He Poured in the Oil and the Wine

SCRIPTURE

Luke 10:25-37

INTRODUCTION

Valentine’s Day

Valentine was a priest in the Roman Empire in the 3rd century AD.

Claudius was the emperor of Rome during that time.

Claudius prohibited the marriage of young people because he said that unmarried men made better soldiers.

Valentine continued to perform marriages between young people despite Claudius’ prohibition.

Valentine was eventually caught, imprisoned, and tortured as a result.

The story goes that one of the Roman judges that Valentine was called before was a man by the name of Asterius. Asterius’ daughter was blind. Valentine prayed for his daughter and she was healed and received her sight. Asterius was so moved that he became a Christian.

The story goes that the last words that Valentine wrote was a letter to Asterius’ daughter and he signed it “from your Valentine.” That tradition carries on today.

The moral of the story is that sometimes we have to be willing to lay our own lives on the line to do what is right for someone else.

That is the definition of love your neighbor as yourself.

The Good Samaritan

Today we’re going to study the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

In this parable, Jesus teaches what it means to love God and what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves.

I want to focus in on one of the verses in this parable:

Luke 10:34 NKJV

34 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.

I want to focus in on the subject: HE POURED IN THE OIL AND THE WINE.

MESSAGE

The Testing of Jesus

Luke 10:25–29 NKJV

25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” 27 So he answered and said, “ ‘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.” 29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

The Hypocrisy of Religious Activity

Luke 10:30–32 NKJV

30 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. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.

The Story:

Jesus does not say who the “certain man” is, but we can assume he was a Jew.

The trip from Jerusalem to Jericho was approximately 17 miles in length and 3,200 feet in elevation.

The Jericho road was a dangerous place and there were many places for thieves and robbers to hide and wait to attack people who were traveling alone.

This “certain man” is attacked by thieves who strip him, beat him, and leave him for dead.

The first person to pass by was a priest. We can assume he had completed his time of service at the Temple and was travelling back home to Jericho. If this “certain man” was dead, the priest risked becoming unclean according to the Law. So he passed by on the other side.

The second person to pass by was a Levite. The Levites were those who assisted the priests in the Temple. It appears he is at least curious because it says he “came and looked” at the man. But he too passed by on the other side and did not offer the man any help. Perhaps he too was concerned about becoming unclean or maybe he just didn’t want to get involved. It would be an inconvenience to have to stop and help this man.

The Point:

This is a demonstration of the Hypocrisy of Religious Activity.

These religious men were willing to break the Law to “love your neighbor as yourself” to avoid becoming unclean or to avoid an inconvenient change in their plans.

We can be busy with religious activity and think we are holy, righteous, and good but actually be missing the whole point of what it means to be a Christian.

It is not about achievement, but commitment.

It is not about activities, but attitudes.

It is not about quantity, but quality.

We are called out into the highways and hedges. We are called out to show love to the least of these. We are called out to not only see the needs around us, but to stop and do something about it.

True Compassion Results in Action

Luke 10:33–35 NKJV

33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 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. 35 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.’

The Story:

This was the plot twist in the story. The hearers would have been expecting the next person to be the hero of the story, but they would have been expecting it to be a Jewish layman. They would have been expecting this parable to be about the hypocrisy of the priestly class of Jews.

But Jesus makes his point by making the hero of the story a Samaritan, the enemies of the Jews.

The Samaritan had compassion on the man. He used his own provisions that he had prepared for his own journey to help a stranger. He bandaged his wounds and poured in oil and wine. This was a common type of first aid treatment of the day. Hippocrates (from which the Hippocratic Oath is named) prescribed for wounds: “bind it with soft wool and sprinkle on oil and wine.”

The wine acted as an antiseptic to help kill any bacteria that might cause infection.

The oil (olive oil) would help soothe the pain and also seal it to protect against dirt getting into the wound and to keep pests like flies away from it.

The Good Samaritan did not stop there. He put him on his own animal that he had been riding and took the man to the closest inn. He gave the innkeeper two denari (probably two day’s wages) and told him to take care of the man.

