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?”
Well, this question (Who is my neighbor) is where Jesus begins to unravel preconceived notions of compassion. And if we are willing to admit it, here is where Jesus also begins to invade our comfort zone with some radical ideas about what it means to have a heart after God.
Luke says that the lawyer asked this question because he wanted to “justify himself,” that is he wanted to make himself seem right in his relationship with God. The lawyer measured himself against both commands ( 1. Love the Lord and 2. Love your neighbor) and he probably figured that he met the first one well enough, but his keeping of the second one depended on how you defined “neighbor.” He was asking, “Who and how much do I have to love…. In order to get into heaven?” Instead of answering the question “What do I have to do to get IN?” Jesus shows the lawyer what someone who is already in looks like and acts like. Well, like many people, the Lawyer knew the right answers. But he was totally unprepared for Jesus’ view of what compassion looks like in real life.
So we’re going to step through Jesus’ response to the lawyer as He begins to reveal what is meant by the words neighbor and compassion.
First let’s set the stage.
We have some main characters in our story here:
The Priest
The Levite
The Samaritan (who rescued the victim)
Ok. So who are these guys? A quick overview.
The priest and the Levite among other things worked in the temple. The priests had charge of the services and sacrifices in the Temple. The Levites were assistants to the priests, and acted in other capacities such as porters, musicians, judges and genealogists. So the priest and the Levite would have been very well respected and admired within the Jewish community as being “close servants of God”.
The Samaritan…on the other hand… was not well respected among the Jews. We’ll elaborate on that as we get further into our story.
I also want to highlight the terrain where this event occurred:
At the beginning of the story, we have a man going from Jerusalem to Jericho.
The journey between these two towns was about 17-18 miles. Jerusalem is about 2,500 feet above sea level and Jericho is about 800 feet below sea level. Hence, there is a steep incline between the two towns. And it was also treacherous because of the Robbers who would hide among the rocks in that area. Here is a picture of that area. (show picture) The robbers of Jesus' day would often operate in numbers and severely beat their victims in order to deprive them of their goods. In fact that stretch of road between Jerusalem and Jericho was so bad that it was given the Arabic name TAL –AT- ED—DAM which means “The incline or THE WAY OF BLOOD”.
So a man being attacked on the road to Jericho would be a very believable story to those who were listening to Jesus tell it.
Now that we have a little background, let’s begin reading Jesus’ response to the legal expert and see what truths we can learn from his view of compassion.
In verse thirty we read, “Jesus 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.” Jesus simply says, “A certain man…” It is likely that this victim was just an average ordinary Jewish guy. No one of standing or distinction. But this man is robbed and wounded and left for dead. And as this unknown victim lay beside the road a series of three individuals come along the way.
Here is where I want to make the first observation about Jesus’ view of compassion:
1. Compassion is based on need, not on “perceived worth” of the person.
The first passer-by is introduced in verse thirty-one, “a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.” This is one of the most shocking aspects of this parable when Jesus told it. The priest was considered the holiest person there was among the Jews. He was taught the Scriptures. He was entrusted with offering sacrifices for the sin of the people. He was allowed to go further into the Temple than “regular” people were. If anyone was going to reflect the character of God, it would be the priest. But when this priest saw the victim he crossed to the other side of the road. He went out of his way to avoid helping!! I find it interesting that at no point during or after this story is told do we see anyone arguing with Jesus about the facts of this story. No one says “Well a priest would never act that way!” This “absence of argument” lends credence to a belief that this story may in fact be an actual event instead of simply a parable.
Now some have tried to excuse the priest’s actions, under the assumption that he shouldn’t touch the victim because the victim might have been dead, and this would have made the priest “ceremonially unclean” and unable to carry out his duties.
But Leviticus 22:4-6 says that all he would have had to do was take a bath and wait till the sun went down… and he would be considered ceremonially clean again. Well… we’re not told why he avoided assisting the man, only that he did.
The second passer-by is the … Levite. When he arrived at the place, came and looked, and also passed by on the other side. Like Kitty Genovese’s neighbors, the first two passersby probably just didn’t want to get involved. They weren’t monsters. They were probably nice, ordinary people. Yet like the witnesses in Kitty’s murder, they saw the need… right in front of them…but did not do any thing about it. These two religious professionals, were caught up in a life-less religion. They played at church, but it did not affect the way they lived. The very people you would expect to help – pass by.
This is where I began to ask myself “Who am I”? If Jesus were telling this story to me today… would I be the Samaritan in this story? “Does my belief in Jesus express itself with compassion towards others?” Or am I like the Priest and the Levite? When I see a need that is right in front of me… maybe not a person dying in the road, but a serious need…do I consciously cross to the other side of the road….I do a little rubber necking, but I don’t want to be involved… don’t want to get my hands dirty…. don’t want to spend my time, resources or concern for a lost world. But it is with the lost, that the need is greatest.
