The Good Samaritan
Portraits of Jesus
FCC – June 28, 2015
Text: Luke 10: 25-37
Introduction: Turn in your Bibles to Luke 10. We have spent this year walking through the
Gospels chronologically to get a full portrait of Jesus. Recently we have looked at His claims to
be “The Forgiver” and “The Light of the World.” Last week, Jordan preached from John 10
which says that Jesus is the Door, the Good Shepherd and the Son of God. I love John 10: 1011 which says: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life
and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep.
Jesus would teach about Himself and then demonstrate who He was by His miracles. His claims
about Himself would confound and anger those who opposed to Him…it was the religious
leaders who get upset that He healed on the Sabbath and claimed to forgive sin. They often tried
to test Him with what they thought were no win scenarios. Today in our text, we have certain
religious lawyer who tries to test Jesus.
Luke 10: 25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I
do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus responds to the ‘test’ with the story of the Good Samaritan. We usually understand this
story apart from its context. In other words, we jump right to the story and learn about the
compassion of the Good Samaritan and challenge one another to be like him. I love this
story…our culture has even termed the phrase “good Samaritan” to describe those who go out of
their way to help others. I’m not saying it’s totally wrong to focus on the compassion of the
Samaritan, but when we do that, we might miss a larger meaning that Jesus was communicating
to the lawyer and all the religious folks the lawyer represents.
To drive home the context of this story, I would like to read verse 25 again, where the lawyer
poses the test like this: “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” It is clear that the
lawyer want to ‘do’ something to earn or inherit eternal life. Lawyers, or scribes, were experts in
the Mosaic Law. Even though the Bible describes this as a test, there is no implication of
hostility, but it’s clear that the lawyer assumes that one has to do something for salvation. So as
I understand the context, Jesus response is a direct answer to the lawyer’s question about eternal
life.
Eternal life requires…
1. Loving God completely. (v. 26-28) 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.”
Jesus answers by quoting from the Old Testament. To receive eternal life we can’t love God
half-heartedly. We have to love God with our entire being…with everything we got. Jesus
first quotes Deuteronomy 6: 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your might.
Loving God includes loving our neighbor as ourselves. Leviticus 19: 18 You shall not take
vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your
neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. Loving others as ourselves is not an invitation to selflove, but an acknowledgment that we have a natural bent to take care of our needs. We need
to love others the same way.
John Piper - As I see it, the meaning of the command, "You shall love your neighbor as
yourself," is this: our Lord is aiming to call into being loving, compassionate, merciful men
and women whose hearts summon them irresistibly into action when there is suffering within
their reach. And to that end he demands that they again and again ask themselves this
question: am I desiring and seeking the temporal and eternal good of my neighbor with the
same zeal, ingenuity and perseverance that I seek my own?
Holman Bible - Thus, both from the Jewish leaders' viewpoint and from Jesus' unique
teaching, these Scriptures stand at the top of all other Old Testament teaching. Love God.
Love neighbor. Then you will be and do what God expects in the Old Testament. Such love
must not be half-hearted. It must be all-encompassing. Every part of you—thoughts,
emotions, feelings, actions—must be controlled by love for God and for others.
So in response to the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responds by
saying that you must keep the law summarized in these two great commandments. He then
quotes Leviticus 18: 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does
them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.
Eternal life requires loving God completely and secondly…
2. Loving your neighbor impartially. (v. 29-37a) 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.”
It is interesting that we are told that the lawyer’s question about who was his neighbor was in
a response to try and justify himself. Isn’t that true of all of us? When there is any sin in our
lives, we want to excuse it or give a reason for it. When we are before the one justifies, we
dare not justify ourselves.
Tom Constable - The lawyer realized that the only way he could possibly fulfill the law’s
demand was to limit its demand. He should have acknowledged his inability to keep these
commands and asked Jesus what He should do. Instead he tried to “justify” himself (i.e., to
declare himself righteous) by limiting (redefining) the demand of the law and then showing
that he had fulfilled that limited demand.
Holman Bible – He (Jesus) described a normal trip a person would take, seventeen miles
from Jerusalem down to Jericho through a mountain pass that fell almost 3,300 feet in
elevation… Thus, government officials frequently made the trip from Jerusalem to Jericho as
did Jewish religious and political leaders. Criminals took advantage of the upper class's
need to travel this winding, crooked road through dangerous passes. They hid behind the
large rocks above the narrow passes and preyed on travelers.
Jesus provides some stark contrast with three characters in the story. The first two travelers
came by and they were both religious men: a priest and a Levite. Both did the same
thing…they passed on to the other side. We could guess their motives for not helping.
Perhaps they were busy or they just didn’t care. Either way, they weren’t good neighbors to
the man in need.
Jesus focuses on the third traveler, the hated Samaritan. You may remember that Samaritans
were half Jews and were hated by the Jews. How did the hated Samaritan respond to this
injured man in need?
a. With Compassion - Holman Bible - a Greek expression built on the word for a person's
inner parts, the seat of emotions and feelings. It expresses Jesus' feeling for those in need.
It means "to have pity, a feeling of distress through the ills of others," "to suffer with
another, to be affected similarly" (Eng., "sympathy"), to have "compassion" upon,
Matthew 9: 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were
harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
b. With Mercy - "is the outward manifestation of pity; it assumes need on the part of him
who receives it, and resources adequate to meet the need on the part of him who shows
it.”
Ephesians 2: 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he
loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ
c. With Generosity –The Samaritan gave money to be used to take care of the injured man
and basically left a blank check with the innkeeper. 1 Timothy 6: 18-19 They are to do
good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up
treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of
that which is truly life.
Tim Keller – “We instinctively tend to limit for whom we exert ourselves. We do it for people
like us, and for people whom we like. Jesus will have none of that. By depicting a Samaritan
helping a Jew, Jesus could not have found a more forceful way to say that anyone at all in
need – regardless of race, politics, and religion – is your neighbor. Not everyone is your
brother or sister in faith, but everyone is your neighbor, and your must love your neighbor.”
Eternal life requires that we love God completely, our neighbor impartially, and lastly…
3. Loving God and neighbor perfectly. (v. 37b) And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do
likewise.”
As we pointed out earlier…Jesus was saying that following the law as summarized in these
two commandments would give one eternal life.
James 2: 8-13 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love
your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are
committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole
law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not
commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder,
you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be
judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no
mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
C. H. Spurgeon. Look to what you must be throughout an entire life if your works are to save
you. You must love God with all your heart and soul and strength, and your neighbor, in this
Samaritan’s fashion, even as yourself. And both of these without a single failure! Have you
done this? Can you hope to do it perfectly? If not, why do you risk your souls in this
frail skiff—this leaky, sinking craft of your poor works—for you will never get to Heaven in
it.
Lastly, you who are Christ’s people are saved, already, and you are not going to do these
things in order to save yourselves. The greater Samaritan has saved you—Jesus has
redeemed you, brought you into His Church, put you under the care of His ministers, bid
us take care of you—and promised to reward us if we do so in the day when He comes.
Seek, then, to be true followers of your Lord by practical deeds of kindness and if you have
been backward in your gifts to help either the temporal or the spiritual needs of men, begin,
from this morning, with generous hearts, and God will bless you. O Divine Spirit, help us all
to be like Jesus! Amen.
Eternal life requires that we love God completely, our neighbor impartially, and lastly…
Conclusion: How do we inherit eternal life?
Plan of Salvation – The Cross – Romans 10: 8-9