Jesus said:

John 13:35,

“By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

In Luke 10:25 a religious professional approaches Jesus and asks,

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

 This is a text with 3 big questions:

I. life.

That’s a pretty good question, right? The question is good, but the motives were not!

Luke 10:25

²⁵ And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” ²⁷ 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.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

Expert in the law

• He is an expert in the law; he obviously already knew, or at least had opinions about how to be saved.
• Luke reveals his motives with the word test (ekpeirazō). He wanted to trap Jesus in something he said to discredit him.

Jesus answers the question with a question.

• This is a particularly Rabbinic form of teaching (it is not avoidance). Rabbis guided the discussion by asking probing questions.

His answer is solid. In fact, Jesus agrees. How do we know?

• Because Jesus gave the exact same answer Tuesday in the Temple the week he was executed ( Mt 22:37-40).
• There, too, the question was a trap that he turned on his interrogator.

The answer is a combination of Deut 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. These two verses deal with our vertical and horizontal relationships.

Our Relationship

Deut 6:5, the famous Shemah was the John 3:16 of the Jews.

• It was inscribed on the miniature scrolls of the phylacteries and mezuzahs of today.
• It was literally the passage they put on their minds, near their heart, and on their doorframes.

“Hear [Shema], O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deut 6:5

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Because we assume in the modern Western world that love is an emotion rather than an action, it’s easy for us to feel like we love God without putting into practice what will honor Him best.

• This kind of division between action and emotion would hardly gain a following in Jesus’ day.
• If love is an action that can only be adequately expressed through loyal obedience

John 14:15

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Deuteronomy 10:12

 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

• It is not possible to fear the Lord without serving the Lord.
• It is not possible to love God and not walk in His ways.

Relationships

The Horizontal relationship was encapsulated in

Lev. 19:18

 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Jesus then responds to the man……  “Do this and you will live.”

• Suddenly Jesus is no longer on trial, but the lawyer is.

One of the most famous stories ever told started with a question—not just any question, but one of the most important questions.

Do you look upon people as an inconvenience or an opportunity to serve?

• In your mind, are people obstacles to fulfilling your God-given purpose,
• or do people serve a central roll in God’s purpose for your life?
• Depends on how your day is going, right?

In the Parable that follows, Jesus offers penetrating insights into what it means to be someone’s neighbor.

• He provides His own commentary on the second greatest commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
• He describes two religious individuals who choose to ignore the needs of people on their way to accomplish their tasks.
• He then describes one individual who sets aside his infinitely less significant tasks in order to serve another person and so fulfill this second-greatest commandment.

What Jesus did was to change the Question from “Who is my neighbor?” to “Who is neighborly?”

• Word of caution: We are not saying that we will earn our salvation by showing compassion to neighbors.
• Rather we show compassion of our neighbors BECAUSE of our salvation.
• This is a similar sentiment to what Jesus said in Matthew 25: “In as much as you have done to the least of these my brothers you have done it unto me.”

This second question becomes the focus of the parable….. Why?

• Because you can’t really love God without a tangible and practical application to people around you.

1 John 4:20–21 “Whoever claims to love God, yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”

Back to Luke 10

vs 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 

II. Who is my ?

There are two Greek words for neighbor.

• The more inclusive word is “neighborhood” (perioikos).
• That’s not what the lawyer used. He used a narrower word meaning “to be near” (plēsios).
• He is trying to draw the circle as tight as possible.

Jesus allows it! He lets the lawyer draw his neighbor circle in the narrowest terms.

• However, Jesus’ story will require the lawyer (and us) to bring that circle with us wherever we go!
• Jesus replied with a parable – literally, he “took up” a reply. The lawyer threw down a gauntlet, and Jesus picked it up.

A: people

Luke 10:30

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.

This 17-mile stretch of highway was known as “Adummim,” the “road of

blood” between Jerusalem and Jericho.

• It was riddled with bandits.
• The route is quite steep and dangerous.
• No settlements or towns on the way.
• Lots of caves and hideouts.
• Today, Jericho is in a Palestinian territory, and Israelis are forbidden from entering. Big red signs. Blind Bartimaeus was healed there. And Zacchaeus was from there.
• Herod beautified the city. So it was not unusual for people to travel there.

B:

 Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

Jericho is close to the Dead Sea (16 kms north) and below sea level. Jerusalem is in the hill country. Jesus says that both the priest and Levite were going down – away from Jerusalem, thus their duties have nothing to do with the situation. They don’t even have that excuse.

C:

vs 33. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 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. 35 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.’

There is really no such thing as a “good” Samaritan. That title is given by translators of the Bible, but it is not in the text.

We all know what the Jews thought of Samaritans. But why?

• Some dispute as to where they came from but they seem to be descendants of Israelites who were left behind after the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom.
• They had their own subset of Jewish beliefs and their own temple.
• They allowed their temple to be dedicated to Zeus by the Greeks, unlike the Jews and their temple was actually destroyed by the Jews in the intertestamental period.
• In 6 AD some Samaritans desecrated the Temple with human bones during Passover. So one can imagine at the time of Jesus relations were not at their best.

Interestingly, the text says he had “compassion” on the man.

• This word is only applied to Jesus in the Gospels outside this passage.
• This is especially shocking after Luke 9:51-56 where James and John are ready to call down a heavenly holocaust on a Samaritan village.
• Taken into Acts 8 we realize what significant ramifications this has for Luke and his theme of inclusion.

III.  Who is ?

vs 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Notice that Jesus changed the question.

• The lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?”
• Jesus’ question requires each of us to ask, “Who was neighborly?”

Remember, the answer to this question answers the original question, “Who will be saved?”

Our reaction to our neighbors is an honest indicator of our faith in Jesus Christ.

• The lawyer’s response in v. 37 answers both questions (vv. 36 & 25)!
• As James would later say, “Faith without works is dead.” Do we really believe this?

Before you answer that last question, let me tell you a modern parable. It is not a make-believe story.

This is an older study by Darley and Bateson, “‘From Jerusalem to Jericho’: A Study of Situational Variables in Helping Behavior,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 27 (1973): 100- 108.

They designed a study of 40 seminary students who were asked to give a talk on the topic of occupational careers of seminarians. They were sent to a nearby building to record their talks in a studio. On the way, right in their path, the researchers staged a “victim” who was planted to look like he was a homeless vagabond who needed medical attention. They wanted to see how these seminary students, on route to talk about their calling to be ministers, would react. Would they stop to help or would they walk past? Would they be a Samaritan or a Levite? What is your guess? How many walked past without stopping to help him? Answer: 60% walked past the victim, some even stepped over him to get to the recording studio.

Conclusion:

I have one last question: Are you going to walk past or will you stop and help?

Vs 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”