“The Stories that Jesus Told”
Sermon # 2
"What Does Real Compassion Look Like"
Or
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37
“There is a funny story about St Peter admitting people at the gates of heaven. St Peter asks one man who appears, ‘Tell me one act of kindness you have committed during your life. The man said, ‘Once saw a rough looking gang of motorcyclist harassing an old lady. I walked right up and punched the gang leader in the nose!’ St Peter said, ‘When did that happen?’ The guy said, ‘About 30 seconds ago.’”
This story really introduces in a humorous way, the relationship between good works and going to heaven, that we find in the story that we are going to consider today in our series “The Stories that Jesus Told.” Today we are going to look at what has come to be known as the “The Parable of the Good Samaritan.” We find this very familiar story in Luke chapter ten, beginning in verse twenty-five, and it is told in response to a question asked of Jesus by a Jewish lawyer. The story begins in verse twenty-five where we read, “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
We are told that this man is a lawyer; but he is not the kind of lawyer who goes to court in a civil or criminal case. This “lawyer” is an expert in Old Testament Law he is a Old Testament scholar. The question asked of Jesus by this lawyer is: “What do I have to do to have eternal life?” Basically, he is asking, “What must I do to have a place in heaven?”
When he asked Jesus the question about eternal life, he was asking what Jesus saw as the essential requirements of the Law. Much like the rich young ruler of Matthew he seems to be saying, “What good thing must I do in order to have eternal life?” (19:16)
I can just see Jesus smiling as he throws the question back in the lawyer’s lap in verse twenty-six: “He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" Jesus restraints from giving the man an answer and rather says to him, “You know the law, what does it say?”
In verse twenty-seven the lawyer answers Jesus, "… You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and "your neighbor as yourself."’ (28) And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."
Jesus answers by saying you have answered “rightly” or “correctly.” The word translated “rightly” is from the word (orthos) from which we get the word orthodox. Jesus was saying, “Okay, your beliefs are orthodox but now try to do what you believe.” And Jesus goes on to say, “Now do it and you will live.” The word translated “live” here is not (bios) which would indicated health or biological life but it is the word (zoa) which means full or meaningful life.
Some are troubled by this answer but we need to understand that Jesus is not saying that that this man could be saved by the law. He is reminding the man what the law says. The law requires not only that one keep the law, but that he keep it perfectly. The law must be kept without omissions or failures. To be justified under the law one must be perfect. Jesus wants the lawyer to see that law cannot save anyone because no one can keep the law perfectly.
Some of you still believe deep down that there is something you can do to gain eternal life. I want to take a little survey. I want everyone in this room to raise their hand if you have never broken one of the Ten Commandments.” Anybody? Okay so all of us have already forfeited that chance. We need some help.
The good news is that you and I can’t do anything to gain eternal life. Jesus has already done it all. You don’t do anything to inherit something; that happens because you are a member of the family.
Now the Old Testament lawyer did what lawyers do so well he looked for a loophole in the law. In verse twenty-nine it says, “But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" He is using an evasive tactic that is still being used today he said, “Define what you mean by neighbor.” Why did the lawyer ask this question? Luke says that 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 and he figured that he met the first one well enough, but his keeping of the second one depending on how you defined “neighbor.” He was asking, “Who and how much do I have to love?” We are often like the lawyer in that we try to reduce God’s commands to something we can live with. We would like to believe that loving my neighbor means loving people who love me, or at least loving people who are lovable. Loving my neighbor thereby comes to mean; doing nice things for people who will probably do nice things back to me. That is probably what he lawyer thought too.
The lawyer’s original question was “What do I have to do to get in?” But Jesus’ answer tells him what someone who is already in looks like. Like many of us, the Lawyer knew the right answers. But he was totally unprepared for Jesus’ story about what compassion looks like in real life.
