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Reading Luke 10:25-37 and the famous parable of the Good Samaritan, where Jesus responds to a lawyer attempting to test Him by showing the lawyer he's not as good as he thinks. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Perhaps the most famous parable that Jesus ever gave is the parable of the Good Samaritan. But it's also one of the most misunderstood parables. However, the meaning of the parable is actually rather simple.
When we understand the text.
This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary that we may be equipped for every good work in Jesus Christ our Lord. Please tell others about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Luke, we come back to chapter 10, and today we are up to one of the most famous parables of Jesus, if not the most famous, most popular parable that he gave, and that is the parable of the Good Samaritan.
I'm reading here verses 25 to 37. Hear the word of the Lord. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 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. 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. And Jesus said to him, You go and do likewise. Now, this is one of three parables that are unique to Luke's gospel and among the most famous parables that Jesus gave.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is not found in Matthew's gospel or in Mark's. It's certainly not found in John's, because John doesn't include any parables. The second most popular parable, and unique only to Luke, is the parable of the prodigal son.
That one, again, only found in Luke. It's in Luke chapter 15. And I think that parable is misnamed. In fact, it shouldn't be called the parable of the prodigal son. We give it that name. It's not that Jesus named his parables.
But anyway, we'll talk about that when we get there. And then a third parable unique to Luke is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector who go up into the temple to pray. The tax collector beats his chest and says, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
I think of all the parables that Jesus gave, the parable of the Good Samaritan is the most famous. It's the one that most people know. Even unbelievers know this parable. You just think about the fact that you might pass a charity that has Samaritan in the name.
Or if you pass a ministry with Samaritan in the name, where does your mind go when you see Samaritan? You think of the parable of the Good Samaritan. You don't think about that small little people group.
It's only like 300 of them left. Yeah, there's still Samaritans on planet Earth. Not many of them, though. You don't think about that group of people. You think about this parable. I've heard this parable on the news.
Like I said, unbelievers know it. But they'll often twist this parable to fit their political paradigm. Like for example, you might hear somebody use this parable to talk about racism because you've got a Samaritan versus a Jew here.
And then the Levite and the priest who don't care for their own, but the Samaritan does. Or you might hear somebody say, we should let illegal immigrants stay here in the United States because that would be being a Good Samaritan.
Or somebody will say, we need to have socialized health care because that's being a Good Samaritan. None of that is accurate. The parable being as popular as it is also means that it's often taken out of context and twisted.
Even by people who are well-meaning, I will hear them mishandle this parable. Like they generally have a good handle on rightly handling the word of truth. But they will mishandle the parable of the Good Samaritan.
One common way that I've heard even some expositors explain this parable is by saying that the Samaritan loves this man that's been beaten by the robbers to a degree and a level of love that we can't even possibly attain to.
We could never do the things that this man did or the Samaritan did for this man. So therefore, we need to put our trust in Christ because ultimately, this is just pointing to Christ. We can't attain to that level of love, but Christ did.
And so we need to trust in him. And that's not really the point of the parable either. Do we need to trust in Christ? Absolutely. Did he love us with a love so great that we can't possibly repay it? Yes, he did that for us too, but that's not the point of the parable.
So let's come back to this and understand really the basic meaning that is given to us here in the parable of the Good Samaritan. It's not as complicated as it looks. Context is still important here. Even though this is a parable that we quote often, and sure, it stands alone by itself if you just take it and share the parable with somebody else, but there's still a context in which this is placed.
What did we just read? What was the section that we concluded with last week? Remember that Jesus prayed to the Father and rejoiced that the Father's will was being accomplished in the witness of his disciples.
The disciples were able to see things that no one else had the privilege to see. And so Jesus prayed, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.
Remember that? So what are we reading about here in the parable of the Good Samaritan? We encounter a man who is among the wise and understanding. Wise and understanding by human standards, but not so wise and not so understanding as he did not even know what it meant to love your neighbor or even who your neighbor is.
So that's part of this context that we see here. Among the wise and understanding, this lawyer stands up, a person who was well-versed in the law of God and would help adjudicate cases that would be brought before the Sanhedrin, giving them an understanding of the law.
And this lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test. We see this time and time again with the Pharisees attempting to trap Jesus or test Jesus, embarrass him in front of the people who come to him. And the lawyer says to him, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Now this is synonymous with asking, what must I do to enter the kingdom of God? And Jesus said to him, what is written in the law? How do you read it? And the lawyer 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 is yourself.
And as we've talked about this in the past, this is the first and second tables of the.
Law.
The first table of the law is represented in the first four commandments. You'll have no other God before me. You shall not raise up a graven image. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God in vain.
You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Those four laws have to do with the relationship between God and man. So we call that the first table of the law. The second table of the law is man's relationship to man.
