Jesus and His disciples are traveling from Galilee to Jerusalem. Along the way, He visited various towns. Before visiting those towns, He first sent out the 12 Apostles (Luke 9:2) and then He sent out 72 disciples to visit each town He was about to visit (Luke 10:1). The mission of both the 12 and then the 72 was to heal and to proclaim the Gospel. They were instructed to stay with those that receive them and to leave if they rejected them. Not only did they reject them, but even went as far as wiping the dust off of their sandals; showing complete and total rejection.
After hearing a good report from the 72, Jesus rejoices and tells them that the main truth that should cause them to rejoice was the fact that their names were written in Heaven (Luke 10:21-24). He also made it very clear that anyone who rejected the ones sent out proclaiming the Gospel was the same as rejecting God. A very powerful statement.
When Jesus was speaking privately to His Disciples, one who rejected God stood up. The passage tells us that his motive for standing up and questioning Jesus was to “put Him to the test”. This man was a Lawyer, not in the sense of what we understand a Lawyer to be, but a man steeped in the knowledge of the Mosaic Law. As several other students of the law did, he was trying to trap Jesus in His interpretation of the law. As this passage points out, this Lawyer had all the right answers. When He asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, he gave the correct answer. This very answer was the same answer Jesus gave in Mark 12 when He was asked which commandment was the most important.
After Jesus affirms the Lawyer’s correct answer about eternal life, the Lawyer tries to prove he is righteous by asking Jesus to define what a neighbor is. He was certain that his own definition of neighbor would prove his righteousness. He was still trying to trap Jesus to blaspheme against God by giving an incorrect or different definition of neighbor. In Matt 5:43-48, Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’”. However, all throughout Scripture we are taught to love all people. Somewhere along the way, the Scribes and Pharisees twisted Scripture like Psalms 97:10, 139:19–22; Prov. 8:13, 13:5 and Amos 5:15 to mean hatred of anyone who did evil and was an enemy of God. This turned in to nullifying (in their minds) the “Love your neighbor as yourself” command to those who were considered strangers, aliens or foreigners. To this Lawyer, the definition of neighbor was huge in his proving himself to be righteous. However, he is a man who has not loved God with all his heart, soul, strength and mind by rejecting Jesus and will soon be shown that he has not even loved his neighbor as required by the law.
You are probably very familiar with the Parable of the Good Samaritan so I will skip writing out the verses. If you are not familiar with it, the passage is found in Luke 10:25-37 and you should read it now. Jesus tells a parable to this Lawyer and then asks him, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?". To no surprise, the Lawyer answers correctly again. Scripture does not tell us the Lawyers response to Jesus telling him to “go and do likewise”, but we can speculate that he departed much like the rich young ruler did when he was told to sell all his possessions. On the other hand, he may have departed still justifying himself. However, we are not told his response and it doesn’t really matter. What matters is how we respond to this parable.
This parable communicates so much more than how most people interpret it. Most people read this parable and speak of kindness, loving others and having compassion. Those are all good things, but let’s take it to another level. By definition, the Samaritan in the parable was the neighbor to the man who was left half dead. The Samaritan had compassion, healed his wounds, took him to an Inn, paid for his stay, stayed with him all night and, the next morning, gave the Innkeeper more money to care for the man. Beyond that, the Samaritan instructed the Innkeeper to keep a tab on whatever the man needed and he would repay him. This is love beyond measure. For us to truly be a “Good Samaritan” or a neighbor for that matter, we would need to take care of someone like the Samaritan did. This is love without limits and is defined in this passage as “Mercy”.
The question the parable addresses is “who is my neighbor?”. To understand the answer, let’s take another look at Jesus’ question after He tells the parable: “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?". The Samaritan was a neighbor to the dying man, right?. This would make the Samaritan the Lawyer’s neighbor and that would make the Lawyer the man who fell among robbers. Follow? To see this parable correctly, the Lawyer would need to see himself as the man who fell among robbers and was left for his death. Then he would need to see Jesus as the Samaritan; the one who gave mercy. Get it? This is Jesus personally evangelizing this Lawyer.
