The Parable of the Good Samaritan
by Pastor Jim Lincoln on October 7, 2007
Last week my daughter Christy called me for some help with a lesson she was preparing for her Sunday school class. Her lesson was on Abraham and she was upset with the patriarch because he deceived Pharaoh by telling him that Sarah, his wife, was his sister. To make matters worse he turned around and did it again with king Ambimelek! She asked, "Why did he deceive these men, and why didn't he stop it after he got caught the first time?" I said, "Christy, Abraham was a sinner like us." I asked, "Have you ever deceived anyone? "Yes" "Was that the last time you ever deceived anyone?" "No." "What's the problem?" "She said, "Abraham is supposed to be a hero of the faith." I said, "We only have one hero and that's Jesus. Abraham was a sinner saved by grace through faith; not by his stellar record". By setting these people up as moral heroes and glossing over their sins we can miss the point entirely. We can miss the gospel. The lawyer in our parable is another good illustration.
The Good Samaritan
This morning I want us to look at the parable from what may prove to be a different perspective. We could say the main moral of the story is to become more compassionate towards others. The sermon goes like this. Be a good Samaritan. Start responding to the needs of your neighbor like this Samaritan did. Don't turn your back on the needs of Darfur, the world's worst humanitarian crisis, or Burma. Be a good Samaritan. When you see suffering don't turn your head away. I could extend an altar call and ask, "Is there anyone here who has not been the good Samaritan you should be and you need to come forward to recommit your life to that cause. How could any of you be so calloused to refuse?
Now, yes of course all these things are true. We should do good to those who suffer. What could be more obvious? It is God's law to love our neighbor as ourselves. So, don't go away and say that Pastor Jim doesn't want us to be better neighbors. Of course we should. But I'm persuaded this isn't the main lesson of this parable.
This is called the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Now, there is a good "Samaritan" but, you'll have to wait to the end of the sermon for that. Why did Jesus choose a Samaritan to be the good neighbor in His parable? Well, to Jews the idea of a good Samaritan was ridiculous. The Jews despised the Samaritans. Jesus chose the Samaritan to reveal the smugness and self-righteousness of this lawyer's heart. He uses the parable to expose his moral delusion and his inadequacy before the Law of God.
I want to look at three things in the story. First, the main point here is that the lawyer cannot merit eternal life by his record before the law of God. Second, he exposes the debt of love all of us owe to God but can never repay. He reveals a standard of love that leaves us all exposed. Finally, there really is a Good Samaritan.
First, the main lesson this lawyer needs to grasp is that he can't merit or deserve a place in heaven. He pretends to be concerned about eternal life. So, he asks Jesus, "What must I do...to inherit eternal life. Give me the standard...set the bar. But we know right from the beginning that he's insincere. What he really wants to do is to test Jesus.
And at first Jesus seems to be affirming this lawyer in his theology. (25).
"Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?
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.":
Now, it's a great question. He's asking about eternal life. We say, "Hey, you're asking the right question." But again his motives aren't so good. Who is this lawyer anyway?
Well, a lawyer in that day wasn't the same as a lawyer of our day. He was a theologian, an expert and life-long student of the Law of Moses. I imagine he wanted to hear some new or profound theological answer from this "prophet". But, all Jesus did was to return him to the simple catechism of the day. "What does the Law say?" It was so simple and basic for this seasoned theologian. It was like going back to grade school. 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 as yourself." Jesus said to him, "You have answered correctly; [Just] do that and you will live." Now there was nothing very new or radical in that.
But why does Jesus endorse this man's theology so uncritically? He simply repeats the Old Testament law. Why didn't He tell him about faith in Himself. What would you think of me if I gave this answer to someone asking about eternal life? What if I answered the question with, "Sure, keep the law and you will live?" We want to say, "Jesus, wait, this isn't going to help this man get eternal life. This isn't going to help him know how to become a Christian. Come on, Jesus, he's justifying himself by his record and merit. He's playing games with you. He's insincere. How could you be so accommodating? Didn't you hear him ask, 'What must I do to inherit eternal life?' An inheritance is something you receive by virtue of a relationship not by achievement. Jesus, straighten him out. Teach him about how to have a relationship with You."
Like so many today, this man thinks that eternal life can be purchased by his works of piety and his moral record rather than something that comes to us only by God's grace to be received as a gift. For this lawyer eternal life wasn't a matter of what God has done for him but what he must do for God. He didn't see the love of God or the love of neighbor as the fruit of God's Spirit in his life produced by God to those who have received the inheritance. He saw it as something he could deserve and merit. To him eternal life was compensation for his good record.
