The Good Samaritan

I’m Excited to be Back with You Again this Year

I was Assigned the Topic of The Good Samaritan

I’m Very Big on Keeping Bible Passages in Their Context

When We Do that, We Get the Actual Truth Out of the Passage

And We Also Often See the Passage in a Brand New and Pure Light

It Makes the Bible Exciting

So I’m Excited to Take this Well-Known Parable and Hopefully Bring it to Life a Little Bit More for Us

Background

Jesus is Now Going to Make His Way to Jerusalem to be Glorified on the Cross

He Leads His Disciples into the Region of Samaria

Most Jews Would Go Out of Their Way to Travel Around Samaria Instead of Walking Through it

Jews and Samaritans Wouldn’t Have Anything to Do with One Another

The Samaritans Were a Mixed Race of People

Israelites Intermarried with People of Other Nationalities that Were Moved into the Region by the Assyrians

Samaritans Believed They Were the True Descendants of Israel and They Only Kept the Torah (Pentateuch, First 5 Books of the OT)

Jews Believed They Were the True Descendants of Israel and They Kept All of the Old Testament

Neither Group Believed the Worship of the Other to be Legetimate

Samaritans Worshiped God on Mount Gerizim at Shechem (Their Holy City)

Jews Worshiped God in Jerusalem

Jesus Leads His Disciples into Samaria and then Sends 70 of Them Out on the Limited Commission

They Were to Go Around to Different Cities and Villages Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God

When the Disciples Came Back Excited about the Power that God had Given Them to Cast Out Demons…

Jesus Began Rejoicing

Luke 10:21 (NASB)

At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.

Jesus Thanks God that Little Children and Those with Childlike Humility and Trust are Able to Understand the Things of the Kingdom

But Those Who Believe Themselves to be Wise and Intelligent will Not be Able to Comprehend the Things of the Kingdom

This Verse is the Set Up the Parable of the Good Samaritan

Luke 10:25 (NASB)

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

A Jewish Lawyer was an Expert in the Law of Moses

If Anyone was a “Wise and Intelligent” Person, it Would Have Been a Jewish Lawyer

This Expert in the Law Stands Up to Test Jesus

The Greek Word for “Test” Here is Only Found 4 Times in the New Testament

And Each Time it is Used of Someone Trying to Test God

This Man Isn’t Just Asking a Question, He’s Asking a Question with Bad Intentions for Jesus

Possibly to Hurt His Influence with the People, so They Would Return to Their Teacher of the Law (Pharisees)

“What Do I Need to Do to Inherit Life that Never Ends?”

Luke 10:26–27 (NASB)

And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”

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.”

Jesus Essentially Said, “Well, You’re the Expert, You Tell Me.”

The Expert Gave an Expert Answer

“Love God with Everything You Have and Love Your Neighbor Like You Love Yourself.”

This is Exactly What Jesus has Taught

A Person will Naturally Obey All that God Expects of Them if They Do These 2 Things

Agape Love is a Commitment to Want and Seek the Well-Being of Another

God Expects Us to be Committed to Glorifying Him with Our Lives

And He Expects Us to be Committed to the Well-Being of Others

Luke 10:28 (NASB)

And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

Jesus has Turned the Test Around on the Expert and He Passed with Flying Colors

Now All He has to Do is Go and Commit Himself to God and Others and He will Have Life that Never Ends

Luke 10:29 (NASB)

But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

He Couldn’t Leave Well Enough Alone

He Wanted to Justify Himself

To Justify is to Declare Righteous

He Wanted to Prove that He was Obeying These Commands by Asking this Question

“If I’m to Love My Neighbor as Myself, then Who All Does that Include?”

Luke 10:30 (NASB)

Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.

