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March 29, 2020
Jason Meyer | Luke 10:25-37
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 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.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”—Luke 10:25–3
Introduction: Last Month/This Month
We have been in a series on our 20/20 Vision. The month of February focused on the job description of leaders, and the month of March focused on the job description of the congregation. This is the final installment of that series. We will pivot in April as we enter Holy Week. I will preach on the Triumphal entry (Matthew 21:14–17) next week, and then Easter in two weeks (Revelation 7:15–17). After Easter, Pastors Dave, Steven, and I will start a series on First Peter.
This is such a unique moment—we will probably not see something quite like this again in our lifetime. We are currently under a stay-at-home order. Many people are just trying to get their bearings. And the church is asking what the Lord would have us do during this time of pandemic and pink slips and isolation and fear? When a stay-at-home order looms over us, the Bible’s command to love our neighbor comes into its own. But what exactly does that mean? Jesus gives the answer in one of the most famous parables he ever told: The Good Samaritan.
Jesus tells this parable in the context of a test of wits between Jesus and a lawyer seeking to test him or trap him. It is possible that this professionally trained scholar in the Jewish Law thinks he can put Jesus in his place because this uneducated Galilean lacks official biblical (i.e., legal) training. Here is a little spoiler alert. Even if you are an educated expert in the Word, you do not challenge the person who is the Eternal Word himself who became the Incarnate Word. We know it is not going to go well for him. This battle of wits comes to us in two rounds. In each round, the lawyer asks a question, Jesus counters with a question, the lawyer answers, and then Jesus states a conclusion.
Round 1 (vv. 25–28)
Round 2 (vv. 29–37)
We will walk through the movements of the text, we will come to the main point of the text, and then we will seek to apply the text to today’s moment.
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
A Trick Question
Notice that this is not a sincere question. It is a trick question—a question that sets a trap and puts Jesus to the test. But it is a trick question, not because he is asking about something trivial, but because it is something ultimate and eternal.
An Eternal Issue
The lawyer (i.e., an expert in the Jewish Law) is asking about what the Law says about inheriting eternal life. This is an issue of ultimate importance. It is also the question that people wrestle with when they stare death in the face. There are lots of pictures of empty shelves of toilet paper in our day, but there are also pictures of empty shelves of Bibles at Barnes and Noble. People are scared and they are searching and this is the question that often comes up in these times. How will Jesus answer?
He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
Jesus responds in a very typical Rabbi type way. Have you noticed that Rabbis often answer a question by asking a question? It reminds one of the old adage: “Why does a rabbi always answer a question with a question? Answer: Why not?!”
So this is what Jesus does. Jesus puts the lawyer on his heels, takes over the questioning, and puts the lawyer to the test. He asks a counter question: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” (v. 26).
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.”
The lawyer correctly quotes from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19. If one were to inherit eternal life from doing the commands of the Law, then one must love the Lord completely and love others completely. This is not hyperbole either when I say completely. Listen to it again “love … with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”… and “your neighbor as yourself.” That is total love—love that will totally take over the control center of your life—heart, soul, strength, mind. Everything that you think, do, or say will come from love.
And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
Jesus now simply lets that answer sink in a little more: “You have answered correctly.” But he does not congratulate him for the answer as if that gets him off the hook. His answer puts him on the hook. Now here is the earth-shattering conclusion: All you have to do to have eternal life is to do that. The lawyer has correctly quoted Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19, and so Jesus goes back to Leviticus 18:5 with his response. The only way to find life in the commandments is to do the commandments. Love must totally take you over. But this conclusion is devastating. This is a path that is a dead end. There is no hope there. And this man knows it. So Round 2 begins.
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Perhaps this man simply wanted to best Jesus in some subtle theological debate, but he did not imagine that Jesus was going to put this man’s life to the test. Jesus is like that. This man thought he was like a fisherman and put his bait on the hook and he thought he could just reel Jesus in, but that is like trying to catch a blue whale with a Zebco fishing pole. You end up being the person who gets hooked and pulled into the ocean of his infinite power and wisdom.
Luke tells us not just this man’s question but his motive in asking the question. This man wanted to justify himself. He desperately tries an evasive maneuver to get off the hook. This expert in the law just became a self-defense attorney.
If you are going to live by works, then you need to make the law more manageable. How can I make this easier for me? He looks for a statute of limitations in the Law. Who do I not need to love? Who can I safely cross off the list? He is trying to limit his sphere of responsibility.
So Jesus does not just ask a question this time. He tells a story and then asks a question that subtly but profoundly changes the lawyer’s question.