We ask, "Why didn't Jesus correct his faulty theology?" Well, the Mosaic Covenant went like this. "Do this and live." It was the conditional covenant God made with Israel through Moses. Jesus is simply stating the terms of the Mosaic Covenant. But remember, Israel failed and rejected those terms. Jesus is saying to him, "Sure, go ahead, do it and you will live. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself and you will live". But, who can say with any degree of integrity that he has done that? Jesus doesn't offer this man the gospel because he's not ready to receive the gospel. He has no need. In his mind he's righteous. Jesus must first help him see the absurdity of his position by having him think about how ridiculous it would be for anyone to claim that record.
Now, what Jesus said is theoretically accurate. If you do all that is in the Law of Moses you will merit eternal life. But here's the deal; no one ever has (except one "Samaritan"). David said it this way, "Who can say that he has kept his heart pure?"
Jesus' answer reveals His pastoral wisdom. It reveals how he helps this man move from the illusion of his qualifications to the truth about things as they really are and about the necessity of grace. This man is a professional Bible teacher who has probably memorized the Scriptures. He's a man with all the answers. His mind is filled up to the brim with Biblical and theological instruction. To debate with a person like this who's not even asking a sincere question would have been a pointless exercise.
What this man needed was not so much to be taught new propositions but to be humbled by old ones. Verse 29 tells us that he was seeking to justify himself. He actually thought he could love God and his neighbor adequately. That's his most fundamental error. He has justified himself as loving his neighbor while simultaneously overlooking many neighbors. Good Jews wouldn't even walk through Samaria or come in contact with a Samaritan much less love one! Jesus is not trying to get him to be a good Samaritan (At least not at first). What he needs is the conviction of sin. And we all need it as well.
Second, what does Jesus give him? He touches his conscience with a very simple story that reveals the inadequacy of his good works. It begins in v. 29.
Notice that even though Jesus complemented him on his theology, this lawyer doesn't feel completely endorsed by Jesus. After hearing Jesus' compliment in verse 29, notice that the Lawyer felt a need to justify himself. It says, "Wanting to justify himself, he said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?'" He felt the need to put himself in the right even though Jesus has said, "Your theology is right." The way Jesus said it left him on the defensive. He felt a sense of rebuke. Which of course is the way any of us would feel or someone challenged us with this command to love God and neighbor.
That's what we see here. "Love the Lord with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself." This is what God is due. This is what we owe God always. Yes, do this and you will live. But the lawyer knows the only way he can be cleared here is if he gets Jesus to limit the definition of his neighbor.
Redefining Love or Neighbor
To "Love your neighbor as yourself" is fine in theory but when we try to put it in practice we find ourselves embarrassed by its unconditional demands. So, here's what we do. We seek to ease the pressure on our conscience by convincing ourselves that in spite of our nagging conscience, that we really do love our neighbor as ourselves, "So we exonerate ourselves in two ways. The first is to say, "I don't do my neighbor any harm." We turn "Love you neighbor as yourself." into, "Well, I haven't stolen his car. I haven't coveted his wife or her husband. I haven't slandered or murdered him."
Isn't this the mindset of the Priest and the Levite in the parable who were also experts in the law? (31-32). They saw the man in the ditch, beaten up robbed, stripped and left for dead. But these two clergymen pass by. They could seek to justify themselves (like our lawyer) by saying, "We're innocent, we didn't cause this to happen. We didn't beat him up. We haven't broken any commandment. We didn't throw him in the ditch." They hadn't done anything wrong. One of the candidates running for president uses the same logic. He says, "Who cares about Darfur, Iraq, Israel... They aren't our problem. We don't have any moral responsibility in the world beyond our borders". The ethics of the Priest and the Levite took no account at all of the sins of omission (cf. Sermon on the Mount).
Also, when they walked by the Samaritan, did they think, "You know he's not one of our own anyway, he's not from Jerusalem." And that leads to the second strategy: the "Love begins at home" strategy. Here's how they reason, "Look, I know he has problems but why not let his own take care of him, we are on our way to a critical engagement. We're not from around here." This is the "charity begins at home" tactic. It sets limits on the application of God's commandment about who to love. Or who really is my neighbor? The only way the lawyer can escape the extent of this commandment is to say that some people with whom he rubs shoulders are his neighbors and others aren't.
Jesus chooses an unlikely hero. A Good Samaritan. But, to the Jews there was no such thing as a good Samaritan! That was an oxymoron. The Samaritans were the ones who followed Jeroboam who set up a rival apostate temple in Samaria and revived the golden calf worship and intermarried with Gentiles. There aren't any good Samaritans.
Yet, Jesus says it was the Samaritan who stopped to help and to love this man who had been robbed and beaten up. He inconveniences himself to the nth degree. The hearts of the priest and the Levite were cold, calculating, and calloused but the heart of the Samaritan burns with extravagant love.
Look HOW extravagant in v.33
"When he saw him, he had compassion. 34He 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. 35And 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."And then Jesus asked, 'Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hand of robbers?'"