The Road from Jerusalem to Jericho was Very Rocky Terrain that Descended Over 3,000 Feet and was about an 17-18 Mile Journey

Along this Steep and Rocky Path, Robbers Would Frequently Ambush People Traveling Alone

These Robbers Stripped the Man of All He had, Beat Him Until He was Half Dead and then Abandoned Him on the Side of the Road

Luke 10:31 (NASB)

“And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

It Just so Happened that a Priest Came Along

This Man is a Descendant of Aaron, and He Works in the House of God

You Just Know He’s Going to Stop and Help this Injured Man

After All, He’s One of God’s Priests

But He Doesn’t Just Leave the Man Lying There, He Walks to the Other Side of the Road to Keep His Distance from Him

Was He in a Hurry to Perform His Priestly Duties in the Temple?

No, He was Descending Down from Jerusalem

Was He Afraid the Robbers Would Jump Out and Get Him too?

Maybe

Was He Worried the Man was Already Dead and by Touching Him He Would Have Been Considered Unclean?

Possibly

Jesus Doesn’t Give Us the Reason Why He Didn’t Help Because the Reason Doesn’t Matter

He Chose Not to Help

Luke 10:32 (NASB)

“Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

Next Came Another Man of the Tribe of Levi, Except He Wasn’t of the Family of Aaron

He had the Job of Assisting the Priests in the Work of the Temple

Another Religious Man with the Opportunity to Help Someone in Need Chooses Not to Do so

Luke 10:33–35 (NASB)

“But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’

This Part of the Parable Would Have Been Shocking to the Listeners for a Couple Reasons

It Would Have Seemed More Natural for the Story to Have a Priest First, a Levite Second, and then a Regular Jewish Person Last

But Instead, the 3rd Person to Come Along is a Samaritan

A Rotten, No Good, Heathenous, Biracial Samaritan

The Kind of Person Who Hates Us Jews and the Kind of Person We Jews Hate

Jesus Says that He Felt Compassion for the Man

His Compassion Led Him to Approach the Man Where the Religious Men Got as Far Away from Him as They Could

His Compassion Led Him to Treat His Wounds with Oil and Wine and Bandage Them Up

His Compassion Led Him to Place the Man on His Own Animal, Which Meant that the Samaritan Now had to Walk

His Compassion Led Him to Take the Man to an Inn Where He Could Rest and Heal Up

His Compassion Led Him to Continue Taking Care of Him in the Inn for the Rest of the Day and Night

His Compassion Led Him to Sacrifice His Own Money for the Further Care of the Injured Man

According to a Historian Named Polybius, Who Lived Around 150 B.C., 2 Denarii Would Pay for a 2 Month Stay at an Average Inn in Italy

But Whether His Money Paid for 2 Months or 2 Days, He Provided for a Great Amount of Help While He was Gone

Because, Remember, this Samaritan was on a Journey

He was a Busy Man that Really Didn’t Have Time to Stop and Help Some Random Stranger

But He Intended on Coming Back and Paying for Whatever the Innkeeper had to Spend in His Absence

This Man was More than Taken Care of by the Samaritan

And that is the Parable of the Good Samaritan

Luke 10:36–37 (NASB)

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

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

The Very Word for Neighbor in Greek Carries the Idea of Being Nearby or Close

Which One Proved to be the One Who was Nearby or Close to the Man?

The Religious Men Walked as Far Away from Him as They Could

The Samaritan Approached Him and Stayed Near Him, Helping Him

This Question from Jesus had an Obvious Answer

But the Answer the Expert Chose to Give was, “The One Who Showed Mercy”

He Didn’t Even Want to Say the Word “Samaritan” in a Positive Way

But His Answer was Technically Correct

So Jesus Told Him to Go and Be Like the Merciful Samaritan

Applications

There are 2 Obvious Applications that We are Supposed to Take Away from this Passage

Jesus’ Application: Be a Neighbor to Everyone

The Expert Asked, “Who is My Neighbor?”

But Jesus Didn’t Directly Answer that Question

His Anwer was, “Here’s How You be a Neighbor”

This Man Began with the Wrong Question

Instead of Seeking to Love Others as Himself…

He was Seeking to Exclude Others from His Responsibility of Love

But Jesus Makes it Abundantly Clear that to Live Forever, We Must Love Everyone as Our Neighbor

We Must Make Ourselves Near to All People

Luke 6:27–36 (NASB)

“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.

Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.

Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount.

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

This is What it is Like to be a Citizen in God’s Kingdom

These are Kingdom Ethics

And We See Them Portrayed so Precisely in the Good Samaritan

But Do We Live Out These Ethics?

Do Devote Ourselves Lovingly to Others?

Do We Treat Others Better than They Treat Us?

Do We Pray for Those Who Wrong Us?

Do We Sacrifice Our Dignity, Rights and Possessions, Allowing Ourselves to be Mistreated Without Retaliation?

Do We Help Others and Do Good to Others Expecting Absolutely Nothing in Return?

Are We Kind and Merciful to Those Who Don’t Really Deserve it?

If Not, then We are Not Bearing the Image of Our Father or Following Our King Jesus

And We Have a Very Short Memory Because God has Done All of Those Things for Us

We Learn from Jesus to Make Ourselves a Loving, Devoted, Neighbor to All

Luke’s Application:

Luke is the One Who Told Us about this Conversation and Parable

He Too had a Reason for Communicating this Information to Us the Way He Did

Jesus had Just Praised God for Allowing the Humble and Child-Like to Understand the Things of His Kingdom…

And for Not Allowing the Wise and Intelligent of this World to Understand

Then Luke Immediately Tells Us about a Conversation Jesus had with a Wise, Intelligent, Expert in the Old Law

Jesus Ends Up Telling Him that He Should be a Loving Neighbor to All People

But, Being an Expert in the Law, He Should Have Already Known this

He Quoted Correctly from Leviticus 19:18

Leviticus 19:18 (NASB)

‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

But He, Along with Most of the Jewish Leaders, Should Have Payed Closer Attention to Leviticus 19:34

Leviticus 19:34 (NASB)

‘The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

God has Always Wanted and Expected His People to Love All Others

Luke Tells Us about this Parable as an Example of How the Wise and Intelligent Don’t Understand the Things of the Kingdom of God

This Expert in the Law Didn’t Understand the Most Basic of Principles Laid Out in All of Scripture

How Could an Expert Get Something So Simple So Wrong?

Because He, Like Many of the Jewish Leaders and Many Others Even Today, Believed He Knew All the Answers Because He was an Expert

If He was like Most Jews in His Day, He Believed that He was Special and Deserving of God’s Blessings and Salvation Because He was a Descendant of Abraham

He Believed that He was Living Righteously Before God and Therefore He Didn’t Need to Evaluate Whether or Not He Might Have Some Things Wrong

What Luke Wants Us to Learn from this Encounter is:

To Be Humble

To Be Child-Like in Our Understanding and Trust

Remember that There is Always Room to Grow in Knowledge, in Works, and in the Fruit of the Spirit

Once You Believe You’ve Got it, You’ve Officially Lost it

Questions or Comments?

Invitation:

I Want to Summarize the Parable of the Good Samaritan for You

Do You Feel Any Emotion Toward that?

The Earlier Listeners Would Have

Let Me Retell it for You and Hopefully Cause You to Feel the Way the First Century Listeners Would Have Felt

There was a Man Who was Beaten Up on the Side of the Road and Left for Dead

Then an Elder Came Walking Down the Road and Wouldn’t Help the Person in Need

Then a Deacon Came Walking Down the Road and Wouldn’t Help the Person in Need

Who was the Person that Got Beat Up, What Were They Doing to Get Beat Up like that, are They a Good Person?

None of that Matters

They are Simply a Person in Need

Then You Would Expect the 3rd Person to be a Regular Christian Who Would Come and Help the Person

But Jesus Shocks Us All (Especially His Immediate Audience) When the Town Drunk, Drug Addict, Prostitute is the One Who Comes and Helps the Person in Need

We are Christians Here, Aren’t We?

We Ought to Look Like it

We Ought to Bear Fruit that Proves it

Live Out Your Christianity