And it begins with, you'll honor your father and your mother. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not covet. So those six commandments are the second table of the law. And here, the lawyer gives that first and second table, summarizes the law and saying, love God, love people.
And there's nothing about what the lawyer says that is out of bounds or incomplete or anything to that degree. Jesus very simply says to him, you have answered correctly. That's what the law says. Love God and love one another.
And then Jesus says, do this and you will live. If it's not enough to simply acknowledge that this is what the law says, you must do what it says. As James tells us in James 1, don't just be hearers of the word, but do what it says.
And that's the exhortation that Jesus gives to this lawyer. But the lawyer desiring to justify himself, he wants to make himself look good in the eyes of the people who are witnessing this exchange. He's not getting out of this exchange what he was hoping to get.
He wanted to put Jesus to the test and embarrass him in front of everybody. But so far, this conversation has been pretty agreeable. So the lawyer asked Jesus this question, and who is my neighbor? And what an interesting question, because remember, you have the first and second table of the law.
Love God, love people. The lawyer didn't say, and who is my God? Or and what does it mean to love this God? He didn't say anything like that. He said, who is my neighbor? He went to the second table of the law.
And to ask this question, who is my neighbor, is to imply that there must be some people who don't count, who don't qualify as my neighbor. And so I don't have to love them. And that's one of the reasons why Jesus gives an example of a Samaritan in this parable, because who's going to be the first person that a Jew would say they don't have to love?
The Samaritans, even more than the Romans who were occupying them, even putting some of them to death and ruling over them. The Jews were even more disgusted with the Samaritans. And so Jesus uses a Samaritan in this response that he gives to the lawyer.
Jesus replied, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Now, going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, this actually was a pretty rapid descent, over 3000 feet in elevation that you would descend going from Jerusalem to Jericho.
It was a very rocky area. And so, therefore, it was a good spot for robbers to hang out. It was not a safe trip to go from Jerusalem down to Jericho, especially not by yourself. So as Jesus is including this as part of the parable, it's not too unusual to hear a story about a man who was walking this particular road and fell among robbers.
So Jesus mentions this road where it's common to be mugged. He was going 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.
Now the priest would have been a descendant of Aaron. And the priest also would have been going to worship, most likely. He's going to the temple. He doesn't want to do or touch anything that is unclean.
And so this priest is avoiding helping this man, believing that he's worshiping the Lord, his God, with all of his heart, his soul, his strength, and his mind by keeping himself pure and going to the temple to fulfill his duties.
So he thinks he's worshiping God. He thinks he's fulfilling that first table of the law, but ignoring the second by not helping the beaten man. So likewise, you have the Levite. Now this is somebody who is from the tribe of Levi, and he would assist the priest.
When he came to the place and saw him, he passed by on the other side. Same with him. I'm going up to the temple. I've got duties that I've got to fulfill, and so avoids the beaten man so not to touch anything unclean.
But a Samaritan, whom the Jews already considered to be unclean, 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.
So the first part of that, Jesus says, he went to him. Remember, the Levite and the priest, they passed by on the other side. They went away from him. They avoided him as much as they could. The Samaritan sees the beaten man and goes to him and binds up his wounds, touches a man who would have been in the eyes of the priest and the Levite to be unclean.
He pours on oil and wine, taking those things that he had in his possession, which were of value, and use them to clean the wounds, to make the man clean again. And he set him on his own animal and brought him to an end.
It seems that he's even deviating from his journey, or in the sense that he's willing to give up the time that he would otherwise be making by continuing on on his trip to put the man on his animal and take him to an end.
And there he stays with him, doesn't just drop him off and make him somebody else's problem. He stays there and takes care of him. Then the next day, he takes out two denarii and gives them to the innkeeper, still not leaving him to be the innkeeper's problem.
He pays for him to be cared for and then even says, I'm going to pay you more when I come back through, take care of him and whatever you spend, I will repay you when I come back. A denarii, by the way, is a day's wage.
So it's two days wages, which would have been worth more than just caring for this man for two days. It would have lasted longer than that. But then saying whatever else you need to take care of him, whatever else you spend, I'll pay you back when I come back through.
Tell me the difference and I'll give it to you. Now, like I said, this is not so above and beyond that nobody could attain to this. It's certainly a great extent of love. It's certainly that. But it's not this unattainable degree.
And I've heard some teach this passage and say, see, he gives him like a bottomless purse and says, whatever else you spend on him, I'm going to I'm going to give you Buku much bucks when I come back through and make sure that you get repaid.
That's not the point. The Samaritan cared for a man who otherwise would hate him. And the Samaritan, likewise, it's not like the Samaritan were the Samaritans were more loving and the Jews were more hateful.
