Message
Luke 10:25-37
The Good Samaritan
Today we are going to look at a parable which – probably – is the most well-known of all of Jesus parables.
Why do I say this?
Well in Clarence Town, which is the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, there is an organisation which rescues donkeys from ill treatment or neglect. The organisation has 300 acres and cares for up to 130 donkeys. It is called the Good Samaritan Donkey Sanctuary
There are so many organisations, who focus on the down and out, which have “Good Samaritan” or “Samaritan” in their name – even some which are not Christian organisations.
Which is actually a bit of a problem.
Because it fixes into our mind that the parable is all about helping those who are down and out … those who can’t help themselves … these are our neighbours.
Now I am not saying we shouldn’t care for neglect people … or even neglected donkeys. But we also can’t allow a popular application … namely “be a good Samaritan to our neighbours” … to cause us to miss the key focus of the parable.
So, just before we read the parable, I want us to hear this point.
It is not the main purpose of this parable to teach us who is our neighbour.
I’ll say it again. It is not the main purpose of this parable to teach us who is our neighbour.
Now let’s read Luke 10:25-37.
As we have consistently seen, the context of the parables … the circumstances that were in place when they were being told … knowing the context is an important aspect of understanding the parable.
It starts with a question from an expert in the law who stood up to test Jesus.
He is an expert in Biblical law … the Word of God.
He thinks he can test Jesus. Now remember Jesus is the one who “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God.”
No expert in the Word of God, no matter how good they are, can test Jesus who is The Word.
Indeed Jesus doesn’t even answer the first question. Instead it is the lawyer who finds himself being tested. When it comes to doing what is needed to inherit eternal life how do you read the Scripture?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.
That is a direct quote of Deuteronomy 6:5
Love your neighbour as yourself.
That is a quote from Leviticus 19:18
In Mark 12 we have a similar discussion.
There one of the teachers asks Jesus “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”. In his answer Jesus uses these same verses … love God … love your neighbour.
Let me read what happens next … Mark 10:32-34.
32 ‘Well said, teacher,’ the man replied. ‘You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.’ 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
The expert on the law in on the right track – a track where he is not so far from the kingdom of God. Jesus acknowledges his correct answer.
But having the correct answer from Scripture …
And living the Scripture as the answer for your life …
Well that is two separate actions. That was the downfall of this expert … he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”.
The question is reflective of a reality.
We know that the Word of God says love your neighbour as yourself. But we don’t have enough resources, or enough time, or enough capacity.
We don’t have enough to help everybody who needs help.
We know that. The lawyer knows that as well.
So how do you know you are loving God and loving your neighbour if you are not helping everyone?
That is what the lawyer is wrestling with. He wants a rule … a boundary. He wants to justify the fact that he hasn’t helped everyone. He wants to justify his lack of action.
Jesus doesn’t give him a rule … instead Jesus tells a parable.
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. The original language says "a certain man" or, to put it in modern terms, "some guy". Some guy. An anonymous man of unknown age, of unspecified ethnicity, and of unknown origins was taking a trip. He could be anybody … which is exactly the point.
Is it someone I know? Someone I can trust?
Is he Jewish? Gentile? Roman. Greek?
What is his religion? What moral code does he have?
Is he well off or financially struggling?
Does he live in Jericho and is going home? Is he from Jerusalem and is on a trip away?
What man are you talking about?
Can I identify with him?
He is nameless and faceless – all we know is he is heading for trouble.
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is 27 kilometres long, and drops 1200 meters. The area is virtually uninhabited, without vegetation, and marked by limestone cliffs and gulleys on both sides of the road. Bandits had a heyday hiding among the rocks. The nickname for the road was “the path of blood”. That pretty much says it, doesn’t it?
Naturally he is attacked. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half-dead. He’s unconscious, unable to speak. Anyone coming by won’t be able to identify who he is.
Does he fit into the circle, or is he out of the circle? You can’t tell.
The man is left like road kill, and two religious figures treat him like road kill – they just walk by.
Often the reason given for the priest and the Levite to walk past is that they would become unclean if they got too close; especially if they discovered the body was dead.
Have a closer look at verse 32 A priest happened to be going down the same road
When you went to Jerusalem … which is where the temple was – the temple which was the workplace for the priests … when you went to Jerusalem you would always go “up to Jerusalem”. The priest is coming down from Jerusalem, having finished his turn at serving. Stopping and helping would not prevent him from serving in the temple. The same applies to the Levite.
We want to be careful not to read too much into the parable and say it is about hypocritical religion. The Priest and the Levite represent the most likely to stop. The people listening would be thinking, “If they didn’t stop there is a good chance I would not have either.”
So why didn’t the priest and the Levite stop? We can only speculate.
It was too inconvenient.
They were too busy.