But he didn’t stop there. The Good Samaritan told the innkeeper if the man needed more care than the two denari would pay for, to do what was needed to help the man and he would come back and pay the rest of what was owed.

The Point:

True Compassion results in Action.

Faith without works is dead. In the same way, love without action is useless.

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 NKJV

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

In a biblical context, love is a verb. The verb is the part of speech that denotes action. Love is not just written or spoken. Love must be demonstrated through our actions.

1 Corinthians 13:4–8 NKJV

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

We can say we love our neighbor as ourselves, but until we get up and do something to demonstrate it, we are just paying lip service and we are not fulfilling the commandment of God.

Go and Do Likewise

Luke 10:36–37 NKJV

36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” 37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The Story:

Here is the lesson and the main point of this parable. It resides in the answer to this question: “which one of these three do you think was a neighbor to him who fell among thieves?”

The lawyer couldn’t even allow his mouth to form and speak the word Samaritan. He simply said: “he who showed mercy on him.”

The lawyer understood the moral lesson in the parable, but he was not ready to have a change of heart.

Jesus spoke the words: “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus essentially told this Jewish lawyer to go act like a Samaritan. This was like a slap in the face to his ego.

The Point:

The words of Jesus to “Go and do likewise” still echo today.

We are called to demonstrate the love of Christ to our neighbors.

Who are our neighbors? They are not just the people that live next to us. They are not just our family. They are not just those we attend church with. They are not just people we like. They are anyone that crosses our path.

Jesus demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

To the lawyer, the man was a subject to be discussed to justify his own self-righteousness.

To the priest, the man was a problem to be ignored.

To the Levite, the man was an inconvenience to be avoided.

To the innkeeper, the man was a opportunity to make money.

To the Samaritan, the man was a neighbor to be loved and cared for in his time of need.

But to Jesus, they were all worth dying for to save.

We were all wounded and dying on the Jericho road.

The thief had come to steal, kill, and destroy.

But Jesus came by and had compassion on us.

He bound up our wounds that sin had inflicted on us.

He poured in the oil and the wine to heal us.

He lifted us up above the shadows of death.

He paid the price to restore our soul by laying down His own life.

He paid the price to restore our soul by laying down His own life.

He poured in the oil and the wine The kind that restoreth my soul He found me bleeding and dying on the Jericho road And He poured in the oil and the wine

The Constant Flow of Love is a River of Life

A man was building a home in the mountains of Tennessee in a place where it’s very difficult to get water. He asked an old timer to come over and help him find a source of water. Sure enough, this old-timer found the appropriate spot. “Just dig fourteen feet straight down here and you’ll find an underground river,” he told the man. “When you hit the water, pump it out every day.” The man followed the instructions and found the river. He pumped it out the first day and more water came in. In the next few days, the water rose to four feet, then six feet. At eight feet it seemed stationary, so he left it. Returning some months later when the house was finished, he immediately turned on the water. The first day there seemed to be plenty, but by the next day there was none at all. The well was empty. In spite of his efforts to revive it, the man ended up having to have a company drill a well at a cost of three thousand dollars.

Much later he ran into the old timer in town and told him the disappointing story. “Did you pump it out every day?” was the question. “No,” said the man. The old timer shook his head. “You should have pumped it every day like I said! An underground river is made up of thousands of little capillaries running underground. As you pump the water you enlarge those capillaries and more water comes. Once you stop, the water backs up, the capillaries close and the river is formed somewhere else.”

Love is like that.

If we neglect to demonstrate love and keep a constant flow moving in our lives on a daily basis, the well will dry up.

However, if we are willing to maintain a constant flow of love everyday, by loving our neighbors as ourselves, then we will be a river of life to those we come in contact with.

CLOSING

The Good Samaritan shows us that love is more than sentiment—it’s sacrifice, service, and action. Jesus' words, "Go and do likewise," compel us to live with a love that crosses boundaries, shatters prejudices, and makes sacrifices. Just as the Samaritan poured in the oil and the wine to heal and restore, Christ has done the same for us. Now, we are called to share that healing and hope with others. Let us leave today with a renewed commitment to love our neighbors as ourselves and to keep the river of love flowing in our lives, making us instruments of God’s grace.