If God were to show compassion based on our worth (instead of our need), how much kindness would we receive from him? Yet he shows compassion every day. Matthew 5:45 says “….He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” In the process of conforming us to the image of his Son, God commands us to show compassion to a world that often does not deserve it.
Matthew 5:44 says…” ….Love your enemies[a] and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”
Let’s look at the next characteristic of compassion…
2. Compassion Feels Something
In verse thirty-three we read, “ But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.”
Today we use the phrase “Good Samaritan”, but it was definitely NOT a phrase in use by Jews of Jesus’ day. In Jesus time… the Jews hated the Samaritans. THEY WERE, IN EFFECT, ENEMIES. It would have been shocking for Jesus to have told the people that this man was helped by a Samaritan. Given the mutual hatred between the two groups, it would have been more likely to have expected the Samaritan to come over and finish the guy off. But Jesus said we should love our enemies and he is giving an example of that commandment in action.
So the Samaritan had Compassion. The Greek word used here for compassion is SPLANK-NIT-SO-MY (Try to say THAT three times fast) (splanchnizomai). It comes from a word that refers to the intestines, or bowels. It sounds pretty gross! But it’s the equivalent of what we mean when we talk about a “gut feeling.” The Samaritan saw the half-dead man beside the road and his heart churned within him so that he could not pass by without helping. That’s the way compassion affects us. It stirs us; it troubles us, it keeps us awake at night until we do something.
When that Samaritan looked at the victim, something made it impossible for him to walk away. Of all the people who passed by that suffering man, the Samaritan had the least reason to help… BUT he had the only heart that cared.
The third thing we learn from this story is that…
3. Compassion Does Something
In verse thirty-four, the Samaritan ignores any “societally perceived worth” of the man… and acts.
Jesus details in a series of six verbs just how active this man’s compassion was. If you like to underline words in your bible, you may want to underline these. Talking about the Samaritan, the bible says…
? he went to him (which took intention)
? he bandaged his wounds (which took effort)
? he poured oil and wine on his wounds (which took resources)
? he put him on his animal (which meant the Samaritan probably walked)
? he brought him to an inn (which took money)
? he took care of him (which took an investment of himself)
In every one of his acts he demonstrated compassion in an unselfish way. He also took the time to take care of him. (Someone once said ““Charity is more common than compassion. Charity is tax-deductible. Compassion is time consuming.”) Charity is wonderful and definitely necessary, but sometimes we have to invest more things that are precious to us.
This portion of the story makes me recall John 3:16… “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…”
For God so loved the world that he…. did something ABOUT OUR PROBLEM… by giving that which was precious to Him!”
Now… we as individuals may not be able to help everyone everywhere. But we can all do a meaningful work of service for someone who comes across our path in life. We, as Christians are called to serve. God uses us as His representatives to show compassion:
2 Corinthians 5:20… We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
You never know how God can use one person’s act of compassion to influence or inspire or change the hearts of others. There are many examples, but let me give you one illustration of what happened once when a person consumed with both a heart after God and compassion for others took significant action.
ILLUSTRATION : Henry Dunant was born in 1828 in Switzerland. He was born of wealthy parents, and could have lived a life of lazy luxury.
Yet, Dunant was a caring, compassionate, Christian young man who visited the sick & poor. As a young man he established an organization in Switzerland called, "The Young Men’s Christian Union," designed to help teenage boys.
When he became an adult he went into business on his own, & did very well. One day he had an appointment with Napoleon III, whose armies were at war in Italy.
Dunant traveled to Italy to meet with Napoleon III. But on the way he passed the latest battlefield & saw the atrocities of war. He looked at bayonets & guns rusting in the mud. He saw the bodies of 40,000 soldiers, most of them dead, but some of them still alive. He heard their cries of agony & pain. Some were cursing as they breathed their last breath of life.
Dunant couldn’t turn away from that. He went to the nearest town & persuaded the townspeople to turn the church into a first-aid station. He persuaded citizens to help him & they took stretchers & went out into the battlefield & brought the wounded back.
He worked side by side with the doctors for three weeks, with almost no sleep - ministering to the wounded & to their needs.
Dunant finally went home, but he couldn’t forget what he had experienced. So he started writing - to this nation & to that - to all the influential people he knew & to others.
Finally, one day in Geneva, Switzerland, in front of an international gathering, he presented a resolution that we know today as the Geneva Convention, signed by 22 nations, granting immunity to doctors & nurses & ambulances so that they could go out into the battlefields & bring back the wounded & dying without fear of being shot at.
