Parables Week 2

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Intro

We are continuing our series on Parables

What is a parable

A reminder of what a parable is

Parables are one of the primary ways that Jesus teaches His disciples

A Parable is a short story meant to illustrate a truth

Jesus would use parables to teach the disciples, religious leaders, or whoever His audience was a truth about God, Himself, or the issue/sin at hand

Last week we looked at the parable of the lost sheep

Showing that you are never to far from God

Today we are looking at another famous parable

The Good Samaritan

The test

Luke 10:25–28 ESV

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “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, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

Jesus is teaching to a crowd of people and a lawyer steps up to challenge him

The lawyer isn’t what we think today, he is someone who studies the Levitical law, not someone that takes people to court

He asks Jesus a question, ultimately challenging his authority

Challenging if Jesus is truly the son of God the one He says He is

Jesus answers the Lawyer by asking what the law says

The lawyer tells him that he is to love God and love others

Jesus says that is correct!

Luke 10:29 ESV

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

The lawyer now seeks to justify himself

To ensure that he is doing the right thing without having to do anything that costs to much effort

He asks Jesus who is my neighbor?

This is the set-up for the parable that Jesus tells!

The lawyer is asking who is my neighbor because he wants to be able to do the bare minimum

The parable

Luke 10:30–35 ESV

30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan

In the parable we see that a man has been beaten and left for dead on the side of the road

The road he is taking is a dangerous and winding road that is often took so that Jews can avoid Samaria

John 4:9 ESV

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

Jews and Samaritans didn’t get a long, so they used this winding path when going from Jerusalem to Jericho to avoid the Samaritans

They were mortal enemies, yet in the parable Jesus tells you see that the Samaritan is the only one that helps the man

The priest is someone who should help the man, yet as we see he leaves the man for dead

The Levite is also someone who should help the man

A Levite is someone who works in the Temple, they are often lawyers, just like this man, yet he too leaves him for dead

Yet it is the Samaritan that decides to do all he can for the man that is dying

He lets him ride his donkey, he bandages his wounds, and he even spares his own money to help the man that is in need

He spares no expense when it comes to helping the man

Then Jesus finishes the parable with a question

Luke 10:36–37 ESV

36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

He asks the lawyer, which one was a neighbor to the man?

The lawyer responded by saying it was the one who showed him mercy

Jesus follows that by saying go and do the same

Concluding Parable

This parable is one of the most famous parables Jesus told

It’s one that we have looked at before, and one that I think we need to start applying more to our everyday life

In the parable Jesus teaches us three important things

Don’t avoid people

The first thing Jesus shows us is

Don’t avoid people

Jesus tells us that in the parable the man is taking a winding road which causes him to be mugged

The reason he took the road was to avoid the Samaritan people

The people that the Jews believed were less than

Jesus is adding this detail because there is no reason that the man should be avoiding Samaria

Jesus himself in John 4, when he talks to the woman at the well, purposefully goes into Samaria

John 4:3–4 ESV

3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria.

He is modeling that we shouldn’t be avoiding people simply because of who they are

We shouldn’t avoid people

Just because people are different, think different, act different we shouldn’t avoid them

Even if they are sinners and are far from God we shouldn’t avoid them

Instead we should be going to them

Don’t judge people

The second thing is this

Don’t judge people

The priest and the Levite both looked at the man that was half dead and didn’t offer any help

They left him

Jesus tells us that they both came up to the same place the man was, saw him, and then left him

They saw him, and in that moment determined that he was to far gone/not worth their time

They decided not to help

I believe we do this all the time

We look at people that are far from God and we determine that they are to far gone

That they aren’t worthy of coming to God

We become judge of their eternity

This does not mean that we shouldn’t call out sin, that we shouldn’t seek to have people repent and come back to God

What it does mean is that we shouldn’t look at someone and based solely off their actions say they are not worthy of God

Because sin is all sin in God’s eyes

Do all you can to reach someone

The last thing Jesus is teaching is

Do all you can to reach someone

We should be doing all we can to bring people to Jesus

The Samaritan went far above what he needed to do to help this man

He walked while the man rode on his donkey

He used up oil and wine that are extremely valuable in that time to bandage up the mans wounds

He paid for a hotel for the night for the man

He then told the innkeeper to take care of the man - whatever he needed - and he would come back and pay it all off

It cost the man A LOT to help the wounded man

The same is true for us when it comes to those who are lost are far from God

We should be seeking them and doing all we can to reach them

We should be sacrificing to bring our friends to Jesus

We should be begging them to come to Jesus

We need to do whatever we can to get them to come to Jesus

Conclusion

The lawyer was told to go and do the same

To go and show love to someone like the Samaritan did - to do what ever it takes to help someone

That’s the same thing Jesus is calling us to do

We are to be good Samaritans to those who are lost and far from God