And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

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.’”

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

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

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. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 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. On the next day, 1when 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.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”

And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The New King James Version. 1982 (Lk 10:25-37).

--- The Parable of the Good Samaritan ---

CONTEXT:

This parable was spoken (as given to us by the Apostle Luke) almost as a clarifying response to a follow up question –“ And Who is my neighbor?” The original question being of course, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

If this question sounds familiar, it should. It was asked by a rich young ruler ( Matt 19:16-26, Mark 10:17-27, Luke 18:18-27). Christ gave him the answers on that occasion (For Eternal Life - Keep the Law, To Be perfect – Sell everything and follow Christ ). This time however, the question is thrown back at the questioner – What is your understanding based upon all your experience and learnedness dear Lawyer?

Any time we pride ourselves on our knowledge of the Word, we are often immediately humbled by our inability to apply it to our daily life! Faced with a situation, we ask God for the answer – but what if His reply is – dear Son/Daughter – you have been in My Word for 1-2-5-10-… years – what do YOU think the right answer based on your understanding of my Word and Character? He is interested in helping us learn to figure things out for ourselves too! Not that He is ever loath to listen to you, but like a good parent, He will not do for you what you can do for yourself … so maybe next time you have a problem, go try to find the answer in His Word before throwing in the towel immediately and asking for help!

Not the case with this guy though! He gives the RIGHT answer! All by himself too… this was a GOOD lawyer!

Now, there are two other related situations in the Gospels (Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34). Luke places the telling of this parable a short time after the Mount of Transfiguration experience, and after Jesus has commissioned 70 other disciples besides the 12.

Matthew and Mark however, describe the asking of a related question - Which is the greatest/foremost/most important commandment? – as part of Jesus’ interrogation by the priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes/lawyers in the temple, days before His crucifixion.

In the Matthew and Mark accounts, the lawyers ask Jesus this question, and – Jesus- is the one who responds with the answer… but His answer is consistent with the lawyers’ response in Luke’s account here.

So …. we have two questions with what seem to be overlapping answers in the Word:

1. What must I do to inherit eternal life/ be saved? ---- Keep the Law (young ruler), Keep the greatest commandments (this lawyer), Be born again (Nicodemus), Believe in Jesus (Paul and Silas to their Jailor :Acts 16:31)

2. What is the greatest commandment in the Law? Love God, Love your Neighbor as Yourself.

The lawyer should have quit while he was ahead – because he nailed both of them… alas…. He then asks the question which prompts the parable… - “And Who is My Neighbor?”

And that brings us to the Key Message of the Parable … which is???....

KEY MESSAGE: The definition of ‘neighbor’ is any human on this planet!

The Samaritans and Jews were enemies. The Jews considered them half-breeds (which they were), and the Samaritans believed and worshipped the God of Israel though they had religious differences. In Jesus’s talk with the woman by the well in Samaria, we get a glimpse of this acrimony, when the woman is curious that Jesus a Jew, should be asking water from a Samaritan. She also alludes to the fact that there is a debate over on which mountain God should be worshipped (John 4:4 is where you can find this story.)

Jesus picked the Samaritan as the most unlikely hero for a Jewish audience. He even went to the extent of contrasting the behavior of a despised Samaritan, with the pillars of Jewish society – a priest and a Levite. The Samaritan showed the Love of God to a fellow human being even though that human being was a stranger AND an enemy, who would have probably crossed by on the other side of the road himself if the roles were reversed.
So there’s your definition of “neighbor” friends …. Everybody, including enemies!!!!

That’s God’s standard. His standard prioritizes human life over ritual uncleanliness (commentators have thought that was why the Priest and Levite passed by – because touching a dead body would render them ceremonially unclean), and even personal animosity. He heals on the Sabbath. Love trumps & most completely fulfils - the Law!

Now for the difficult bit… “Go and do likewise.”

All Christians know what is expected of them. It is so simple it has been reduced to 2 commandments. We really have no excuse before God- to say we don’t know how we should behave. We go to church Sunday after Sunday, and keep and maintain a list of do’s and don’ts – yet we ignore His commandments.

We seem to think that a quick prayer of faith is all we need to do to get into Heaven forever, and Grace covers everything else till the end of life… so we are all set! This is very much like treating the Cross as validating your Christian parking ticket for heaven. Hey, we checked all the boxes, and we are good right?

Nothing could be further from the truth. Once Christ bought you, you are His – that is true. But as a child of God, you may not be immediately aware (or your pastors have been negligent in bringing to your attention) that our Lord has very high expectations of His Servants/Children.
Growth in the Word, in Spiritual Maturity, in Love, in Service, in Leadership. You now have the privilege of representing God Himself! There is going to be a cost to follow Christ. You LITERALLY have to be BORN AGAIN mentally to even begin to start doing it! Choosing His will over your own, fighting against the tug of the flesh and the world, and beating off spiritual attacks like fear, depression, anxiety, stress, worry (to name a few). Its why you need to do all this IN HIS STRENGTH and POWER, because we can’t do it by ourselves.

Learning to cooperate with the Spirit is a lifelong enterprise… we have to overcome our own interpretations of what is right and wrong (like the Priest and the Levite) per the Word, and follow Christ’s leading of Gods intention with the Law – show the world what Love looks like!

Because of iniquity and sin, the love of many has gone cold nowadays as our Lord predicted. We no longer pick up hitchhikers or stop to help strangers stranded on the highway (we rely on cell phones to call it in, or assume they are ok and can do the same). We see good people taken advantage of and trampled, and we resolve that we are not going to be fooled like that. STOP!

God is watching, and He will settle all accounts in good time. You will NEVER experience loss by following God’s Word and path of Love. It may hurt in the short term, but His eternal delight (and rewards) are so worth it!

In these Last Days we have no excuse people! Christ has explained the counsel of God FULLY to us through His teachings, parables, and actions. The path of discipleship is clear. Don’t be sitting at the entrance to a theme park all your life --- get up.. start walking … then new vistas of beauty and wonder will open up at every turn and twist of your life, and you will greet every day with the joy that comes from being able to experience God’s creation as a living Human Being!

When you join God’s army, He WILL make you be all that you can be – some work on your part is MANDATORY!
“And I saw the dead, wsmall and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books…. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” : Rev 20:12-15

We WILL all be judged. At Christ’s seat or at the final White Throne judgment (above) – and as Christ says to the churches in Revelation – “I know your works”. If those 7 churches did not escape evaluation, how shall we?

Let us pray to continuously strive to keep growing in the Word and in Spiritual stature!

Hallelujah!