The Parable of the Good Samaritan

INTRO

Have you ever met a know it all?

Sibling

Parent

Friend

Teacher

What do we know about know it alls?

they love to be right

they love for people to know that they are right

they love to catch people being wrong and call the out for it

We face know it alls all the time and the are a burden…

this is also true for Jesus during his ministry

TENSION

In fact the parable we are looking at tonight is told in response to a Know it All

See, in Jesus day there were people called lawyers who didn’t study secular law but Biblical law (first 5 books)

And in Luke 10 there is a lawyer in the crowd that Jesus is teaching to and when Jesus finishes this lawyer decides to test Jesus

He wants to catch Jesus being wrong and prove that he is the smartest guy in the crowd

Lets see what how he tries to do this…

TRUTH

Luke 10:25–28 (ESV)

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

The Test

The lawyer asks Jesus: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

He doesn’t ask this question in search for information but to see what kind of answer Jesus would give

Is Jesus going to give an answer that aligns with scripture or is he going to finally catch him teaching something wrong

Jesus doing what he often does… answers his question by asking another question

He says…. You study the law for a living what does it say you must do?

The lawyer answers by citing Deut. 6 and Lev. 19

“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”

Jesus simply says: Exactly

If you can really love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength

If you can love your neighbor as yourself

Then you will have eternal life

The lawyer is threatened by this

He knows it’s impossible to fully love God with all of your self

He knows it’s impossible to fully love your neighbor as yourself

So in order to justify himself or prove himself to be good he ask: Who is my neighbor?

Do do i actually have to love?

Isn’t just other Jews, not the gentiles

So in order to answer the lawyers second question Jesus tells a parable

Luke 10:30–35 (ESV)

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. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 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. 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.’

Parable Breakdown

Jesus tells a parable of a man (probably Jewish) who was going down to Jerusalem

17 mile road

Wild West - Criminals ran free

The man was jumped by some robbers who took all of his belongings and left him half dead

Then a Priest walks by

A godly man

See’s the half dead man and does nothing

Make sense… for the law says if he touches a dead body he is made unclean

so he doesn’t just walk by but goes out of his way to go to the other side of the road to stay extra clean

But also who knows the robbers might be waiting to ambush whoever helps

Then a Levite walks by

Also a Godly man

Also see’s the half dead man and does nothing

Also knows that the law says if he touches a dead body he is made unclean

So he also doesn’t just walk by but goes out of his way to go to the other side of the road to stay extra clean

But then a Samaritan walks by

Before I talk about what the Samaritan does I must note how much the Jews hated Samaritans

the Samaritans were a product of Jews marrying the Assyrians which was a big NO NO according to the law

Because of this the Jewish people hated the Samaritans and would have nothing to do with them

Despite this when the Samaritan walks by the half dead man he has compassion

Compassion that leads to action

He mended to his wounds

Rode him to an Inn

Stayed in the inn with him

Then paid the inn for 2 months worth of stay for him to have time to get better

After telling this parable Jesus poses another question to the lawyer

Luke 10:36–37 (ESV)

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

Who Was the Neighbor?

Jesus asks the lawyer who in the parable was a neighbor to the hurt man

The lawyer who despised the Samaritans so much

does’t say the samaritan

Says: “the one who showed him mercy”

Jesus tells him, “right, go and do likewise”

The Real Question

In this parable Jesus is wanting the Lawyer to understand is the real question we should be asking isn’t: Who is my neighbor?

Who must I love?

The real questions is: Am I neighborly?

we are not asking who can I eliminate from my list of neighbors or people to love

we are asking ourselves: are we loving others as ourselves

Are you neighborly like the Priest/Levite or the Samaritan

Priest & Levite

Claim to love God

Let their love for God is a legalistic love

A love that caused to see someone in need and walk right by

Samaritan

Who has compassion for those in need

Willing to stop what they are doing to help

Willing to be inconvenienced to meet someones need

Willing to use their own money

Willing to help even when it’s someone who doesn’t love them or like them back

Bottom Line: True Christians love God and others

APPLICATION

But what does this look like?

How do we live like the Samaritan in such a hostile culture

In a culture that is just waiting to blast their enemies on social media or in public

A culture that says because we didn’t vote the same we can’t be friends

Everyone is your Neighbor

we are called to love all people like the Samaritan

race

color

gender

past

political affiliations

Showing love towards others does not mean you always agree with them or think their life choices are right, nor does it mean we do not tell them that we disagree

Jesus did this all the time

What it does mean

we have compassion for all who are in need

we show God’s love towards them by caring for them and meeting their needs

2. Being neighborly doesn’t save you

See while we are called to be neighborly to all people doing so doesn’t save us

Our acts of love towards others are simply fruit being produce from our salvation

Christians

give to the needy

feed the hungry

give drink to the thirst

care for the sick

visit the elderly

clothe the naked

Not because it earns us our salvation but because we are saved

“Good deeds do not make us disciples, but their absence clearly shows that we are not” - James Montgomery Boice

RESPONSE

Salvation

In order to know how one is saved we must go back to the lawyers first question

Luke 10:25–28 (ESV)

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

Who ever can love God and people perfectly can be saved

And no of us is able to do that

break God’s law often by sinning

we fall short of loving God with everything everyday

we fall short by treating people wrongly everyday

So what hope is there for us to be saved?

Well our hope is in Jesus

who left his place in heave

lived a perfect life

perfectly loving God

perfectly obeying the law

perfectly loving others

yet died a sinners death on a cross

where he paid the price for our sins

where he took our wrath upon himself

then resurrected 3 days later

proving he was who he said he was

has done what he said he was going to do

And now offers you and I forgiveness of our sins

and eternal life with Him

Galatians 3:13 (ESV)

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

So tonight if you are like the lawyer and wonder what you must do to inherit eternal life… Jesus is your answer

Are You Neighborly?

If you already a follower of Jesus tonight then the second questions the lawyer asked if for you

well the real question Jesus asked in the parable

Are you neighborly?

Are you living like the Good Samaritan?

Do you have compassion towards all people

Do you live a life that meets needs when you see them

If i asked your friends if you are loving towards people who don’t look, act, or believe like you what would they say?

Tonight may you be reminded of what it looks like to love God and love others