Give more than expected

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/128QIMR1m_kZPAij57g8kvNDUqP9SlTZIE3AqReEakyk/edit?slide=id.p1#slide=id.p1

We are on to a new character trait

“Giving whatever is necessary to meet another's needs without expecting anything in return.”

Luke 10:25–37 “Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the law?” he asked him.

“How do you read it?” He answered, “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.”

“You’ve answered correctly,” he told him.

“Do this and you will live.”

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus,

“And who is my neighbor?” Jesus took up the question and said,

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers.

They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead.

A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion.

He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine.

Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him.

When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’

“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”

“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.””

We have all heard this story over and over again right.

The story is in response to the question who is my neighbor right?

Who is your neighbor? Yes! Everyone

I would talk about the two people that passed by the man in need.

A priest, and a Levite, the tribe charged with taking care of the temple and they both just walked past.

But, in this story, why did Jesus choose a samaritan? Because Jews and Samaritans absolutely HATED one another. They were hostile toward one another.

So, yes the story talks about the good samaritan helping the robbed man while those that should have been his kin simply walked past, but it takes it a step forward.

Jesus says, when you see your enemy, someone that not only you do not like, but your entire people do not like.

That is your neighbor and you should love them. You should have compassion on them.

Now that is rough guys. Can you even imagine? Sometimes we don’t let people we kinda don’t like play futbol with us, or table tennis, or badmitten or even be around us.

We separate ourselves into groups and only act kind and compassionate with them.

There are a lot of reasons for this, and friend groups are a wonderful and necessary thing. But Jesus isn’t saying be nice to your friend group.

Jesus tells this story of a legitimate enemy bandaging up this person in need, spending money on them with olive oil and wine to help him in the moment and then let him ride on his own animal to get him to an inn.

These things were not cheap or easy, but the Samaritan saw a need and helped.

He didn’t ask, what did you do to deserve this?

He didn’t say, well this serves you right (remember they are enemies)

He didn’t find a way to make him suffer more or ask for things in return. He simply saw a need and acted on it.

This is what compassion looks like.

Helping those in need regardless of who they are.

It is really really easy to just roll your eyes at this story. Say that it isn’t realistic or probable and move on.

But could you imagine a world where people acting like this even a little bit and those that received blessings and help did it when they could.

The world might become just a little more bearable.

But here is the part that gets me ever time I hear this story.

The Samaritan, this enemy, did the right thing. He took care of him in the moment and got him to safety. This is GREAT, FANTASTIC, and WONDERFUL.

If he had of just walked away, this story would have still be a great lesson on compassion.

But then what did he do?

He took out two days wages guys. Two days wages and told the innkeeper to take care of him. Two days of labor wages. Labor wages guys.

And then said, if you spend anything else taking care of them, let me know and I will give you more.

This enemy of mine. Make him well. Do whatever it takes, and if it cost you more money, that is fine.

How many of us would have done that?

You can come and play futbol with me. I will show you how to play so you can have fun. You know what, you can keep that futbol so you can practice at home. It is fine. Come play with us whenever you want.

You see someone who never gets icecream at lunch, and you buy them one just because you want them to be happy. Maybe you give enough money for them to have it all week without them knowing.

Compassionate

“Giving whatever is necessary to meet another's needs without expecting anything in return.”

Expecting nothing in return. Being nice and helpful because that is what Jesus told us to do.

I know I keep saying this, but it is NOT Easy. It doesn’t seem to want to come natural to us. We have to work at it and realize how selfish of people we really are.

But we can work on it a little bit every day and if we all do, this place will be so loving and kind that no one would ever want to leave.