The Good Samaratin

TJ Girt

John - Cross Referenced • Sermon • Submitted 4 months ago • Presented 4 months ago

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Intro

Summary of last week and the Samaritans

Link it with this morning

Jesus, most of the time casted the Samaritans in a good light

despite their obvious differences.

So lets dive into this parable, seeing how Samaritans are on our minds

Text

Luke 10:25–37 “Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?” He answered, “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.” “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring…”

Pray

Now, this is probably one of the most well known parables

Id say even most non christians know this parable

In the Fire / EMS world we even have a law based on it

The Good Samaritan

So its likely that y'all have heard this preached on quite a bit

I even wrote a 17 page paper on these 12 verses a couple of years ago

With that said, lets get started

Just a touch of background

we that we don’t end up going almost 40 minutes this evening as I did this morning

So, Jesus and his disciples are moving around

He just sent out the 72

they left and came back

they are again traveling through the samaritan area

and coming into Jerusalem

Then Jesus spends a little private time with them and tells them

Luke 10:24 “For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see the things you see but didn’t see them; to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them.””

So for Jesus to tell them that, he is doing some amazing things

And as usual we see the tension between the Pharisees, scribes, etc

so Jesus comes across an expert in the law

Luke 10:25 “Then an expert in the law stood up to test him,

And expert in the law is a scribe and most of the time these were pharisees

and he was looking to trip Jesus up

They were trap him and find some way to bring charges up against him

so this “expert in the law” asks saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?””

This question surfased a lot actually

we see in all 4 gospels

Matt: 19:16-22

Luke 18:18-23

John 3:1-15

Mark 12:28-34

So this is a popular question posed to Jesus

Because, well he was preaching a different kind of salvation than the Jews understood

The Jews though eternal life came from their blood line

and their good works

So, Jesus, in his infinite wisdom

Answers his question with a question

Luke 10:26 ““What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?””

The scribe or expert in the law answered with

Luke 10:27 “He answered, “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.””

The expert quoted from Deut 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 with this answer

Remember, it was their job to know the scriptures inside and out

leaps above even what us pastors are to know because we have other pastoral duties

they did none of that

they strictly studied the word and taught it

period

so, Jesus acknowledged his answer

This answer was textually correct

however, us, and Jesus both know it is impossible

thats why we need a savior

see there is no one outside of God that can love perfectly

But Jesus went on with it saying in

Luke 10:28 ““You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.””

Jesus knew and we both know there is nothing we can do to inherit eternal life

it is purely a gift from God

But Jesus goes along with it

knowing that a perfect teaching and rebuking point is on the horizen

Luke 10:29 “But wanting to justify himself,

Here it is!

The catch

If he would have asked Jesus,

how can I do this, i cant live these commandments perfectly

or if he would have said, help me to do this

it would have been a different story

but instead, out of his erragance and wanting to prove his superiority

The expert asks And who is my neighbor?””

now he most likely knew, deep down

that he could not fulfill this commandment

but, again leaning on his Jewish bloodline

and good deeds

he thought he was in

But, this man knew who his neighbors were

right next to Judea as we know and talked about last week

is the area of samaria

So Jesus, understanding all the background and information that we have learned about the samaritan jewish history

responds with this parable

Luke 10:30 “Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead.”

The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is a rough one

it drops, remember Jerusalem is on a mountain

it drops some 3,000 feet in elevation in only a matter of 17 miles

It was dangerous because bandits and robbers would hid in the steep crevices

it was a winding path as well so they were able to hide in all the curves

so this man, traveling this road succumbed to this fate

now while this man is laying there

as it says beaten up

and left for half dead

3 people will pass him by

the first was a priest

Luke 10:31 “A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.”

Jesus started with someone the expert could identify with

the priest is most likely the one that was expected to love others

and the way Jesus has set this up

he was probably a fellow Jew

and we could say he represented the religious group

well we see he didn’t stop

Luke 10:32 “In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.”

Now Jesus broadened this story by including a Levite

see the priests came from the line of the levites

we could say he represented the “church world”

He did the same thing as the priest

But, then Jesus really drives home the point

Luke 10:33 “But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion.”

Remember, they had nothing to do with the samaritans

They are thier geographical neighbors

And here Jesus hits the nail on the head

as he continues the parable

Luke 10:33–36 “But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’ “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?””

2 denari was roughly 2 days worth of wages

so this was substantial

so this samaritan, the one hated and despised

is the one that showed pity

when the others, Jews in that fact

did not

this samaritan showed

Divine love - right - he had compassion for him

he showed Practical love - he bound up his wounds

he showed kind love - he took him to an inn to be sheltered and cared for

and he showed him unselfish love - he even paid for his care while he got better

Now this man was pretty much put in his place

Because Jesus knew the man identified with the others

so Jesus asks the man

Luke 10:36 ““Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?””

The expert had no choice

the answer was obvious

He answered with Luke 10:37 ““The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.””

Now we don’t know the ending of the story

we don’t know if this converted the expert or not

but we do have an idea

see this story is awfully similar to the rich young ruler

See when Jesus tested him because he had great wealth

he walked away

and most likely that is what happened to this man

As we have been discussing spreading God message of hope

Spreading his message of grace, eternal life, etc

This text should motivate us be living witnesses among our community

It should motivate us to be considerate - to think of others and their needs and their problems

it should motivate us to be consecrated - right - when we give ourselves fully to this mission

we will be helpful and we will further Gods kingdom

It should motivate us to be compassionate - as we put ourselves in the places of others

and it reminds us to be like Christ

Because as he loved people

so should we

So as we go about our week this week

Lets further Gods kingdom

through grace, through obedience

through love

and through the things we just mentioned

we are a faithful body of believers

I know it

and I am so thankful to be able to stand before you

Lets pray