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
Jesus takes 56 words in the original language to tell the story in verses 30–33. He first sets the scene with a man traveling on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. It was a notoriously dangerous journey because there were places along the way for robbers to hide and assault unsuspecting travelers. That is exactly what happens here. The man is stripped, beaten, and left for dead.
Now the story takes a different turn as it looks for a hero to help. We think we have found him in verse 31 with the words: “Now by chance.” Jesus sets it up by saying “how fortunate” that a priest shows up because the priest is the prototypical hero in Jewish thought. He is probably returning from ministering in the temple. If anyone will help, it is surely the priest. He saw him, but passed by on the other side.
Then along came a Levite. A Levite was in the tribe of Levi, but not in the family line of Aaron. Therefore, a Levite would serve in the temple as a priest’s assistant. He would do tasks in the temple that were regarded as less important than the priest, but still necessary for the work of the temple ministry. He saw the man, too, but he passed on the other side as well.
Then along came a Samaritan. Now this is a profound moment. This lawyer would have defined neighbor in a geographic way. That is, he would have drawn the lines ethnically and geographically. I need to love fellow Jews and some have disqualified themselves like tax collectors. And I can safely hate Samaritans and Gentiles. The story is directly addressing his racist attitude toward Samaritans. If the priest were the most likely person to help, then the Samaritan would be the least likely person to help.
He saw just like the other two, but unlike them, Jesus says the Samaritan had something the other two lacked: compassion. Now the main thrust of the story comes the forefront. We can see it just by the word count. Jesus took 56 words to tell the initial part of the story and now he uses 50 words to describe what a compassionate love for neighbor looks like in detail. The Samaritan went to him and bound up his wounds (probably by tearing his own clothes to make bandages). He took some oil to soothe the wound and wine to disinfect the wound. This is very up-close and personal compassion.
Then he put the man on his own animal, while he walked. He brought the man to an inn and took care of him the rest of the day. Then the next day, he gave what was basically a blank check. Take care of him and I will pay the bill when I come back. This love was timely and costly and very inconvenient.
Now Jesus gets to the gotcha moment. Instead of asking, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus asks, “Who was the neighbor?”
He said, “The one who showed him mercy.”
The lawyer could not bring himself to say “the Samaritan,” so he says, “the one who showed him mercy.” He is forced to answer what is at the heart of being a neighbor—a heart of compassion that shows mercy. This story also functions as a mirror for the lawyer. This story provides the reason why someone would pass by someone in need: They lack compassion. Those who pass by someone in need close their hearts to that person. Jesus is showing the lawyer that his heart is hard. It is closed to compassion and thus devoid of mercy. He only wants to get off the hook. He wants to minimize mercy, limit compassion. He is like Scrooge. “How can I give as little as possible. What is the bare minimum?”
In other words, Jesus shows that the lawyer is like the priest and the Levite in the story. He is motivated by a minimalist attitude that desires to get off the hook and say, “Who can I safely ignore? Who can I see and then safely pass by on the other side, like the priest and Levite.
Jesus says that a heart of compassion takes a totally different approach. We all see people in need. When we see need, a heart of compassion says, “What can I do?” instead of “What can I avoid?” … “What can I give? What can I do? How can I serve?”
And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
So Jesus leaves him with the devastating conclusion. “You go, and do likewise.” He is telling the lawyer to stop being like the priest and the Levite and be like the Good Samaritan. So here is the main point in the story of the Good Samaritan:
“God calls you to be a loving neighbor to anyone you see in need—irrespective of any differences in race, gender, social status—with a love that will go out of its way to help a person in need, even if it is inconvenient and costly.”
Pause for a moment and consider how this should land on us. This story is devastating. The meaning of neighbor has been expanded to “anyone in need.” And the meaning of love has been expanded to mean, “whatever it takes.” And the story is doubly devastating because it shows us our tendency to lack compassion and look away or turn away from people in need. So how should this story function in our lives today? It should function in at least three ways.
1. Destruction: Search and Destroy All Self-Righteousness
The first thing the story should do is what is was meant to do to the lawyer: slay
self-righteousness. We should start by seeing that we are the lawyer in this story. Jesus’ story confronts our tendency to look at people in need and then look away or pass by them.
We are confronted with an urgent and timely truth: the path of works righteousness is spiritual suicide. It is a dead end. No one will find life there. No one can love like this. Love God all the time and do whatever it takes when you see people in need. Have a heart of compassion and do what you can whenever you can. We do not have a heart like that. If eternity is based on your performance you can never have assurance. Our best efforts will condemn us and we will try to avoid responsibility because we know we can’t measure up. We don’t even live up to our own standards—let alone God’s standards!
