The Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-37

I was told that last week you ended with the study of the sending of the 72 in Luke 10. I don't know about you but I think that is a very exciting thing to be doing. It can be a very scary thing to be doing but the results can have tremendous impact on a community.

It was very exciting when our church went out and covered the whole city of Quincy with flyers telling of our three worships and inviting people to our services earlier this fall. It was neat watching the excitement everyone had with the anticipation of going out and hanging those flyers on doors. You can imagine the excitement or anxiousness the 72 had when they listened to Jesus and prepared for their trip. Except, the 72 were going to be doing a whole lot more than what we did. They were going to be healing the sick and casting out demons. Can you imagine what would have happened to Quincy if we went out doing the same thing?

How do you feel about the harvest here in Quincy? Are people ripe for the harvest? What will it take for you to be more involved in the harvest business?

I think verse 23 sums up a lot of what the Gospels are all about. I love teaching the Old Testament especially when things in the old are pointing to the things in the new. I am doing a quick study on the Life and Ministry of Jesus in the Cornerstone class and I continually point out that what was happening with Jesus was earlier told of in the Old Testament.

Luke 10:23 Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

Can you imagine being the disciples at that moment and hearing those words? What a moving feeling it had to be realizing that all that the OT pointed to, pointed in their direction. That everything they studied and worshiped in the synagogue was about the Messiah they were now traveling with. Do you think they even realized the extent of what Jesus told them?

All of this leads us into what we are going to study today. Personally, I think it strikes at the very heart of what it is to be a Christian. The story of the Good Samaritan is the practical application of what it is to be a follower of Jesus. In order to witness in the way Jesus wants us to, the attitude of the Good Samaritan is essential. We have to have it. Do you remember what it takes to be a follower of Jesus? (Matthew 21:24)

• Deny himself
• Take up his cross
• Follow Him
  

In order to be the neighbor Jesus wants us to be, it will be impossible to do it without the attitude of the Samaritan. I personally don't think it can be done without first following Jesus. I am not talking about certain people being able to do this; I am talking about the whole church having this attitude.

What part of Quincy is considered unsafe to walk alone at night or early morning? Why is it unsafe? If you were to come upon a person, at night, which had been hurt and lying in the street, would you most likely:

• Rush to the person and try to give help?
• Rush home, call the police, and report the situation?
• Let the police handle the problem?
• Rush home, lock the door behind you, and feel sorry for the person?
• Thank God that that person wasn't you?

We are often like the man who was telling his wife about passing a woman in a downpour of rain one afternoon. She had a flat tire and was standing helpless by the side of her car. "I thought to myself," he said, "how awful it is of people not to help such a poor woman. I would have stopped if I were not on my way to work."

Before we start, it is real important to understand the setting of this illustration. The road from Jericho to Jerusalem was a very dangerous road. Everyone knew this. It was very unwise to travel this road alone and especially at night. It was a road infested with thieves and robbers.

It was the main road for those to travel who came from Galilee to Jerusalem. It was the longer route but they traveled it because they didn't want to travel through Samaria because the Jews hated the Samaritans. It is ironic that Jesus uses a Samaritan as the good guy on this road.

Jericho is about 15 miles to the northeast from Jerusalem. Jerusalem sits at about 2500 feet above sea level. Jericho sits at about 1300 feet below sea level. There is a 3800-foot difference in elevation within those 15 miles. To travel from Jerusalem was much easier than to travel to Jerusalem. The terrain is very rugged and the road is twisted and winding. It was very dangerous to travel it without the robbers hiding there. Some of us from this church traveled that road by bus. It was quite the experience.

In the 5th century, Jerome nicknamed it the "Bloody Way". In the 19th century, it was still necessary to pay safety money to the Sheiks before you could travel on it. As late as the 1930's there were bandits that would rob cars and busses and then run and hide up into the hills. When Jesus tells this story, he was telling about the kind of thing that happened there all the time.

At this time in Jesus ministry, He was encountering the teachers of the law, the Pharisees and the Jewish authorities. Jesus was very popular and they were working hard to discredit Jesus as much as possible. Jesus was teaching about the Kingdom of God that was coming. His concept about eternal life was much different than the Jew's concept. We see this in the first verse.

Look at verse 25; can you see the difference between how this teacher of the law viewed eternal life and how Jesus viewed it? The teacher saw eternal life as something to posses. Jesus will later make eternal life a gift to all those you trust and have faith in Him.

Who is testing whom in this encounter? Does the lawyer think he passed the test in verse 28? How so? Why does he need to justify himself? The teacher didn't want to take a test, but to give one to Jesus. But as this story progresses, the teacher is the one being tested. The teacher is trying to get back in control of the situation and get Jesus to say something they can discredit Him with.

Let's look at the characters in this story:

The traveler:

What an idiot. It is obvious that he was a reckless character. No one traveled the Jericho road alone. If you had to travel it, you always traveled in numbers, in convoys or caravans. This man had no one to blame but himself for his problem. Jesus knew this. Look at Luke 2:41-44. When Jesus was a boy, he learned you didn't travel alone. When Jesus traveled to Jerusalem, he always traveled with his 12 disciples.

