In Luke 10:25-37, we have the story of the Good Samaritan. It is one of the most well known parables that Jesus ever told.
It is known by both believers and unbelievers. It is so well known, that a lot of us take it for granted. We say, "Yeah, yeah, the good Samaritan. We ought to be good to everyone."
But friends this parable is so much more than that. The Samaritan showed a sacrificial love to the man on the side of the road, whereas the priest and the Levite both ignored the man.
Instead of looking at who is our neighbor, we ought to look at how neighborly we are. Look at verses 33-35:
"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."
This is really amazing the kind of love the Samaritan showed this man. Not only did he pick him up on the side of the road, he took him to an inn and cared for him all night, and then the next morning paid for the room, and then said to the innkeeper to continue to take care of him and that he would pay him when he got back. How incredible this is!!! He basically is giving the innkeeper an open check to spend whatever he needs to on this man, and no telling, the innkeeper could have been corrupt.
What makes this story even more telling about the love we should have for others is that it was a Samaritan who showed it to this man. Samaritans were looked down upon and despised by the Jews.
In 722 B.C. when Assyria invaded Northern Israel, they took some of the Israelites away. To the ones who stayed, they intermarried with the Gentiles who now lived in the land. This was abhorred by the Jews.
In John 8:48 the Jews speak to Jesus, "The Jews answered him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?"
So there was nothing worse than being a demon possessed Samaritan.
Freinds, there is so much more to the story that we could touch on and meditate on. But what strikes me is the quality of love the Samaritan showed the man on the side of the road. It really puts me to shame. I know I do not love like that. I wish I did, but I don't. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit and by Christ abiding in my heart, can I even try to do this.
I would like to close with some comments by John Macarthur from a sermon on this story:
"By the way, that's how God loves us. This is not an allegory about that. But that is how God loves us. And there stood Jesus before him, ready to offer him mercy, ready to offer him grace, ready to offer him forgiveness if he only would repent and admit what he knew was true. But as we move through the life of Christ toward the cross, the hearts get harder and harder and harder.
The end of the story, the end of the encounter is Jesus saying, "Go and do the same." Did he? No. Could he? No. Would he repent? Apparently not. Will he inherit the Kingdom of God? Of course not. Who will? Those who repent of their lack of love toward God and others, cry out for mercy and forgiveness from the Christ who has paid the penalty for that forgiveness through His death on the cross.
Father, we thank You for the richness of this story. And we acknowledge that when we receive Your mercy and when we receive new life in Christ, we are given a divine enablement to love You and to love others. But that love is not perfect. We don't love You perfectly. We don't love others perfectly. And so we not only were saved by grace, we stand in grace, we live in grace. Even if we were to break our alabaster box and wash the feet of Jesus with our tears, we would not love Him or You the way You deserve to be loved. Even in our most magnanimous acts of kindness and our greatest acts of generosity and mercy toward others, we never really get to the place where we love them the same way we love ourselves. We always put limits on how much we love someone else, particularly a stranger and an enemy. And so we all fall short, we all are guilty. We repent, we ask for mercy and forgiveness. Lord, help us to get to the point where we turn to Christ for our salvation and then having been given a capacity to love, even though it's not all it should be, may we increase in our love for You and our love for others as measured by our limitless devotion to give to You what You deserve, to give to others what they need. We pray in our Savior's name. Amen."
If you would like to read the whole sermon, you can find it here:
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/42-144_The-Good-SamaritanIt is excellent!!
Soli Deo Gloria.
Today's post was submitted by Russ Shellhamer.
What's so fine about this story is Jesus is the Good Samaritan. We are the man in this story. We were beaten up by sin, bruised by our iniquities and left bleeding on the side of the road. No one cared for our soul. The Law of God had no compassion. It just passed judgment upon us.
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Now this is the good neighbor! Praise God for the Lord's com passions.