You can just feel the lawyer's mind scrolling and racing for an answer to that question. He asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" Now Jesus is asking him, "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor?"
But our lawyer can't even bring himself to name the Samaritan. The hatred in his heart was so great that those two words: THE SAMARITAN would have died in his throat. But he can't deny the moral force of the story he has heard. So, he says, "The one who had mercy on him." And Jesus told him to go and do likewise.
And yes, of course there is a word for us here at both ends. Our clever excuses and our rationalizations are also exposed. We say, "Hey, I don't do anyone any harm." But, does that thought fulfill the commandment? Or "Charity begins at home. I'll take care of my own and you take care of your own and all will be well." What kind of neighbor love is that? Love your neighbor as yourself means that you don't ask, "Who is my neighbor" to justify the limitations you have placed on your love. The Samaritan didn't try to limit the number of his neighbors nor did he try to limit the generosity of love. That is what we should do. But to attempt it, is to feel this sense of inadequacy and failure. I'm called to love like God, to be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect. I'm called to love God with all my heart soul, mind, and strength. I'm called to love my neighbor with the same love that I love myself and yet, there is no way under the sun my record or anyone's record (except for the record of one other "Samaritan") could ever reveal a love like that.
Jesus is not giving us a standard by which you could ever say, "I love God or my neighbor enough." Remember how this story got started. Here's a man who is under the monumental delusion that he can earn or merit his way into heaven by the record of his love for God and his neighbor. He really thinks that if a report card were filled out of his record he would get a passing grade of loving God with all of his being as well as loving his neighbor as himself. How much more deluded could anyone be? Before I was saved, I was just like him. Both of us simply lowered the bar of loving God and neighbor so that we could jump over it and be put to right.
But when we see ourselves without the fig leaf of our rationalizations to hide behind we quickly discover how absurd it is to claim such a thing. The parable is a hammer blow to his rationalization, pride, inflated sense of self-righteousness, and lack of true humility. It's a hammer blow to those who dare to justify themselves by their record before a holy God. It demolishes the delusion of self-righteousness that lurks in our flesh and constantly tries to prove that we are worthy candidates of God's grace. Not so. Which of us has been a good Samaritan to every neighbor? None. How many times have we looked the other way?
Once you start comparing your love with the extravagant love and generosity of this Good Samaritan of God, you'll soon realize how inadequate your love really is and your great need for grace. Many come to Jesus with their report card in the hopes of arguing with Him for a good grade. Too few come to Him seeking what Jesus really offers...a free rescue from our sin and inadequacies and the gift of a new heart.
OK, where is the rescue? What's the way forward?
Where do we see anyone fulfilling the perfect extravagant and generous love the Samaritan illustrates? We see it in only one man.
In John 8:47-48 "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? "He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear [them,] because you are not of God." The Jews answered and said to Him, "Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?" They knew Jesus wasn't a Samaritan. However, because there was no father on his birth certificate the experts in the law could get away with such an insult. But it was no insult to Jesus. In fact, He aligns himself with the Samaritan in the parable. Jesus is the man who traveled that same road not away from Jerusalem but to it...to the cross. Where Good Friday took place and where Jesus was the good neighbor we all need. And from the cross Jesus gave a new commandment, love one another as I have loved you.
Moses could never have said this. The lawyer could never have said this. Paul said, "No one does good." But Jesus can say it. He's the perfect fulfillment of the command to love, which the Good Samaritan illustrates. Now the bar is even raised higher. But unlike Moses, Jesus has not only brought us the command to love but He's also forgiven our failures of love and there are many. And He has given us a new adequacy and power to love. "I give you my Holy Spirit poured out in you on the basis of grace not your record. My Spirit from heaven comes into your life. And it will produce its love, My love in your heart." The Good Samaritan is now in your heart for you to listen to, to trust, to follow. As the Good Samaritan, Jesus saw us and had compassion on us. He bound up our wounds and took us to the place of His rest and provided for every need we could possibly have. So, love one another as I have loved you.
Where do we go from here? Where does the parable take us? Of course only to Jesus who is the only Good Samaritan. Are you satisfied with your walk with Jesus? The parable is here to teach us to say No! So that we would go to Jesus and find all the resources of His love we need to love Him and others. So that we would be satisfied only with Jesus, His grace and His love for us. Here's the message Jesus gives in the parable. WE DON'T LOVE AS WE OUGHT TO. Full stop. The parable reveals the vast chasm between God's perfect love and our flawed and inadequate love. But it is Jesus who is telling it. And he says, For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosever shall believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life. Jesus traveled that same road to the cross so that through his poverty we might become rich and through His death we would be made alive to His grace that forgives and purifies us. Today, believe on Jesus the only Good Samaritan. No one can ever love you like Him.