The Good Samaritan

A test question. The man was a lawyer, which means an expert in God's law. He “stood up and tested Him, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’” (10:25). Eternal life is life with God that begins now and never ends. Back to the Bible. Jesus answered with two questions: “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” (10:26). He sent the man straight to God's Word. That is where we find out what God wants. A right answer. The lawyer knew the words well. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (10:27). These commands come from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. Do this. Jesus said, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live” (10:28). Jesus did not change the answer. Loving God and loving people is exactly what God wants. Knowing and doing. Knowing the answer is easy. Doing it is much harder. To love God with all your heart means with every part of you, every day, holding nothing back. Who can do it? No one but Jesus has ever loved like that. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). What we learn. God's commands show us what real love is, and they show us how much we need a Savior. When you read them, thank God that Jesus came to save people who cannot keep them on their own.

Nomikos (10:25). “A certain lawyer stood up and tested Him.” He was not a courtroom lawyer. The Greek word nomikos (say: noh-mee-KOSS) means an expert in the law of Moses, a man who studied and taught God's commands. Inherit. “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” An inheritance is received because you belong to a family. It is not a paycheck. Yet the lawyer asked what he should do to get it. Two questions back (10:26). “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” The Son of God answered the expert by sending him to the Scriptures he already knew. The right answer (10:27). The lawyer joined Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18: love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus agreed: “You have answered rightly.” Live by doing (10:28). “Do this and you will live.” The law itself made that promise. Paul wrote, “For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, ‘The man who does those things shall live by them’” (Romans 10:5). The promise is real, and so is the standard. The standard. “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). To earn life by doing, a person would have to love God with every part of himself and love every neighbor, all the time, without one failure. A mirror. “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). God's law shows us what love really is, and it shows us where we fall short. Only One has ever loved God and neighbor perfectly: Jesus Himself. For you. When you read God's commands, do not use them to prove you are good enough. Let them show you your need, and then run to the Savior who kept them for you.

The teacher of the law asked about life forever. Life forever means living with God, and it never ends. Jesus did not give him a quick answer. He pointed the man to God's Word instead. The man said to love God with everything you have. He also said to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said, “Your answer is right.” Can anyone love God and people perfectly every day? No one but Jesus has done that. We all forget God, and we are all unkind sometimes. God's law shows us how much we need help. That is why we need Jesus to save us.

The man knew God's law very well. He knew we should love God and love people. Only Jesus has loved like that every day.

Wanting to look right. “But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” (10:29). To justify yourself means to try to show that you are right or good enough. Where does love stop? He probably hoped his love could stop somewhere. If only a few people counted as neighbors, loving them would be a lot easier. We do it too. It is easy to tell ourselves that we are good because we are kind to our friends. But Jesus wants us to love people who are not like us and people who cannot pay us back. God sees the heart. Jesus once told some Pharisees, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts” (Luke 16:15). Nobody can fool God by looking good. A story for an answer. Jesus did not give the lawyer a list of names. He told a story: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves” (10:30). Half dead. The thieves took his clothes, hurt him and went away, “leaving him half dead.” He could not get up or help himself. What we learn. Do not spend your energy proving that you are good. Spend it loving people. One day you will meet someone who needs you to stop, the way the hurt man did.

Dikaioo (10:29). “But he, wanting to justify himself…” The Greek word dikaioo (say: dih-kai-OH-oh) means to declare someone right. The lawyer wanted to show that he was in the right. Plesion. “And who is my neighbor?” The word plesion (say: play-SEE-on) means the one near you. God's law already told Israel to love the stranger who lived among them (Leviticus 19:34). He probably hoped the circle had an edge. Self-justifying. Jesus told some Pharisees, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts” (Luke 16:15). A person who tries to justify himself looks for a duty small enough to keep. A person busy proving he is good enough is not looking for grace. From Jerusalem to Jericho (10:30). Jesus set His story on the road between two real cities. The man “went down” from Jerusalem toward Jericho and “fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.” Unable to help himself. Stripped and half dead, the man had nothing to give and no way to call for help. Whoever helped him would get nothing back. In Jesus' story, the question is no longer who deserves love, but who needs it. For you. Think of people you have quietly decided are not your neighbors: the annoying kid, the one who is different, the one who can do nothing for you. Jesus is about to show what love does for people like that.

The teacher wanted to show he was good enough. So he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Sometimes we try to look good too. We tell ourselves that being nice to our friends is enough. But God sees what is in our hearts. Jesus answered the teacher with a story. Robbers attacked a man on the road to Jericho. They hurt him and left him almost dead. The hurt man could not help himself at all. He needed someone to stop for him. Jesus' story would show what a real neighbor does.

The man asked Jesus who his neighbor was. Jesus told a story about a man who was hurt. God wants us to care about everyone.

