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The Good Samaritan
Text: Luke 10:25-37
A rich man asked Jesus Christ about eternal life. Jesus told him to sell his goods and give the money to the poor then follow me. The rich young man loved his money more than the things of God, so his covetousness separated him from God. Here a lawyer asks Jesus about eternal life. Jesus answers, Well, what do you think the law says about the subject? The lawyer responds that the basis for the entire law is to love God with everything you have and love your neighbor as yourself. The LORD Jesus agrees.
So eternal life in each of these cases ends up as conforming to the image of Jesus Christ. Jesus tells the rich man to follow him. The lawyer is shown a characteristic of Jesus Christ and told to quit justifying himself. Do what Jesus Christ would do.
Think about this. One of the qualities of eternal life is mercy. There is an end to the perversion of what’s good, but there is no end to the good. Mercy is good. Since Jesus Christ is eternal life, then eternal life isn’t a location, ethnicity, or Jewish religion. Eternal life is personified and offered in the person of Jesus Christ. This is the first point.
Christ as the Samaritan
- The Samaritan is from the Samarian region in the north of Israel. Jesus Christ was raised in Nazareth, a Samarian area. He would be considered a Samarian.
- The Samaritan feels compassion for the helpless. This injured man doesn’t offer the Samaritan anything in the way of benefits. So the Samaritan isn’t looking for a reward from this helpless man. He is blessed to do good.
- He bound up his wounds.
- He provided a place for him.
- He paid for his needs.
Who is my neighbor?
- The lawyer in typical argumentative fashion attempts to justify himself. He asks, Who’s my neighbor?
- His question sounds like he wants only to love people like him.
- The Lord Jesus Christ flips this question on its head. It’s not who is my neighbor, but who will I be a neighbor to?
- The keys to the kingdom are found in the hands of the helpless
- The one you think you’re justified in ignoring is the very one you need to love.
- But who is my neighbor? Well, whoever you thought of that justified your neglect is the one you need to love.
- This is spiritual warfare.
- You need to prepare your mind to do good when you’re lazy and you’re too proud to love.
- You need to be prepared for that battle.
- Christianity is salt and light; it’s the ability to overcome evil with good.
God’s kingdom is a stewardship of God’s things
- Faithful in little things implies faithful in bigger things
- It’s clear that stewardship in this life with these “little” things determines whether you are fit for God’s kingdom and the bigger things of life.
- The irony in the Good Samaritan parable is that people who were official administrators of the things of God failed in the actual things of God.
- Excuses like I’ve got more important things to do.
- Excuses like I can’t touch dead things and maybe this guy is dead.
- Excuses like my time is more valuable than that man’s time.
- God’s kingdom is a stewardship of God’s things
- Blessed are the merciful
- The priest who taught the scriptures failed to live the scriptures he taught. He wasn’t close to God.
- The Levite who officially administered the things of God failed to administer the true things of God, the weightier matters like mercy. He wasn’t close to God.
- The Samaritan, not the Jew was close to God. Not the priest, not the Levite, but the Samaritan was faithful in the things of God.
Do you want to be a Christian? Go and do likewise. Be the neighbor. Take responsibility for the things of God’s kingdom. Be like Christ. Be merciful.