Jesus defines neighbor with a story but notice that Jesus did not call this story a parable, so it could be based on the report of an actual occurrence. The journey from Jericho to Jerusalem was well known for its danger. It was very steep and treacherous because of the many places for robbers to hide. In fact it was so bad that the name of the road was “the way of blood.” So this is a very believable story to those who were listening.
Jesus in this story tells us three things about compassion.
First, Compassion Is Demonstrated On the Basis of Need Not Worth.
In verse thirty we read, “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.” Our compassion is to be driven, not by the “worth” of the recipient but by the need. Jesus just says, “A certain man…” Today we would probably just say, “Some guy…” The man is robbed and wounded and left for dead. He needs help in the worse way. The fact that this man is stripped of his clothing makes it impossible for passersby to determine if he is a Jew or a Gentile. A person’s cultural identity was revealed by how they dressed.
As the unknown victim lay beside the road a series of three individuals came along the way. The first passer-by is introduced in verse thirty-one, “Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.” A priest came down the road, but when he saw the man he crossed to the other side and continued his journey. The priest has been excused by some down through the years, by saying that he didn’t want to touch the man because he might have been dead, and this would have made the priest ceremonially unclean and he would have been unable to carry out his duties. But I want you to notice it says that both he and the Levite who came along next are coming “down the road” thus they were leaving Jerusalem and had already performed their duties.
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 he went on his way and left the man unaided.
The second passer-by is introduced in verse thirty-two, “Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.” The Levite at least went over and looked at the man, but perhaps it was no more than the current practice of “rubber necking” at the scene of an accident to see what had happened. He too did not feel a need to do any thing to help.
The first two passersby probably just didn’t want to get involved. They didn’t want any trouble. They weren’t monsters. They were regular folks: nice, ordinary people who loved their kids and tried their best to get by in the world. They saw the need, and yet did nothing about it. Both men of these men, saw the man but ignored the need. These two religious professionals; were caught up in a life-less religion. They played at church, but it does not affect the way they live. Does yours?
Not Only Is Compassion Demonstrated On the Basis of Need Not Worth but …
Second, Compassion Is Measured by the Obstacles that Must be Overcome to Exercise it!
Now the story takes a most unexpected twist for in verse thirty-three Jesus says, “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.” Given the mutual hatred between Jews and Samaritans, it would have been more likely to have expected the Samaritan to finish the guy off and if the injured man were conscious he would have been likely to have refused the aid of the Samaritan, no matter how good his intentions were. Today we call this story “The Parable of The Good Samaritan.” The very phrase, “good Samaritan” has become part of our common language. But this was definitely not a phrase in use by the Jews of Jesus’ day. In fact, they probably wouldn’t have even considered saying the words “good” and “Samaritan” in the same sentence. To the Jews that heard this story the phrase “good Samaritan” would have been an oxymoron, two words that cancel each other out like, “Jumbo shrimp” or “pretty ugly.”
Notice with me three obstacles that hindered the Samaritan showing compassion.
•He Overcame the Obstacle of Being Unappreciated.
It would have been shocking for Jesus to have told the people that this man was helped by just an ordinary man. But it is not even a Jew helping a Jew, but rather a Samaritan helping a Jew who had been ignored by his fellow Jews.
There is no a logical reason for the Samaritan to rearrange his plans or to spend his money to help an “enemy” in need. Of all the people who passed this injured man by the Samaritan had the least reason to help, he was considered a no-account in his society before this incident and his good deed would not change his status in the community at large.
Yet when the passage says that “when he saw him, he had compassion,” the Greek word used here for compassion (splanchnizomai) is a very vivid one. 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.” A gut feeling is one that comes from the deepest part of who we are. The Samaritan saw the same pitiful man lying in agony 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 that suffering man lying half-dead by the side of the road, something happened in his gut; something that made it impossible for him to walk away. He didn’t decide to help this guy on the basis of how worthy he was. He helped him because of how needy he was.
In verse thirty-four we are told, “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.”