A priest. “Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side” (10:31). A priest served God at the temple and offered sacrifices for the people. He knew God's law. He saw him. The priest did not miss the hurt man. He saw him. Then he crossed to the other side of the road and kept going. A Levite. “Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side” (10:32). Levites came from the tribe of Levi and helped with the work of the temple. This man came close enough to look. Then he left too. People like us. These men served God. They worked at God's house, and they knew His commands. Both saw a hurting man, and both kept walking. Knowing is not the same as loving. The lawyer had just said the right words about love. The priest and the Levite knew those words too. Jesus was showing that love is something you do, not only something you know. Before we point. It is easy to frown at the priest and the Levite. But all of us have walked past someone who needed help: a kid sitting alone, a friend who was sad, a brother who needed a hand. What we learn. Love starts with seeing and stopping. Ask God to open your eyes to people who need help, and to give you a heart that does not cross to the other side.

By chance (10:31). “Now by chance a certain priest came down that road.” The priest's path crossed the hurt man's path, and that put a choice right in front of him. Who they were. Priests came from Aaron's family and served at the altar, offering sacrifices and teaching the law. Levites came from the tribe of Levi and helped with the work of God's house. Both men had spent their lives near the worship of God. Saw, and passed by. Of the priest: “when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.” Of the Levite: he “came and looked, and passed by on the other side” (10:32). Both saw. One even came near. Neither one stopped. Mercy and sacrifice. Jesus once quoted the prophet Hosea: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’” (Matthew 9:13). Worship at the temple mattered to God. But He has always wanted mercy from the people who serve Him. Not so different. It is easy to look down on these two men. Yet every one of us has seen a need and stepped around it: a lonely classmate, a teacher who needed a hand, a little brother who wanted time. When we look at them, we see ourselves. Seeing is where it starts. All three travelers in Jesus' story saw the man (10:31, 32, 33). What made the difference was what each one did next. For you. Knowing a lot about God is good. Ask Him to turn what you know into love you can do, so that your faith reaches the people right in front of you.

First a priest came down the road. A priest led worship at God's temple. He saw the hurt man, but he kept walking. Then a Levite came by. Levites were helpers at the temple. He even went over and looked at the man. But he walked away too. These men knew a lot about God. Knowing about God is good. Loving God shows in how we treat people. Have you ever walked past someone who needed help? All of us have done that. Jesus can give us kind hearts that stop and help.

A priest and a Levite saw the hurt man. They walked by and did not help. Jesus wants us to stop and help.

A Samaritan. “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion” (10:33). Jews and Samaritans did not get along. The Bible says, “For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans” (John 4:9). The man who stopped was probably the last person the lawyer expected to be the hero. Compassion. Compassion means feeling someone's pain so deeply that you want to help. The Samaritan felt it, and then he acted on it. Love that does something. He went to the man, “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” (10:34). He probably walked while the hurt man rode. Love that costs. The next day he gave the innkeeper “two denarii,” two silver coins, and promised, “whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you” (10:35). His love cost him time, comfort and money. Jesus' question. “So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” (10:36). The lawyer had asked who his neighbor was. Jesus turned it around: will you be a neighbor? The answer. The lawyer said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said, “Go and do likewise” (10:37). Likewise means in the same way. What we learn. A neighbor is not just someone who lives near you. It is someone you choose to love. You cannot do this perfectly on your own, but Jesus, who loved you first, will help you show mercy to the people He puts in your path.

Splagchnizomai (10:33). “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.” The Greek word splagchnizomai (say: splangk-NEE-zoh-my) comes from the word for the inner parts of the body. It is compassion felt deep inside, the kind that moves a person to act. The unexpected hero. “For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans” (John 4:9). The hero of Jesus' story came from a people the lawyer had probably learned to avoid. Yet he is the one who kept Leviticus 19:18. Mercy in detail (10:34-35). He “bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine,” most likely to clean and soothe them. He “set him on his own animal,” brought him to an inn and stayed to care for him. The next day he paid “two denarii,” silver coins, and promised to cover the rest. Every part of his help cost him something. The question turned around (10:36). The lawyer asked whom he had to love. Jesus asked, “So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” The issue is not who qualifies as my neighbor, but whether I will act as one. He who showed mercy (10:37). The lawyer answered, “He who showed mercy on him,” naming the man by what he did. Jesus replied, “Go and do likewise.” Do this, again. Jesus' last command echoes 10:28: “do this and you will live.” Both times the call is to do. Both times an honest listener learns that he has not loved like this, and that he needs the One who did. For you. Mercy is not how you earn your way to heaven. It is the way forgiven people live. Ask Jesus to help you show mercy this week to someone who can do nothing for you.

Then a Samaritan came down the road. Jews and Samaritans did not get along at all. But the Samaritan felt very sorry for the hurt man. He did not just feel sorry. He stopped and helped. He gave his time, his donkey and his money. Jesus asked who was a neighbor to the hurt man. The teacher said, “The one who helped him.” Jesus said, “Then go and do the same thing he did!” Showing mercy means helping someone who is hurting. You can show mercy at home and at school. Jesus will help you love like that.

The Samaritan stopped and showed mercy. He cared for the man and paid for his rest. Jesus said to go and do the same thing.