They adopted as their symbol [[Show Symbol]] the red cross upon a white background. Today, wherever there are floods, tornadoes, war - there is the Red Cross.
You knew about the Red Cross, but did you know that it all started because one person loved the Lord and could not shrug his shoulders at the misery that he saw? It was all because one young man couldn’t just pass by -- ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD -- without doing something?
God sometimes chooses to multiply the efforts of one faithful person so that the benefits touch many!
If we are children of God - if we claim to follow Jesus - then we are called to be loving, compassionate people. We may fail at times. Our shoulders may sometimes slump because we are tired, but they must not shrug because we don’t care.
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So we see that compassion takes action…
4. Compassion ALSO Costs Something.
It is much cheaper in the short-term to be indifferent. We can keep much more of our time, money, and resources by ignoring the needs that come across our paths. Compassion cost the Samaritan something. And if you are a Christian, it will cost you something to serve the needs of those around you.
Sometimes it may cost a lot…
ILLUSTRATION. A man by the name of Dawson Trotman died in 1956. Maybe you have heard of him. He was the founder of the Christian-based Navigator Program. Trotman was convinced that the hope of the church was for older Christians to take younger Christians under their wings & teach them - in much the same way that Jesus taught His disciples.
Trotman died tragically. He drowned in a lake. Yet, he was an expert swimmer. What happened was that two girls were drowning & he dove in to help them. He rescued the first girl and brought her safely out of the water. Then he dove back into the murky waters, searching for the second girl - but he never re-surfaced. Finally, authorities dragged the bottom of the lake & found his body as well as that of the other young girl..
Time magazine had a write-up about his death & in it they said, "Dawson Trotman was always lifting somebody else up." At his funeral, Billy Graham said “Dawson Trotman has personally touched more lives [for Christ's sake] than anybody I have ever known”. What a witness for Christ!! What selfless compassion at many steps through his life, especially at his final step.
But compassion costs something, doesn’t it? Sometimes it means forsaking things we would rather do so that we can serve others. Sometimes it costs more. At the end, it may even cost us our life. Jesus said something about that,
Matthew 10:39: Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my (Jesus) sake will find it.
Our lives are a message to the world around us, about the love of God. As it says in…
Matthew 5:16
…” let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven”.
What are you and I willing to do? What are we willing to risk to be obedient to God, to show God’s love and compassion to others.
SUM. Dawson Trotman cared, and it cost him something.
THE FINAL POINT TODAY is this….
5. Compassion Demonstrates Our Relationship to God (vv. 36-37)
At the conclusion of His story Jesus asks the lawyer one more question. In verse thirty-six, he says “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to him who fell among the thieves.” You can almost imagine the lawyer choking on his words here…not wanting to say the word “Samaritan” … so he responds in verse thirty-seven with, "He who showed mercy on him." And for the second time Jesus tells this legal expert to do something in order to inherit eternal life when this verse continues with Jesus saying to him, "Go and do likewise." Why does Jesus say this? Because he KNOWS that this man will not turn to him for salvation until he turns from his dependence on “doing” something to earn eternal life.
This story is not about how to earn eternal life. It is about what flows out of someone who HAS eternal life.
GOOD works are not the way to get into heaven. But they ARE evidence to the world of who we are. They are (1) an expression of our love to a God who has forgiven us and loves us. (2) They are a sign to the world around us testifying to the truth of our message. (3) They are a genuine expression of our love for lost people.
Compassion and good works do not gain your entrance into heaven, but in the absence of good works, in the absence of compassion, who will believe our message? It can very easily appear to the world that a Christian – who is indifferent to the suffering around them – is no Christian at all.
So…..at the end of our BIBLE story…
The lawyer is left without any of the excuses or the vindication that he wanted. The question of “Who is my neighbor?” has been turned on the lawyer and is now a question asking him and us, “What kind of neighbor am I?”
“What kind of neighbor am I?”
CONCLUSION
Honestly, we may be the only bible that some people ever read. The compassion of God often asks us as individuals to act in ways contrary to the ways of the world. God asks us to use our time, talents and efforts to reach out to a lost world so that it might believe (through our words AND our deeds) that the God WE love…. has a message of love for them. We as believers are called to be a reflection of God’s truth and His love for the world. We are His representatives, His ambassadors, to the hurt, the dying and the lost.
Let’s pray…
- Lord, You bestowed on us the ultimate compassion. That while we were yet sinners, while we were still undeserving and rebellious, You sent Your precious Son to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.
- In love, You command us to be a reflection of Your compassion for the lost.
- Help us to take to heart Your WORD, and reach out to the needs of those in our path, so that people might see through our compassion towards them, and our words of testimony, that there is a God who loves them.
