The Compassionate Samaritan

As we continue in our study of the Gospel According to Luke, Jesus has shifted his focus from ministry in Galilee to now setting his face toward Jerusalem (9:51), where he will complete the primary mission for which he has been sent by the Father. With what remains of his earthly ministry, he aims to continue declaring to all along the way that by his presence the Kingdom of God has come near (effectively putting all to the test of whether or not they will accept him as the means to know God). At the same time, he intensifies his training of the disciples in preparation for their own ministry of spreading the kingdom after his departure.

Still near the front end of this “Jerusalem Journey,” as it has been called, we come now to the latter part of chapter 10 and the beginning of chapter 11. What ties together the next three brief sections is not chronology but theme—relationships: how Jesus’ followers must relate to fellow humanity (10:25-37), then how they ought to prioritize relating to Christ himself (Mary and Martha, 10:38-42), and finally he gives them instruction on relating to the Father in dependent prayer (11:1-13).

Today’s text, the first of these three sections on relationships, revolves around two questions from a scholar of the law: What shall I do to inherit eternal life (vv. 25-28), and who is my neighbor (vv. 29-37)? (The first is not sincere but meant to test Jesus, to see what kind of answer he will give, and the second is aimed at self-justification, at limiting the scope of who his neighbors are, limiting his responsibility to its lowest requirement.) What ties the two parts together then might be summarized like this:

An obvious test of spiritual hypocrisy is a lack of compassion for hurting humanity.

There are, of course, other significant theological underpinnings lurking beneath the surface. Though not the primary emphasis, they are certainly relevant to our overall understanding of the gospel. (For example, can this man, or any man, keep these commands perfectly? What does this lawyer reveal about himself in the way he is responding to Jesus?) - Again, though, the main point is spiritual hypocrisy vs. a true love for God exemplified in compassion toward the needs of fellow man.

Loving God & Spiritual Hypocrisy

v. 25 - A lawyer stands up, so apparently they’ve been sitting, which probably puts this in a setting where Jesus has been teaching. We don’t know where they are bc Luke doesn’t tell us.

That he is a lawyer means, not that he litigates things in court as we think of lawyers in a judicial context, but in this context means that he is a scholar of the OT law of Moses (an expert in the Torah, the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible)… and no doubt therefore knowledgeable in OT history and prophets as well; but the law is his specialty.

He stands up to put Jesus to the test—an editorial comment by Luke to explain the motives of the questioner. (That hypocrisy being critical to our understanding… He’s not really there to learn from Jesus, but rather to “test” Jesus and to “justify himself.”)

“What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” is quite possibly the single most important question that anyone can ask, and this is far from being the only place in scripture where something similar is asked. - The rich young ruler asks the same question in Luke 18:18, and the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:30 asks Paul and Silas “what must I do to be saved?”. To which the answer is, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved...” (Acts 16:31).

In contrast to that example, what is lacking for this questioner is the sincerity of seeing one’s need and asking for truth that will make one right with God. He thinks he’s already right with God. He’s testing Jesus to see what kind of answer this teacher will give.

The meaning of the question is, “How can a person be right with God in a way that results in being resurrected with the righteous in the end? What must I do to ensure that happens?”

But Jesus turns it back on him to answer the question himself. By asking, “what is written in the law? how do you read it?” Jesus affirms the authority of the law while also asking the lawyer to give some answer that represents a comprehensive understanding.

And the lawyer in fact gives a great answer, one that Jesus himself uses to summarize the law in a similar circumstance (but different occurrence) where the Pharisees sought to to test him, because he had just stumped the Sadducees.

Matthew 22:35–40 ESV

And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Again, back in Luke 10, the answer the lawyer gives is a good summary, taken from the commands in Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18. It is quite possibly more insightful than even most scholars would have been able to give. - The actual answer refers to loving God with your whole being, whether quoted in some places with three aspects or others with four: heart, soul, strength, and mind. - This isn’t meant to compartmentalize man into different “parts” of us that must respond: emotions, consciousness, drive, and intellect. It’s a summary of a person’s primary spiritual facets to mean that a person must respond by loving God with his whole self.

AND “… your neighbor as yourself...” Love for God is not to be separated from loving action toward others. Even in the lawyer’s own response, we see a right understanding that love for others is the overflow of love for God, and can’t be treated as if the two are not tied to one another. - This ethic becomes more fully developed in the New Testament, where we also learn that we are enabled (as believers) to love bc God’s love has been given us through his Spirit (cf. Rom. 5:5, Rom. 8:1-11). Those who hate others while claiming to love God are... well, liars who don’t really love God (1 Jn 4:20).