They are fearful of the bandits who may still be around.
They didn’t have a first aid kit.
They just want to get home.
We don’t know the exact reason … but something is lacking.
Which brings us to the third man … a Samaritan.
A quick history lesson about Samaritans. When Assyria conquered the 10 northern tribes of Israel in 722BC many of the people who were conquered were moved to other nations … in the meantime the all conquering Assyrians moved people from the other nations into the northern tribes. Over time these outsiders came to follow parts of the local culture and religion. They were a hybrid.
You may remember that a few centuries later, when the Jews returned to their homeland after the Babylonian Exile, they would not accept the help of people still in the land. Those people were the Samaritans. They ended up building their own temple and having their own place of worship. They were a competing religion in the land.
Samaritans were hated by Jews … and the feeling was mutual. By introducing the Samaritan into the parable Jesus is making a powerful point.
This is a picture of the low life caring for one with no life.
This is a picture of the unloved caring for the unknown.
Yet the Samaritan stopss. There is nothing in it for him. We don't even know in this story if the mugging victim ever regained consciousness to see who was helping him.
The priest and the Levites lacked something … they didn’t stop.
The Samaritan had what the others lacked … he stopped.
So what does the Samaritan have that the other don’t.
Have a look at verse 36 Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?
Notice how Jesus asks the question. He doesn’t say who the neighbour?
But, who acted in a neighbourly way?
Despite all the prejudice the lawyer has no choice but to concede – The Samaritan. Actually the lawyer is so prejudiced he can’t even say “the Samaritan” … he is just the one who had mercy.
There is something about the action of the Samaritan that clearly demonstrates what it means to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbour as yourself.
There is something unique about the action of the Samaritan.
So what is unique?
Is helping a stranger a unique action? Not really, it happens all the time. Just think about the clean up army in Brisbane after the 2011 floods. It isn’t unique to help people.
Is the concept of two people from two different ethnic groups which hate each other – is the concept of some from each group helping one another unique. That isn’t unique … it isn’t common but it happens. Even in modern times you can find stories where Palestinians help Jews and Jews help Palestinians.
So which part is unique?
It is in verse 33, A Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.
The unique part is the part where he “took pity.” I love the way the Greek word sounds … splagh-nidz-omai.
“To have pity” … “have compassion”.
Every time the word is used in the New Testament it is only used by Jesus, or to describe the character of Jesus.
Jesus has compassion and pity on the crowds who keep following Him and, out of compassion, He heals them (Matthew 14:13-14)
Out of compassion and pity Jesus feeds the 4000 who had followed Him for three days and who had no food (Matthew 15:32)
It is because of compassion and pity that Jesus heals the two blind men near Jericho who cry out “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us (Matthew 20:34). The same compassion and pity results in the son of the widow at Nain being raised from the dead (Luke 7:13)
In the parables
… the master who cancelled the huge debt of the servant had compassion (Matthew 18:27).
… the father whose lost son has returned was filled with compassion when he saw his returning son from a distance (Luke 15:20).
Splagh-nidz-omai. Compassion. Having pity. It is a Jesus-character.
Remember I said right at the beginning:- It is not the main purpose of this parable to teach us who is our neighbour.
The main purpose of this parable is to get us to ask a question.
Do we have this unique Jesus-character of pity and compassion? A Jesus-character that is at the heart of being a neighbour.
If we don’t have that Jesus character, then we are in much bigger trouble than that unconscious bleeding beaten man lying somewhere on the road.
If we have not accepted the compassion and pity of a Saviour who doesn’t care if we are “Jew or Greek, slave or free”, then we need to forget about any trips to Jericho and look back to Jerusalem.
Look back to where forgiveness is secured through the sacrifice of a Saviour.
Look back to where death was overcome in the victory of an empty grave.
Before anything else we have to be sure that our character has been formed by our identification with Jesus.
Then, and only then, will we have the character to be a neighbour.
Let’s see this parable clearly. Being a neighbour is not about capacity.
Jesus could heal on a massive scale, and feed 1000’s, and raise the dead. We can’t do that.
The Samaritan had a donkey – the parable doesn’t say if the priest or the Levite had a donkey. So maybe they couldn’t have helped as much – the next inn could have been a long walk away.
Jesus isn’t focussing here on lack of capacity – that is a separate issue for another time. Jesus is focussing here on a lack of splagh-nidz-omai.
The priest and the Levite don’t stop because, in that moment, they lack this unique Jesus-character.
Without this character we will never see the need.
Without this character we will always try and look for justification.
Without this character we will never stop to help the unidentifiable nameless and faceless who need help.
Without this character we will always walk by.
Which one was the neighbour?
The one who sees the Samaritan … who sees the pity and compassion … and who will go and do likewise.
Prayer