How should we respond to this parable? Well, for me, I see myself as the man who fell among the robber and was left to die, but then Jesus saw me and had compassion on me. He lifted me up out of the ditch, He healed my wounds, He stays with me caring for me and He secures my future. What He did for me, no one else could do. He is my neighbor.
After hearing a good report from the 72, Jesus rejoices and tells them that the main truth that should cause them to rejoice was the fact that their names were written in Heaven (Luke 10:21-24). He also made it very clear that anyone who rejected the ones sent out proclaiming the Gospel was the same as rejecting God. A very powerful statement.
When Jesus was speaking privately to His Disciples, one who rejected God stood up. The passage tells us that his motive for standing up and questioning Jesus was to “put Him to the test”. This man was a Lawyer, not in the sense of what we understand a Lawyer to be, but a man steeped in the knowledge of the Mosaic Law. As several other students of the law did, he was trying to trap Jesus in His interpretation of the law. As this passage points out, this Lawyer had all the right answers. When He asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, he gave the correct answer. This very answer was the same answer Jesus gave in Mark 12 when He was asked which commandment was the most important.
After Jesus affirms the Lawyer’s correct answer about eternal life, the Lawyer tries to prove he is righteous by asking Jesus to define what a neighbor is. He was certain that his own definition of neighbor would prove his righteousness. He was still trying to trap Jesus to blaspheme against God by giving an incorrect or different definition of neighbor. In Matt 5:43-48, Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’”. However, all throughout Scripture we are taught to love all people. Somewhere along the way, the Scribes and Pharisees twisted Scripture like Psalms 97:10, 139:19–22; Prov. 8:13, 13:5 and Amos 5:15 to mean hatred of anyone who did evil and was an enemy of God. This turned in to nullifying (in their minds) the “Love your neighbor as yourself” command to those who were considered strangers, aliens or foreigners. To this Lawyer, the definition of neighbor was huge in his proving himself to be righteous. However, he is a man who has not loved God with all his heart, soul, strength and mind by rejecting Jesus and will soon be shown that he has not even loved his neighbor as required by the law.
You are probably very familiar with the Parable of the Good Samaritan so I will skip writing out the verses. If you are not familiar with it, the passage is found in Luke 10:25-37 and you should read it now. Jesus tells a parable to this Lawyer and then asks him, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?". To no surprise, the Lawyer answers correctly again. Scripture does not tell us the Lawyers response to Jesus telling him to “go and do likewise”, but we can speculate that he departed much like the rich young ruler did when he was told to sell all his possessions. On the other hand, he may have departed still justifying himself. However, we are not told his response and it doesn’t really matter. What matters is how we respond to this parable.
This parable communicates so much more than how most people interpret it. Most people read this parable and speak of kindness, loving others and having compassion. Those are all good things, but let’s take it to another level. By definition, the Samaritan in the parable was the neighbor to the man who was left half dead. The Samaritan had compassion, healed his wounds, took him to an Inn, paid for his stay, stayed with him all night and, the next morning, gave the Innkeeper more money to care for the man. Beyond that, the Samaritan instructed the Innkeeper to keep a tab on whatever the man needed and he would repay him. This is love beyond measure. For us to truly be a “Good Samaritan” or a neighbor for that matter, we would need to take care of someone like the Samaritan did. This is love without limits and is defined in this passage as “Mercy”.
The question the parable addresses is “who is my neighbor?”. To understand the answer, let’s take another look at Jesus’ question after He tells the parable: “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?". The Samaritan was a neighbor to the dying man, right?. This would make the Samaritan the Lawyer’s neighbor and that would make the Lawyer the man who fell among robbers. Follow? To see this parable correctly, the Lawyer would need to see himself as the man who fell among robbers and was left for his death. Then he would need to see Jesus as the Samaritan; the one who gave mercy. Get it? This is Jesus personally evangelizing this Lawyer.
How should we respond to this parable? Well, for me, I see myself as the man who fell among the robber and was left to die, but then Jesus saw me and had compassion on me. He lifted me up out of the ditch, He healed my wounds, He stays with me caring for me and He secures my future. What He did for me, no one else could do. He is my neighbor.
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