Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Christians lean on this story to advocate for social justice.
[00:00:10] And while this story does contain some elements about good deeds and helping people who are in need, it's not about that. Not primarily so. To use a football illustration, football is not about four officials who run up and down the pitch making weird decisions, especially through the World Cup.
[00:00:35] It's not even about the man sat on the other side of the country making a decision in front of a TV screen, although some of his are even weirder.
[00:00:47] It's become an element of the game, but it's not the whole story.
[00:00:52] I've read and heard this story many times before and thought about it, thought about the Good Samaritan and thought it was just a story about how to show random acts of kindness to people and social justice.
[00:01:08] There's an element of compassion, obviously in this story, but there's a deeper meaning to all of this, and hopefully we'll see the deeper meaning when we examine the question that Jesus is asked.
[00:01:22] So if we can put it on the sky Bible and you can turn to Luke 10 starting at verse 25.
[00:01:31] So on one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.
[00:01:37] Teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[00:01:44] What is written in the law? He replied, how do you read it?
[00:01:49] He answered, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.
[00:01:59] And love your neighbour as yourself.
[00:02:04] You have answered correctly. Jesus replied, do this and you will live.
[00:02:09] But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbour?
[00:02:15] In reply, Jesus a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers.
[00:02:26] They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
[00:02:33] A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
[00:02:42] So too a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side.
[00:02:48] But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was, and when he saw him, he took pity.
[00:02:56] He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine.
[00:03:02] Then he put the man in his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
[00:03:07] The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper.
[00:03:12] Look after him, he said, and I will return. I will reimburse you for any extra expense you have had.
[00:03:20] Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robber?
[00:03:26] The expert of the law replied, the One who had mercy on him, Jesus, told him, go and do likewise.
[00:03:36] So there's a law in our country called the Good Samaritan Law.
[00:03:41] The Good Samaritan Law protects bystanders who voluntarily provide reasonable good faith assistance to injured or ill individuals in an emergency.
[00:03:55] The primary goal is to encourage people to help strangers without fear of being sued or or persecuted for negligence.
[00:04:03] So the caveat to that is provided the assistance is not reckless or grossly negligent.
[00:04:11] For example, you're out on a dinner and the person on the next table is choking on food and can't breathe.
[00:04:18] They are choking after taking a bite of steak and a piece of meat is lodged in their throat.
[00:04:24] You spring up into action, run over to the person and perform the Heimlich maneuver, out pops the meat, and you save their life.
[00:04:38] But in the process of trying to do a good deed, you broke a few ribs.
[00:04:44] You were performing the Heimlich remover a little violently and broke a couple of ribs.
[00:04:52] Now, under the Good Samaritan Law, if you do choose to help, these laws protect you from civil liability for ordinary mistakes as long as your actions were reasonable and you acted with compassion.
[00:05:06] There are some parts of the United States where a law by the same name which is given a different meaning. There is a Good Samaritan Law, Duty to rescue.
[00:05:17] And it must. It states that you must at least call 91 1, which is the equivalent of our 999.
[00:05:26] So I'm going to show a couple little stories now and Jill's going to kill me for this one. If you can put the picture up. So this.
[00:05:33] Get out of the way. This is the Trans Canada Highway.
[00:05:39] There's three, four lanes and the same on the other side. If you imagine the M5 up by Western side Super Mare, where you've got the three lanes, the grass verge and then another three lanes.
[00:05:51] So because you're on the other side of the road, I caught out the corner of my eye a truck drift off the side of the road and it hit a wire telegraph pole. So there's two things that happened. There was a truck that pulled underneath the wire as it went across the road, and the wire sat on the back of his truck so that everybody could drive by.
[00:06:17] The other thing that happened was as I was stopping, Jill jumped out of the truck, ran across three lanes of moving traffic, ran through a grass verge and across another three lanes of traffic to help this guy in his truck.
[00:06:35] When she found out that he'd had a few to drink, I think she ran back. But so the other one then that we want to show is just a brief testimony of what happened to Sally. She was going to be here and share herself, but unfortunately or fortunately we just get a video. It's possible that Jesus was just telling a story about something that actually happened by an example from everyday life. It is likely it might have happened.
[00:07:05] Jesus is referring to it as a real life event.
[00:07:10] Either way, it was a real life event or just a parable.
[00:07:15] He was trying to teach the lawyer something and it's something we can all learn today.
[00:07:24] It tells us in the previous chapter, chapter nine, that Jesus and his disciples are making their way to Jerusalem.
[00:07:31] And along the way they encounter this unnamed lawyer or unnamed expert of the law.
[00:07:39] This is the man.
[00:07:41] This man is an expert in the law.
[00:07:45] He's an expert in the Mosaic law, and he's probably a scribe, but he is an expert in the Bible, in the Old Testament scriptures, particularly the first five books of the Bible.
