THE GOOD SAMARITAN AND THE GOSPEL
Preached at Emmanuel, Workington at a Gospel Service on Sunday, 2nd April 2006
Reading: Luke 10 verses 25-37.
Text: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
Subject: Jesus brings a religious man to repentance.
In our reading from Luke 10, a lawyer asks Jesus 2 questions. It is good to ask questions. Thinking people will ask questions. If we listen intelligently to God’s word, questions will arise in our minds.
It is right to ask questions of the greatest authority, of God the source of all knowledge; and of God’s word. In church there should be scope to ask questions. We allow that freedom especially in Bible Studies.
Sadly, the lawyer’s motivation for each of his questions was wrong: his 1st was designed to test and catch Jesus out; his 2nd question was intended to justify himself! Our questions ought not to be driven by such motives.
IS THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN ABOUT LAW OR GOSPEL?
It is generally assumed that Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan in answer to the lawyer’s second question, “Who is my neighbour?” So the parable of the Good Samaritan is about the law of God.
But to be honest, the parable gives no explicit answer to the question, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ At times we must answer the person as well as the question! The lawyer asking the question had problems and Jesus was more concerned to answer his problems than to answer his question.
What was his problem? The man was a lawyer. He was not a lawyer as in today’s society. He was an expert in the law of God, the law of Moses. So he was a biblical scholar; a teacher of the biblical law – such as the Ten Commandments. His task was to apply God’s law of love to the daily lives of the people. So he was a top religious man.
Like many religious men, he had a problem over his personal salvation – he lacked assurance of salvation. He hoped against hope that he would inherit eternal life but he was not totally sure. So he asked Jesus the question, “What must I DO to inherit eternal life?” Had he really done enough to guarantee his salvation?
So the parable of the Good Samaritan is not about law – to whom we must show neighbourly love – but about Gospel - how to be saved; how to inherit eternal life.
HOW TO EARN ETERNAL LIFE
To test Jesus, the lawyer asked, “What must I DO to inherit eternal life?” Jesus threw the question back to him and gave him a method for finding out the truth. Jesus asked, “What does the law say? What is your reading of it?” In effect, Jesus asked, What does the Bible say? Jesus wanted the man to discover the answer for him in the Scriptures. Jesus did not want to know his opinion, or his best guess at the answer.
The lawyer knew his unions and answered from Deuteronomy 6 v 5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself.” Love God absolutely; love your neighbour as an equal!
Evangelicals might be inclined to disagree. But Jesus agreed completely! Good answer! Keep God’s law of love perfectly and you deserve heaven!
To the lawyer that was no problem! He qualified for eternal life more than most! So to justify himself he asks the clever question, “Who is my neighbour?”
The lawyer’s real problem was that he was proud of his own achievements and had little self knowledge; he had no awareness of how far he fell short of loving God with all his heart and of loving his neighbour as himself.
So Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan to bring the man to salvation, at least to the first stage of salvation, that is, to repentance. In the Bible there is no salvation without repentance.
The danger for religious people is that they think they can have God without changing! They are good enough for God without repenting! They have done enough to be saved! They see no need to humble themselves.
Who are the hardest people to bring to salvation? Religious folk! In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10 vs 25-37 , we see Jesus, the true evangelist, bringing a proud religious man to repentance.
Has anyone ever qualified for eternal life? Only Jesus Christ Himself loved God absolutely and loved His neighbour as Himself? Only He is good enough to earn eternal life and deserved heaven! If the way to heaven is by obedience to the law of God, we are rushing towards hell. The lawyer was ignorant of his predicament. He did not in fact love God with all his heart or his neighbour as himself. He could not inherit eternal life, not by works.
JESUS CHANGES THE QUESTION
The lawyer was a Jew and Jews were God’s covenant people. They like to live together in close communities. So for a Jew, his neighbour was usually a fellow Jew! Thus God’s command to love your neighbour meant loving a fellow Jew; loving your own kind; loving people like yourself; loving people who love you! It did not mean loving outsiders, foreigners, or enemies!