He doesn’t pass by on the other side. He moved toward the injured man. You must move toward people to express compassion, in order to build relationships. It is not something that just mystically happens, it takes concentrated effort. It often is not convenient. But I don’t want you to forget that the Samaritan is moving toward someone who if he was conscious would despise him; someone who no doubt would not do the same for him if the situations were reversed.
•He Overcame the Obstacle of the Possibility of Being Misunderstood.
In each one of his acts he demonstrated compassion as he responded in a practical, timely and unselfish way. He put him on his own donkey which meant that the Samaritan walked. But it should be remembered that his act of placing this man on his donkey and leading him down the road to an inn was open to misinterpretation. A Samaritan transporting a Jewish victim of a mugging would be the equivalent of an Indian riding into the frontier Fort with a scalped soldier draped across his horse; he probably would never get the opportunity to tell what had happened!
•He Overcame the Obstacle of Personal Inconvenience.
It is important to recognize that he took the time to take care of him. We may not be able to help everywhere, or help everyone, but we can help somewhere and try to do a meaningful work of service.
The Samaritans work did not stop with just helping the man and transporting him to a place of safety for we read in verse thirty-five, “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.’
Every thing this man had done cost him something, either in time, inconvenience or resources. Since travelers did not usually carry bandages with them, this man may have had to tear strips from his own clothing to bind this man’s wounds. The oil and wine that he used to clean and treat the wounds would have come from his own meager food supply. And then this man really went the extra mile, he took this man to an inn and saw to it that the innkeeper looked out for the recovering victim. He also promised that he would return and fully reimburse the innkeeper for any additional expenses that he incurred in caring for this man. He left money to take care of this man’s needs and he put no limit on how much he would spend to see the wounded man taken care of. There is nothing more the Samaritan could have done to show his compassion for this man.
Compassion Is Measured by the Obstacles that Must be Overcome to Exercise it and …
Third, Our Compassion Demonstrates Our Relationship With God!
At the conclusion of His story he asks the lawyer one additional question in verse thirty-six, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to him who fell among the thieves.” The literal reading of this verse would be, “Which of these three became a neighbor to the man who fell among the thieves.” The lawyer almost chokes on his words here. He cannot even bring himself to say the word “Samaritan” and so he responds in verse thirty-seven with, "He who showed mercy on him." And for the second time Jesus seems to tell this man 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 realizes that this man will not turn to him for salvation until he turns from his dependence on “doing” something to earn eternal life.
The lawyer is left without any of the excuses or the vindication that he wanted. The second question that the lawyer had asked was, “Who is my neighbor?” the question had been turned on him and is now, “What kind of neighbor am I?”
In 1 John 3:16-18, in surely one of the most convicting passages in the Bible we read, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (17) But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? (18) My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”
James in his practical principles for living the Christian life says in (James 1:15-17), “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, (16) and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (17) Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead”
Compassion demonstrates whether we have we have a relationship with God.
Conclusion
In this story Jesus is separating the person who has a real relationship with God from the merely religious. We saw what the religious folks did when they saw this man bruised and battered by the side of the road. They kept walking. In fact, they crossed the street and kept walking.
The point of the Lord’s parable is powerful. Loving my neighbor is not merely a good idea, or socially appropriate behavior it is evidence of my relationship with God. Our relationship with God is inseparable from our relationships to the people in our lives. We cannot have a real relationship with God and not act in love toward other people.
But don’t misunderstand me; you don’t have to be a Christian to be kind. Too many people confuse kindness with salvation. I have heard people say of some who has died, “They will surely be in heaven because they showed kindness to animals and to strangers.” Being kind or doing good works will not get you into heaven, only knowing Jesus will get you into heaven.
Perhaps you have identified with this man’s question, “What must I do to go to Heaven?” The answer is the same, stop trying to inherit Heaven by doing – instead, believe on Jesus; trust that Jesus has already paid the penalty for you