Jesus commends the law scholar for giving a good answer. - Even though Jesus had the man give a response to his own question, Christ confirms his authority from God by his commendation, and the authority of God’s revealed word: “You have answered correctly.”

But that’s not all he says. Jesus follows the commendation with a command. “Do this, and you will live.” - While this is straightforward, it’s also incredibly complex: to love God perfectly or completely and to love others as much as I love myself (or in this lawyer’s mind, almost perfectly, at least well enough to be accepted by God). - So his reaction is neither, “No sweat, I got this,” nor a severe uneasiness with his inability to perfectly love God and love others. Instead, he wants to know what Jesus claims will be the measurement by which he will be judged (or justified).

That’s why Luke says that what leads to the next question is that he wanted to justify himself (to make sure he’s innocent of wrong, to be righteous). - The response of the one who sees God rightly should be something like: But how can I do this, for I am a sinful man? Instead the lawyer seeks to justify himself, leading to the question, “And who is my neighbor?”

If he can limit the scope of what is required of him to certain people who meet specific requirements of being his neighbor, then he can be sure he’s doing enough to obey the minimum requirement of the law. Basically, the lawyer will want to limit the scope to Jews, and then no doubt even further to those who are devout or prove themselves in some way.

In his response, Jesus blows such hopes out of the water. - When asking God a self-serving question, don’t expect an answer that caters to your self-righteousness. Jesus gives a scathing example of mercy toward fellow man that the self-righteous lack.

Now we finally come to the storytelling part, where Jesus uses a parable to respond. - “As we approach the parable we must bear in mind that it is told to the lawyer in answer to the question, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ not, ‘What must I do to be saved?’” (Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 3, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 207.) … but the way of salvation is not far off. We’ll be sure to hit on that as well before we end.

Loving God & Compassion for Humanity

Right relationship to God is most clearly evidenced in love for fellow man. [repeat] The parable commends loving action and condemns spiritual hypocrisy.

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho...” - We know very little about the man bc the point of the story is more about the responses of the others. We’re probably meant to assume he is a Jew. - Jerusalem to Jericho was about a 17 mile journey, beginning from an elevation of almost 2600 ft above see level and going down to 825 feet below see level (more than 3,300 ft difference). It was rocky terrain winding through desert and and nearby caves, providing “good hideouts for robbers who laid in wait” (Bock, 1029).

So he is beaten and robbed and left for dead. (and his condition is bad: “half dead”)

When a priest happens by on that same road, the audience might anticipate that this is fortuitous indeed. But he sees the man and passes by on the other side (staying as far away as he can). We’re not told his excuses for doing so. Perhaps he was concerned with becoming unclean from touching a corpse, or hesitant to help someone who might be a sinner, or afraid of being robbed while helping (Bock, 1030). The truth is, the text doesn’t say, and we’re left to be surprised and dismayed with the selfishness.

A Levite too comes along (someone who is from the priestly tribe of Levi but not a descendant of Aaron specifically, which the priests had to be… so the Levites still served, but as helpers to the priests). So this is another person from the religious establishment who has the same response. - The audience can see where this is going, and it’s not good for those who consider themselves to be the religious elite.

Jesus shows us what happens when we place religion above relationship to God. Would God really have us pass by a man who is terribly beaten, no matter what the risk of ritual uncleanness, and not confirm whether he is dead or in desperate need of help? (After all, God had commanded mercy as well. Shouldn’t compassionate concern trump ritual cleanness?)

Now, though, just when the listeners might anticipate the next person to be a layman, the third passerby is an even bigger twist than anticipated. - By introducing a Samaritan as the third party, Jesus really brings down the hammer. (Samaritans, the half-breed Jews mixed with Gentile, were viewed as sinners and outsiders to be sure. Therefore, Jews thought themselves justified in not treating Samaritans as “neighbors.” They even justified themselves in it as “hating God’s enemies.”) - Jesus has shown that he is not some crazy radical who doesn’t support the Mosaic law, but he applies the law more fully and comprehensively, as God intends, in a way that leaves them all without excuse (for not truly being loving). Secondly, he breaks down ethnic barriers and whatever other barriers they might use as an excuse: the man couldn’t explain anything about his situation. He was simply in desperate need. And the one who helped was the last person the lawyer would have expected to become the hero of the parable.