At the end of the parable Jesus asked: “Who was neighbour” to man who was mugged? Can you see that Jesus changed the question from “Who is my neighbour?” to “Who behaved as neighbour?” That is a significant shift!
If we ask, “Who is my neighbour?” it is likely that we have many neighbours. If we ask “Who have I loved as neighbour in practice?” the answer may be very small! Jesus is not interested in who we think qualifies as neighbour but in whether in practice we love anyone other than ourselves.
Even this proud religious has to admit that he has not loved others as the Good Samaritan loved the Jew who was mugged on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Look at yourself. You claim to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbour as yourself. But do you love anyone in practice, other than yourself? Am I neighbour to anyone?
DO WE BEHAVE AS DID THE PRIEST AND THE LEVITE?
Let’s examine ourselves. Are we like the priest and the Levite who walked the same road that day and came to where the mugged man lay and looked at him! What excuses did they make?
I’m too busy! I’ve more important things to do! I’ve other priorities! Or, perhaps I’m scared to stop lest the thieves attack me! Or, I don’t want to be put to inconvenience or cost! In those days, the priests were wealthy men of high standing in society.
Perhaps there is another reason: those religious men liked to do their good works in public; but on the road to Jericho no one was watching; no one would see their good works, so why bother? Only God saw them! In their hearts they despised God and behaved as though God were not watching! So these two religious men walked passed on the other side!
Frankly, these two religious men were little better than the thieves /muggers! They left the man to die – in effected, they sided with the muggers!
DO WE BEHAVE AS DID THE GOOD SAMARITAN?
Then came the Samaritan. No hope there for the mugged man! Samaritans were political and religious enemies to the Jews! He came to the spot and saw the mugged man and he had compassion! That’s different! Compassion is a special thing! It means guts or bowels! It is the kind of love a parent has for a child! And the Samaritan showed compassion to his Jewish enemy in the practical and costly terms.
With oil and wine, he cleaned the man’s wounds and disinfected him. He sat him on his donkey unselfishly and walked him to an inn. He paid for him overnight and promised to pay all other expenses. So the Samaritan took full responsibility for the mugged man, his enemy! He put himself to massive inconvenience and considerable expense! He was generous to a fault.
Surely, the Samaritan’s love for his Jewish enemy must have shamed the lawyer! Had he, the respected teacher of the law, ever loved anyone like that? By comparison with the Good Samaritan, the lawyer’s heart was hard and unloving, self-seeking and unworthy, without compassion.
What hope then did he have of eternal life? If eternal life is to be earned by good works, by loving God with all your heart and loving your neighbour as yourself, what hope have we?
AT TIMES THERE IS MORE LOVE IN THE WORLD THAN AMONG GOD’S PEOPLE
Friends there is something profoundly ironic about the parable of the Good Samaritan. Isn’t Jesus saying that there is more love among Samaritans than among God’s people? There is more love in the world than in God’s people. That is often true! Friends, often the world is more loving than we are! Christian people and ministers can be hard of heart; sharp tongued; nasty; spiteful; selfish; unpleasant; unloving. Even religious people, elders and ministers of long standing in the faith, can be unloving and without compassion!
If the Samaritan treats his enemy kindly, ought not God’s people to love one another and even to love their enemies when in need? The British Red Cross followed that principle during the war and many a wounded German was grateful to be British hands.
TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE WE MUST BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
Let us apply the parable to ourselves. If any of us think we are good enough for God, we fall far short of the lawyer; he had spent his life in religious works and observances; there was no sacrifice he had not offered; no act of kindness he had not done. He may have been exceeding zealous in the religion of his fathers.
We are way behind him. When all our achievements are listed, we still have not loved God with all our heart or our neighbour as ourselves. Therefore we do not qualify for eternal life according to the law of God.
Only Jesus deserves eternal life! As the old chorus put it, only He was good enough “to unlock the gate of heaven and let us in”. Unless we believe in Him, we will be cast out of heaven and cast into the bottomless pit, into outer darkness, in the fires of hell, into the misery of eternal damnation.
Let us therefore humble ourselves to confess our sin and then we will be greatly blessed. For “if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