[00:07:58] The lawyer approaches Jesus with a question.
[00:08:01] And his question is, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[00:08:09] That is the question of this parable, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[00:08:17] And this is the approach that a lot of people take. What must I do?
[00:08:23] I somehow have to perform to do something.
[00:08:27] Every world religion is about doing something, except Christianity.
[00:08:32] Christianity teaches us that it was done for us, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins by grace, through faith in Jesus, we don't have to do anything.
[00:08:46] Every other religion says to do, do this, do that, and it's just a bunch of do, do.
[00:08:54] The lawyer is wired this way because the rest of the world's population is wired, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[00:09:03] So the question is about eternity, eternal life in salvation.
[00:09:09] Jesus answers him with a question.
[00:09:14] Jesus asks him two questions in verse 26.
[00:09:17] What is written in the law and what is your reading of it?
[00:09:22] The lawyer says, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
[00:09:31] Jesus, basically, you studied the scriptures, you should know the law. What does the law say? And the lawyer answers, he combines two verses, one from Deuteronomy 6, verse 5, with Leviticus 19:18, and he molds these two verses together.
[00:09:54] You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and you must love your neighbour as yourself.
[00:10:06] Jesus answers in verse 28.
[00:10:10] You answered correctly, do this and you will live.
[00:10:14] This is an interesting law, interesting response because the lawyer is asking about eternal life and he ends up saying, I think the way to inherit eternal life is if you love God. And love people.
[00:10:30] And Jesus says, right answer, do this and you will live.
[00:10:36] And you just want to say, hold on a minute. Because it looks at first as if Jesus here is make allowance for works based salvation.
[00:10:45] Just do it and do that. Love God and love people and you're all good.
[00:10:52] But we know that Jesus didn't mean that because that would be contrary to everything else in the gospel.
[00:11:00] Then why did he say it?
[00:11:02] Jesus said he did. Get the lawyer to realize that while loving God and loving people should always be the ambition of our hearts, the reality is that if eternal life hinges on how perfect you love God with every fibre of your being, perfectly love God and perfectly loving people.
[00:11:29] We're all doomed.
[00:11:31] Every single one of us is doomed.
[00:11:35] Do we really love God with every fibre of our heart, our being and our mind and our strength?
[00:11:43] Is it possible to even to separate the human mind and the soul from other affections of this world in this life? To be able to say, I perfectly, supremely, entirely love God with every fiber of my being.
[00:12:01] I love God heart, soul, mind and strength.
[00:12:08] And likewise, are we able to say in all honesty that we love other people as we love ourselves and don't just think about the lovely people, the nice people, think about the unlovely people, the people that some of us work with and dare I even say, the people in our church.
[00:12:33] Loving God and loving people go together.
[00:12:38] 1 John 4:20 says, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, who is seen, how could he love God who is not seen?
[00:13:02] You have answered rightly. Do this and you will live.
[00:13:06] You have to imagine him saying that with a twinkle in his eye. Jesus is really saying, I hear that you love God. That sounds really good. Can you do that?
[00:13:23] The next question should have been, how do I do that? How do I love God perfectly? But Instead, in verse 29, the lawyer sought to justify himself.
[00:13:36] Instead of humbling himself and saying, how do I do that?
[00:13:40] He thought, how can I justify myself?
[00:13:45] So the second question is, who is my neighbour?
[00:13:49] Who really is my neighbour?
[00:13:55] I find it interesting that he didn't even bother to wonder about the first verse.
[00:14:01] Why isn't he wondering, how could or how should he love God?
[00:14:07] To skip right past that and says, who really is my neighbor?
[00:14:18] In those days, Jews thought they were only socially, materially, physically obligated to only their fellow Jew.
[00:14:27] There was an idea of who a neighbour was. My fellow Jewish Jesus is about to blow that out of the water. And Jesus now Gets to the heart of the parable. He talks about a man who is coming down the road from Jerusalem.
[00:14:43] It's a 17 mile road from Jerusalem to Jericho.
[00:14:49] It descends about 3,000ft.
[00:14:52] So this guy is walking downhill from Jerusalem.
[00:14:56] He may have been a worshipper in Jerusalem returning home to Jericho.
[00:15:02] Likely he is a Jew.
[00:15:04] As a Jew he gets attacked.
[00:15:07] It's a very dangerous road. Along the side of this road is a valley called the Shadow of Death.
[00:15:14] And that's what is referenced in Psalm 23.
[00:15:19] Because people would commonly get robbed along this road.
[00:15:24] Thieves and robbers would commonly stake out this road to attack pilgrims as they would make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
[00:15:33] It appears that this man was traveling by himself and he gets robbed and beaten.
[00:15:39] His clothing is stolen, he's left naked on the side of the road and he is beaten to within an inch of his life and left there to die.