2. Salvation: How Do I Receive Eternal Life? Believe in the Lord Jesus and You Will Be Saved!
Once we see ourselves as the lawyer in the story who would pass by others in need, then we can see ourselves not as the hero of the story, but the man that needed to be rescued. We are the person that was beaten and bleeding and left for dead. We need to be rescued. And then, and only then, can we see that Jesus is the Great Samaritan.
Only one person has ever loved God with all of his heart and soul and mind and strength at all times. Only Jesus had a heart of compassion all the time. Everything that he did and said and thought was defined and dominated by love. And Jesus did not pass by others when he saw them in need. He never closed his heart and lacked compassion. And it is the differences between Jesus and the Good Samaritan that are stunning! Jesus did more, paid more, accomplished more, for much, much longer!
The Good Samaritan let his donkey carry the man and paid the price to check him into a temporary home (hotel). Jesus endured a gruesome death and carried our sins to purchase for us an eternal heavenly home. The Good Samaritan saw a stranger. Jesus saw enemies. The man who fell among robbers had done nothing wrong in this story. In salvation’s story, Jesus looked upon people who had all sinned against him by living for themselves and slighting his worth and honor.
That is why someone like the thief on the cross could have any chance at all of salvation. Jesus says, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Not because the thief did anything. He didn’t have to become a Good Samaritan or a good anything in order to be saved. He confessed that the crucified Jesus really was the King of the Universe who alone could allow this person to enter his kingdom —on the cross!
That is why when you read in the book of Acts of a Philippian jailor who knows he is guilty and deserves to die, and asks the apostle Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul does not say, “Here is what you need to do to earn it. Have compassion on everyone you see!” He says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). That is all. Jesus is enough. He paid our entire bill. He opened up his eternal kingdom and gave us an eternal home!
3. Reconstruction
Once we have seen ourselves as the lawyer, and then the man in need of rescue from Jesus the Great Samaritan, now and only now can we return to the story and see that we can become the Good Samaritan. We are not the Good Samaritan on our own. We become the Good Samaritan only in Christ who saved us and lives in us. We no longer live—Christ lives in us! We can now live like the Good Samaritan—not in order to be saved, but because we are saved.
Salvation always has an inner start but an outward arc. The tree bends as the wind blows. The healing hurricane of Jesus’ love has blown over us and bent us toward loving others. If salvation is freely given and if we freely receive, then we can freely give. Salvation always is an inner work with an outward arc. We no longer have to focus inwardly on ourselves any longer. But we ask instead, “Who can I share this love with that I have received?”
Salvation in Christ means that the standard of love is not just self-love but Christ’s love. Listen to 1 John 3:16–18.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
If we have received a love like this, we can’t go back and see someone in need and “close our heart against him.” That would mean God’s love has not entered in and made its dwelling in our hearts. This is a self-giving, laying-down-your-life kind of love. Now I want to do this story. I know I can’t do it perfectly; I won’t do it perfectly, but I want it really and truly.
And this is what the people of God are called to be. The children of God are those who love obedience and are zealous for good works. We don’t come to Scripture to be hearers only. I want us to come to Scripture ready to “be doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1:22). We come to corporate worship expecting real heart engagement and real life change.
Good Neighbor Bingo
I have a Good Neighbor Bingo sheet here. The goal is to fill as many squares as you can. But you don’t do this in order that you will win, but in order that those you serve will win. You already have victory in Jesus—now you want to share that with those in need. This can be an amazing moment to reach the lost, love our neighbors, but also to disciple others. Maybe you disciple your children and involve them in what it means to love their neighbors—they will always remember playing Good Neighbor Bingo as when they did the biggest neighborhood outreach they ever did. And what if it was not just a one and done, but a beginning: names learned, needs met, stories told, relationships formed, bridges built.
Conclusion
We are going to sing the song: “You are stronger … so let your name be lifted higher.” Jesus defeated death. All that could kill us forever has been decisively defeated. Let’s seek to love our neighbors. Christ’s name will be lifted higher as our witness stretches further.
Eusebius Quote: The deeds of the Christians were on everyone’s lips and they glorified the God of the Christians. But the only way that will make any difference is if they come to know the Savior—the Christ of the Christians. They are not to look at us and say, “What a good person but what a great Savior!”
Main Point: The parable of the Good Samaritan shows us the condemnation of the law in order that we will find the new life in Christ that brings us into the picture to fulfill its call.
Outline
Discussion Questions
Application Questions
Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace to receive new life in Christ and to fulfill the call to love your neighbor as yourself.