Once Upon a Time - 2

Once Upon A Time - 2

Introduction

Have you ever had a time in your life when you set your expectations too high? Where you thought things were going to go one way but they turned out to go another? Let me introduce you to Mila. She recently went to Disneyland for the first time and discovered that maybe “The Happiest Place on Earth” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. She learned that sometimes reality doesn’t match up to expectations.

Video - Mila at DisneyLand

We are in this series called “Once Upon A Time” looking at some of the famous parables that Jesus told in Luke. These are not just anecdotes with cute moral lessons. These are the stories of God’s Kingdom, showing us God’s expectations. In the parable we are going to look at today, Jesus speaks to some Great Expectations that he has for those who follow him.

- 30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

This verse begins the Parable of the Good Samaritan, a fairly well-known story, even outside of the church. Before we get into the rest of the story here, we need to pay attention to that first phrase…”Jesus replied…” There is something else going on here, a bigger context. This story isn’t told in some bubble, it has been prompted by a conversation Jesus has been having.

- 25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” 27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

This whole encounter begins with a pretty important question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” While that may be an important question, it is a flawed one. An inheritance is a gift. You really can’t “do” anything to earn an inheritance. That is trying to earn what can only be given.

Luke tells us that not only is the question flawed, so is the motivation. This expert in religious law “stood up to test” Jesus. He isn’t asking because he genuinely wants to know. He is asking to see of Jesus knows.

From the very beginning, it is clear that this guy wants to justify himself in some way. He wants to look good. He wants to be the guy to trip Jesus up and discredit him.

Unfortunately for this guy, Jesus doesn’t answer his question, but instead asks one of his own. He puts the ball back in the expert’s court. He points to the Bible…what does God say about that?

And to give credit where it is due…the expert answers correctly. He quotes and on loving God and loving your neighbor. Of the 613 commands in the Old Testament, these 2 summarize and fulfill the other 611. Jesus will reaffirm that very truth in that these two are the greatest commandments. These are what is highest on God’s priority list for his people.

Jesus commends this expert for this correct observation. “Do this and you will live.” Now, that ought to overwhelm the Expert. These two commands are more than enough. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. That is pretty tough to do. Love your neighbor as yourself. I don’t even like myself half the time!

These two commands seem simple but they are incredibly difficult to actually live out. And to do so perfectly, all the time! Jesus is giving this guy a lot of homework as he sets out these high expectations. This ought to humble this man. Instead he makes it worse.

John MacArthur - Jesus was simply holding the mirror of the law up to this legal “expert” to demonstrate how the law condemned him. If the lawyer were an honest man, he ought to have acknowledged that he did not love God as he should; he didn’t even love his neighbors as he should. This man, steeped in the study of God’s law, should have been broken by the law’s message. He should have felt deep conviction. He should have been penitent, contrite, humble. His follow-up question ought to have been something like this: “I know from bitter experience that I cannot fulfill even the most basic commandments of the law; where can I find redemption?”

That should have been his follow up question. Instead, here is what he asks:

- 29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

So he hears this second command to love your neighbor and realizes he has blown it. So now he needs a definition of neighbor to try to save face. Because if his neighbor is just his friends, those who are around him all the time, that’s easy. Because when you ask “who is my neighbor?” you are really asking “who is NOT my neighbor?” Who can I leave out? Who can I ignore and not love?

Jesus replies to that question with the parable of the Good Samaritan. Everything about this story is defined through that lens. Jesus is telling us how to love our neighbor, how to live out something that is top on God’s priority list for us. Here is what that looks like:

- 30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. 31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. 33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

So here is a man that tragically gets caught up in a dangerous scenario. He is traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho…only one road that does that. 18mi long, descends 4000 feet in elevation. At times there are 300 foot crevices on either side of the road. Multiple caves and hiding spots and was known to house criminals. It was known as “The Way of Blood” and is still dangerous even today.

This man is jumped by bandits and take everything he has. They beat him up and leave him for dead. He is in an isolated location and in terrible shape.

Things initially look up for him because a Jewish priest comes walking by. I mean, he’s obviously going to help, he works for God. He is charged with keeping these two commands to love God and his neighbor. Jericho was known as the “city of priests” because over 1000 of them lived there. So this guy is either on his way to the Temple or on his way home from it. He could be the hero of this story.

But he falls short. The text is clear that he sees the man and therefore understands his situation. He then makes a deliberate decision to bypass him. The Greek phrase literally translates that this priest “passed by against him.” He wants nothing to do with this scenario.

But never fear…a Levite (temple assistant) comes along next. He is an esteemed religious worker, chosen from birth to serve in God’s temple. He does the same thing and deliberately chooses to walk on by.

At this point, Jesus has already moderately insulted this religious expert. Religious leaders failing to help a man in need…certainly this expert in the law would have seen this as a not-so-veiled insult. But it’s about to get worse.

In Jesus’ day there existed a form of a Jewish caste-system. There were three primary types of men: priests, Levites, Jewish laymen (volunteers who served God). The fact that Jesus starts this story with a priest and a Levite not only sounds like the start of a good joke, it would build expectation that the next person is going to be the common Jewish man and he would be the hero. But…no.

Jesus tells us the unlikely hero is a Samaritan. Now, Samaritans were not trusted, religious heretics, racial half-breeds, considered less than human. There were avoided at all costs. In fact, good Jews never traveled through Samaria, they went around it. And if you were a Jew who wanted to get from Jerusalem to Galilee, to keep from going through Samaria, there was a great road to take…though it was a bit dangerous. It was this same road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

The very person that this expert in the law would’ve hoped to avoid now stands there. One might expect for the Samaritan to kick this Jewish man lying in the gutter, spit on the ground in condemnation of him, and keep on going.

