Are we Good Samaritans?

Luke 10:25-37

25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?"

27 So he answered and said, "'You shall 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.'"

28 And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."

29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

30 Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"

37 And he said, "He who showed mercy on him."
Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Jesus told this parable to those trying to get Him to set down a set of rules like the Law to guarantee an entrance to heaven.  They imagined that if they received the right rules and followed them that they would earn a place in heaven.  But they did not believe Jesus had better rules than they had al established and added to God’s word so they thought to test Him by asking what they had to do to inherit eternal life.  He answer them in return what they thought the law said to do and they answered with a rote book response without considering the deeper implications and meaning rolled up in the scriptures which they quoted (Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18).  In essence, their answer was a couple important verses out of context, the context of the whole counsel of the word of God that included the heart and motives for what we do and why and for who.  The first passage talked of love for God with everything we have that includes our very lives, feelings, effort, and thoughts.  The second one directs us to love others with the implication to treat them as we expect others to do for us, with good will and actions to meet their needs in respect and care even if they do not reciprocate that love.  Jesus told that man if he truly did those things that he would live forever with the implication it meant a place in heaven for him as he had asked if he did these things.  But the proud man tried to catch the Lord and gatekeeper (John 10:9) of that eternal life in a lie by questioning (Genesis 3:1) the word of God from Jesus; he demanded to know who Jesus defined as his neighbor, an obvious concept that evidently needed to be explained to the inquisitor to reveal his motive for the question.  Jesus told a story of a wounded man that robbers left to die and how the religious people passed him by on the other side of the road because they did not want to be bothered with the time and expense of helping the wounded one in great need.  It was only when an outsider to God’s people came upon the man that he helped with the compassion that the passage quoted by the inquisitor from Leviticus 19:18 talked about.  This Samaritan was an outsider, a halfbreed to a religious Israelite, and he was the one who understood the context and application of the scripture to the man in need whom he came across.  He bound up his wounds, put him in a hotel, and paid all the expenses for the wounded man’s care.  He even promised to pay any extra expenses on his return trip along the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.  Neither the religious priest or the Levite who should have known the law and its application offered to help, but an outsider who worshipped in spirit and truth (John 4:7, 21-22, 23-24) understood the scriptures and applied them to the man’s wounds.  Jesus then asked the inquisitor who the real neighbor was in the story and the man had no choice but to answer it was the man who showed mercy.  It was not the self-righteous ones.  Jesus told him to go and imitate that man in showing compassion to all in need who were his neighbors.  Are we good Samaritans?  We are told to know God’s word and do likewise as well to love Him with everything we have and are and extend that love to all in need as we come across them in our journeys through this life.  Amen.