How sympathetic are you with people who get themselves in bad situations? Are you more likely to feel compelled to help a person who fell into trouble due to circumstances out of their control, or with the person who causes their own trouble?

The Priest:

The priest has a problem. Read Numbers 19:11-13

Numbers 19:11-13 "Whoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. Whoever touches the dead body of anyone and fails to purify himself defiles the LORD'S tabernacle. That person must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he is unclean; his uncleanness remains on him.

So what is his problem and what decision does he have to make whether to help this man or not? He could not be sure if the man along side the road was dead or not. If he helped the man and the man was dead, he would not be able to work at his job for 7 days. He decided to set the claims of ceremony above those of charity. The temple meant more to him than the pain of man. Does the church do this today?

The Levite:

His problem would have been similar to the priests but a little different. His job would not have been in jeopardy like the priests but he had other considerations to think about. One of the tricks used by the bandits was to act like a person in distress and when someone would approach to help, his friends would attack from anther direction. He probably was aware of this tactic. How many times do we not help others in need out of fear or worry that we might be in danger or that the person in distress is out to trick us? Is this justification not to help?

The Samaritan:

The listeners to Jesus would expect the villain to be the Samaritan. They were dogs and could not be trusted according to the Jews. It is obvious that this man traveled this road often and probably stayed at the inn on a regular basis. Samaritans were viewed as heretics and a breaker of ceremonial law. Jesus himself was called a Samaritan in John 8:48.

John 8:48 The Jews answered him, "Aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?"

There are two interesting things to note about this man that makes it easy to help others in times of stress.

1. His credit was good. The innkeeper trusted him. The man might have been doctrinally unsound, but he was honest.
2. He alone was prepared to help. He might have been a heretic, but he had the love of God in his heart.

The Teaching In This Parable:

It is interesting how Jesus puts the question to the teacher of the law. The lawyer asks Jesus the question on how to inherit eternal life and Jesus asks:

What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

Strict orthodox Jews wore on their heads or around their wrists little leather boxes called phylacteries. These contained certain passages of scriptures. One of them reads, "You will love the Lord your God" and another scripture that bids a man to love his neighbor. Jesus essentially is saying here, look at what is written on your phylactery. What does it say?

But the Jews had a very narrow definition of who their neighbor was. To the Jew, his neighbor was another fellow Jew. Jesus answer involves three things:

1. We must help man even when he has brought his trouble on himself.
2. Any man of any nation who is in need is our neighbor.
3. The help must be practical. It must involve compassion-do something about the problem.

Do you know the difference between your friend and your neighbor?
You chose your friends. God gives you your neighbor.

Two truths are found from the parable. First, a neighbor is any person we encounter who has any need. Since every person we encounter has a need of some kind, we can understand the term to include every person we encounter. Second, we are to be a neighbor. The question is not just “Who is my neighbor?” but also, “Am I being a neighbor?” Neighboring is done as we show mercy (Luke 10:37). Loving our neighbor is second in importance only to loving God (Matt. 25:35-39) and means more than all the offerings and sacrifices we could ever give (Mark 12:33).

NEIGHBOR (Acquaintance, Fellow Citizen, Friend)

What kind of relationship should we have with our neighbors?

BIBLE READING: Luke 10:25-37

KEY BIBLE VERSE: “It says,” he replied, “that you must 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 you must love your neighbor just as much as you love yourself.” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you shall live!” (Luke 10:27-28, TLB)

God expects us to be loving toward our neighbors. This expert in the law was quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. He correctly understood that the law demanded total devotion to God and love for one’s neighbor. From the parable Jesus told (verses 30-35), we learn three principles about loving our neighbor: (1) lack of love is often easy to justify, even though it is never right; (2) our neighbor is anyone of any race, creed, or social background who is in need; and (3) love means acting to meet the person’s need. Wherever you live, there are needy people close by. There is no good reason for refusing to help.

BIBLE READING: Romans 13:8-14

KEY BIBLE VERSE: If you love your neighbor as much as you love yourself you will not want to harm or cheat him, or kill him or steal from him. And you won’t sin with his wife or want what is his, or do anything else the Ten Commandments say is wrong. All ten are wrapped up in this one, to love your neighbor as you love yourself. (Romans 13:9, TLB)

We should love our neighbors as ourselves. Somehow many of us have gotten the idea that self-love is wrong. But if this were the case, it would be pointless to love our neighbors as ourselves. But Paul explains what he means by self-love. Even if you have low self-esteem, you probably don’t willingly let yourself go hungry. You clothe yourself reasonably well. You make sure there’s a roof over your head if you can. You try not to let yourself be cheated or injured. And you get angry if someone tries to ruin your marriage. This is the kind of love we need to have for our neighbors. Do we see that others are fed, clothed, and housed as well as they can be? Are we concerned about issues of social justice? Loving others as ourselves means to be actively working to see that their needs are met. Interestingly, people who focus on others rather than on themselves rarely suffer from low self-esteem.