The Samaritan defies expectation. He feels compassion for this victim while the religious leaders only felt apathy and avoidance. He stops to help and does so in an exorbitant way. His generosity is flat-out overwhelming.

-Bandages the wounds with his own supplies.

-Uses his own oil and wine to disinfect and cleanse.

-Puts him on his own donkey and chooses to walk.

-Takes him to a hotel to care for him.

-When he leaves, pays two silver coins (day’s wages), which would’ve covered a couple months of room and board.

But even beyond all that, the Samaritan has put himself in harm’s way. He stops on the “Bloody Way” Boulevard. This could’ve been a trap. This is one of those neighborhoods that you avoid at night and roll through the stop signs. But he stops. This is also a very Jewish area and Jewish town he takes him to. Samaritans aren’t welcomed there.

Jesus scandalously presents this Samaritan as the unlikely hero of the story. Hard to overstate how shocking this story would have been. And you get a sense of that with what happens next.

- 36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. 37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

“Which one was a neighbor?” His answer? “The one who…” He won’t even identify the Samaritan by name. He won’t even acknowledge the identity of the one who got it right.

But what would’ve stung the most is that Jesus flipped the original question. “Who is my neighbor?” Instead, Jesus answers “How can I be a neighbor?” Instead of pondering who I can leave out, we have to think about how many we can include. Loving my neighbor isn’t about limiting myself based on class, race, socio-economic status, lifestyle. Being a neighbor means being that to all. This is not about defining who my neighbor is, but about defining myself as a neighbor.

Jesus opens up our concept here of what it means to love people. We are to be radically open to the people around us, whoever they may be. We see who they are. We see what they need. This expert in the law wanted to close the circle and set limits. But compassion doesn’t do that. People who are neighbors are open to the people around them. Two ways this plays out in daily life:

OPENNESS OF HEART

What initially sets this Samaritan apart from the rest is that he felt compassion for this beat-up man. This victim would’ve been a Jew, he would’ve hated this Samaritan. More than that, this victim was partially responsible for his own situation. He traveled alone on a dangerous road. It would’ve been easy for this Samaritan to justify divorcing himself from this situation.

Can we admit how easy that is to do in our own hearts? We can look at people who are suffering and declare it’s not our problem. They got themselves into this mess. We can find all sorts of reasons to close off our hearts.

Part of loving our neighbor is actually seeing our neighbor. Feeling for them. Instead of looking at them with eyes of judgement we see them with eyes of mercy.

One of our first inclinations when we see people in pain is to justify ourselves. We can blame them for their situations. Your choices, your lifestyle, your sin. Probably true. But our hearts aren’t to be calloused, they are to break over what sin does to people.

In his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, author Philip Yancey shares the story about a young mom who is a drug addict. Things became so bad for her that she ended up using her two-year-old daughter to turn tricks for her drug money. Absolutely horrific scenario. When someone was trying to minister to her, they asked her if she would ever reach out to a church for help. Her reply was telling. “Church! Why would I ever go there? They’ll only make me feel worse.”

And she is right. Sadly churches can easily be known for this kind of stuff. Instead of helping we make it worse by heaping on guilt and condemnation. Yancey goes on to make the point that churches should be known as places where you could find “grace on tap.” That grace should flow freely from us as we love those around us. Why? Because that is what we have received from our God.

In our day, it is not hard to find someone to be a neighbor to. All around us are those who have been beat up and bloodied by sin. Our job isn’t to kick them when they’re down, but see them and have compassion for them. We open up our hearts.

2. OPENNESS TO HELP

This Samaritan helped at great personal cost. Dangerous area, hundreds of dollars, own supplies. He didn’t just feel compassion, he acted compassionately. Friends, mercy and compassion are not just feelings. They are full of action.

- 16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? 18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

- 14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? 17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

If we are going to love people well, it is not enough to look at someone as say “My heart breaks.” Our piggy banks must break too. We don’t just open our hearts, we open our wallets, we open our lives. You aren’t a neighbor until you actually do something. We have mercy, and we show mercy.

I’ve been talking to some friends lately about the power of hope. Of being able to look forward and know God is going to make it better. That is what this Samaritan was to this man. He was hope. He gave hope. This week you will meet people in need and have the opportunity to show love to them. Some may find it hard to open their hearts. Others may find it hard to open their wallets. Both are equally grievous before God. Because we know Jesus, We are hope. We give hope.

Conclusion

There may be a temptation to read this parable and read ourselves into it as the Good Samaritan. And he is certainly lifted up by Jesus as the example to follow. But there is much more here. Every passage is a whisper of Jesus.

We aren’t the Samaritan. We are the man who has been beaten up and left for dead on the side of the road. Sin has destroyed our lives. Religion didn’t save us. No amount of “doing” good things could cause us to inherit the gift of eternal life. Jesus, the unlikely hero, saw us. He has felt compassion for us. He saved us. At great personal cost he helped. By his own life, we have been forgiven, set free from the power and consequence of sin.

Why do we open our hearts to those around us? Because Jesus did that for us. Why are we open to help the people around us? Because Jesus did that for us.

And Jesus didn’t just give some oil and wine and a few free nights in a hotel. He gave abundantly more. We have life. We have freedom. We have hope. We have eternity.

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