The Samaritans could be that way with Jews as well. But in this particular case, you have a compassionate Samaritan caring for a Jewish man who, if they had encountered one another as they were walking down the road, probably would have tried to pass each other on the other side and keep distance from one another.
But when this man was in need, the Samaritan cared for him. And so Jesus says. Which of these three do you think? Proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers. And in asking this question, he implies that the question that the lawyer asked was the wrong question.
Who is my neighbor is not the correct question. The correct question is, how can I be a good neighbor? And so Jesus gives the right question and demands an answer. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the.
Robbers?
He was a good neighbor. He was merciful and kind, putting the lawyer in the position to have to say, verse 37, the one who showed him mercy. Can't even say Samaritan. Can't even can't even say the Samaritan was the good guy.
Can't even bring himself to say it that way. He just says the one who showed him mercy. And then Jesus said to him, you go. And do likewise. And the point was to show this lawyer he was not as good as he thought he was.
He does not even do the basics. To care for and love his neighbor. He's trying to find ways to weasel out of caring for his neighbor, like asking questions, who is my neighbor, as if there is a category or group of people that don't qualify as my neighbor and I don't have to show love to them.
And so Jesus exposed this lawyer as not being as good as he thought he was, he attempted to justify himself. And instead, it was revealed to him. That he is not really that good a person as he thought.
And the point of the parable of the good Samaritan is actually the same as when Jesus encountered the rich young ruler. Remember, the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked him the same question. What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?
Jesus responded the same way. What does the law say? What are the commandments? Honor your father and your mother. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not commit adultery. Do not defraud. And the and the young ruler says, I've done all these things from my youth.
I've made it.
I'm good. I'm going to inherit eternal life. And Jesus, it's as if he goes, OK, let's go back to the first commandment. What is the first commandment? You'll have no other gods before me. So he says, I hold this against you.
Go sell all that you have and give it to the poor. And then you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. So he gives him the first and second tables of the law. You love something more than God.
So get rid of that and then come follow me. Follow God and give it to your neighbor. Give it to the poor. So love your neighbor. He's challenging him on the basics of the law. Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor is yourself.
And it says that the rich young ruler went away sad because he had many great possessions. He couldn't give up his possessions to love God and love his neighbor. He really was not as righteous as he thought he was.
All these things I have done from my youth, just like the lawyer thought here. And so Jesus shows him you can't even do the basics. You have not even done that. And so with the point that he makes at the end, you go and do likewise.
Now, this should be convicting to every one of us, because when we see what the Samaritan does for this man who fell among the robbers, would we do the same? Have we done the same? Have you ever done that for anybody else?
Have you cared for somebody else that you don't know who they are from Adam? A complete stranger. Would you actually go out of your way to care for a man? Do you pass by the poor on the street and try to walk by on the other side or look the other way?
And instead of taking cash out of your wallet and handing it to them, and you'll even try to justify why I'm not going to give cash to that for that poor person, because they're just going to go spend it on drugs or alcohol or something like that, right?
Yeah, I've been there. We've all done it. We have all failed to love in ways that were very easy ways for us to love. And so what must we do to be saved now? How can we enter the kingdom of God? We're never going to get there by our own merit.
That's something that in this parable, Jesus points out to the lawyer. You've not been good enough. You've not kept the law to inherit eternal life. And so how are we going to get there? If all of us have been lawbreakers, all of us have failed to love God appropriately and love others appropriately.
And there the answer is Jesus. Now, of course, that resolution is not given here in Luke chapter 10. It comes much later. But that's how we are ultimately to find exhortation in this that we are to come to Christ who forgives us our sin and clothes us in his righteousness that we may live in such a way that is honoring of God, loving of others and worthy of the kingdom of God because we wear the righteousness of Christ.
Jesus loved us in a way far more than we could ever ask or imagine. We could never repay it. We would never be able to give back to Jesus what he gave for us, leaving his throne in heaven, putting on flesh and dwelling among us, living a perfect life for us, dying for us, rising again from the dead for us, ascending to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
And he's coming back for us. That doesn't mean that we're the star. We're not the focus. It means that God has been incredibly merciful and gracious to us. We would never be able to repay everything that Jesus has given.
But because he gave much, we must be willing to give much for others. Let's finish there with prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this parable. Short parable should be easy for us to understand. But boy, this thing does tend to get twisted and misused in a lot of ways.
I pray that we would see it plainly for what it is, that we have failed to live as righteously as we must. And we need a savior who forgives us our sin and makes us worthy to enter into the kingdom of God to inherit eternal life.
And so, Lord, we thank you for the sacrifice of Christ that has been given to us. And now as followers of Jesus, may we do as Jesus did and show love to others, not expecting anything in return. For we know that our reward in heaven is great.
It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com, and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.
Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study, When We Understand the Text.