Why the Samaritan is on the road is immaterial to the story. He has compassion. He takes loving action. And he does so at his own inconvenience, at his own risk, and at his own cost. - This Samaritan man pours on wine for antiseptic and uses oil to sooth the wounds, and he binds them with cloth, possibly if not probably from his own head covering or torn from some other parts of his clothing. He puts the wounded man on his own animal (and now himself has to walk), takes him to an inn and personally takes care of him the first night. (He didn’t just drop him off as someone else’s problem.)

And then the next day, because he evidently does have to leave, pays the innkeeper in advance, enough to care for the man (room and board) for something like 24 days (research shows that such would have cost about a twelfth of a denarius per day). (Bock, 1033) Even then he STILL doesn’t wash his hands of the man’s care. “Any other cost to you, I personally will repay it.”

Jesus has made it clear that the Samaritan has displayed a love that is costly to oneself, a love that doesn’t make excuses but takes action. And now when he puts the question to the lawyer, he reverses the issue from being one of “who is my neighbor?” into “who was the one who proved to BE a neighbor.”

The religious law expert is forced to begrudgingly admit, the one who showed him mercy. (He still can’t bring himself to even say “the Samaritan”). To the lawyer Jesus says, “You go and do likewise.” (and by extension to anyone listening) - “The lawyer looked for the minimum obedience required, but Jesus requires total obedience.” (Bock, 1028)

The point of the parable is this: in order to BE a neighbor, we must display a merciful love to those in our lives who are in need, blessing them with what we have, and not making excuses about who they are (or how they got themselves into this mess). There is to be no religious hypocrisy.

While I can’t possibly touch on every possible way in which you could apply the text, maybe I can get you started.

Does following Jesus, truly loving God, consist of hiding ourselves away in our spiritual ivory towers? (to not be “tainted” by sinners) Ture, we must balance not loving the world and what the world loves, with displaying Christ’s love to fellow humanity. We must balance hating sin with loving sinners. We must be prudent without being selfish.

? illustration of a warped board (Aristotle?), which way are you warped?

Begin the day, as you focus your devotion toward God in others ways as well, by praying that God would give you eyes to see the need of fellow man.

So we, the readers of Luke’s Gospel, find the question of loving God and displaying it in our service to others… in the context of how that relates to Jesus and particularly to the spiritual hypocrisy of those who do not listen to him.

Loving God & Responding to Jesus

As we have seen, while the point of the parable isn’t christological (Jesus doesn’t implicate himself in the illustration), Luke still intends for the reader to not miss the overall point that only those who listen to Jesus can know God. It is indeed the case that we will fall short of loving God completely and obeying him fully in loving others at all times and in all ways. - Even if we were to put our loving actions versus our selfish ones on a scale, our selfishness would probably be heavier. Maybe sometimes some of us would have some days where love outweighs self-centeredness. But when perfection is the only option (to love the Lord your God with ALL…), we’re in trouble.

Therefore, there is another, more fundamental test occuring in this passage, and on every page of the NT.

The single test for being right with God rests on what one does with Jesus.

To not see Jesus as revealing God is to remain spiritually blind. To not listen to the teaching of Jesus is to rebel against God. To not accept Jesus as the only means to God is to remain an enemy of God.

Jesus crushes all hypocrisy. The “wise and understanding” (v. 21) are exposed for what they are/are not. Only those who respond in faith to Jesus are made right with God.

Does this passage expose you for being a religious hypocrite who thinks that maybe you can vindicate yourself before God by being more good than bad? If that’s the case, then why did Jesus, the Messiah, God in human flesh, have to come and live a perfect life and die for sin and rise again to conquer the stronghold of sin and death if you can handle it yourself?

You can’t. You’re either trusting in yourself, in your own ability, as this lawyer, or you’re trusting completely in Jesus to make you righteous before God. - That’s why a biblical understanding is that salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The one thing you must do is respond in faith to Jesus.

Let’s Pray.

COMMUNION

Regular and corporate participation in the Lord’s Table… (Why did Jesus give us this to do regularly and corporately?)

We’ve responded to Jesus and we keep on responding to Jesus.

You alone are not the Church; you alone are not Christ’s Bride. Together believers make up the Body of Christ, representing him together as lights in a world that is spiritually pitch black without him. - So the Lord’s Table unites us together in common bond and common purpose, and it therefore presents us with accountability to and for one another in Christian faith.