[00:15:49] Jesus says. And then three people came along.
[00:15:53] The first one Jesus talked about is a priest.
[00:15:58] Jesus said a priest comes along.
[00:16:03] But he says in verse 31 that he passed by on the other side. When he saw the man lying in the ditch, he went to the other side of the road and didn't even offer to help.
[00:16:18] Along comes a Levi. Levi's were assistants to the priests and they would help out in the temple area.
[00:16:26] They would clean the temple, they would help with sacrifices.
[00:16:30] And Levi's were responsible for worship in the temple.
[00:16:35] Same response, verse 32. The Levi went to the other side of the road when he saw the man in need.
[00:16:42] So the lawyers standing there listening to these two examples, the two religious men should have exemplified God's best.
[00:16:54] They weren't compassionate or loving or didn't even help the priest. And the Levi went to the other side of the road.
[00:17:02] Then the third man comes along who is a Samaritan.
[00:17:10] The Samaritans were an odd mixture.
[00:17:13] The they were not Jewish, neither were they Syrian. But they still honoured and believed in the first five books of the Old Testament, the Book of Moses.
[00:17:25] They also celebrated Jewish festivals. But they worshipped at Shechem on Mount Gerizim, not in Jerusalem.
[00:17:43] They are considered today one of the smallest religious minorities in Israel. And in Jesus day a long standing prejudice and animosity existed.
[00:17:57] He says the Samaritan comes along and he has compassion on the man on the side of the road and pours wine on his wounds because wine with alcohol was antiseptic. And he pours oil on his wounds because oil would help to reduce the pain.
[00:18:17] The next day he gives the innkeeper two silver coins and he says, spend it to take care of the man, and if you spend more than this, come back and I will repay you.
[00:18:30] So which of these three do you think is the neighbour who fell among the thieves?
[00:18:35] Did you notice that Jesus turned it upside down? The lawyer wanted to know, who is my neighbour?
[00:18:42] Jesus turns it around. Did you hear in the question and said, who was the one who was neighborly?
[00:18:53] And Jesus was saying to him, are you being neighborly? So when Jesus asked the question, which of these do you think is neighbourly to him who fell among the thieves?
[00:19:06] The lawyer answered, he who showed mercy on him.
[00:19:16] So I've got three quick points to share.
[00:19:20] The first one.
[00:19:24] Sometimes we have to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty.
[00:19:31] There's a famous quote and I've tried to look up who it's by and it's one that I use a lot and it says, preach the Gospel at all times.
[00:19:41] When necessary, use words.
[00:19:45] He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring an oil on him. Then he put the man in his own donkey, brought him to the inn and took care of him.
[00:19:57] I think he would have got quite dirty, lifting him up onto his donkey and bandaging his wounds.
[00:20:06] Sometimes we can be. Or I can be so fixated on getting to church that I walk past my neighbour.
[00:20:20] We should love our neighbour as ourselves.
[00:20:25] It's easy to love our neighbour if they are kind to us.
[00:20:29] But what about that person at work?
[00:20:33] This week has been one of the biggest challenges for me as I've got ready for this morning and I've kept coming back to this challenge of love my neighbour as myself.
[00:20:48] I wouldn't stop talking to myself for long periods of time or remain angry with myself for more than a week.
[00:20:57] So why would I do this to other people?
[00:21:01] If we could love perfectly, then we would love perfectly.
[00:21:06] Since we are not perfect, then how can we love perfectly?
[00:21:11] Jesus did this for us. He died on a cross for our sins.
[00:21:17] What he wants from us is to surrender to what he's done for us in response to how he first loved us.
[00:21:26] We love him because he first loved us.
[00:21:30] God is the initiator, we're just the responders. And that's what Christ did on the cross. By dying for our sins, he was demonstrating his love for us. And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[00:21:48] That's what the Bible says. So if we really want to love like Jesus, we must first love Jesus.
[00:21:58] If we really want to learn what does it mean to love other people, we must love Jesus to Understand that there is true love.
[00:22:11] To understand this, where true love will flow from as a personal relationship with Jesus.
[00:22:21] Somehow I'll skip point two, but I think that was point two. We'll go on to point three.
[00:22:26] Loving our neighbour as yourself has been elevated to a higher command.
[00:22:32] Love one another as Christ has loved you.
[00:22:37] That's John 13:34.
[00:22:40] If you thought it was hard enough to love other people as much as you'll love this yourself, check this out.
[00:22:49] He says, a new commandment. I give you that you loved one another as I have loved you.
[00:22:58] So we must love one another.
[00:23:01] Loving self is sometimes difficult enough.
[00:23:05] Jesus wants us to love one another as he has loved us.
[00:23:11] How do we do that?
[00:23:13] Because Jesus loves us like that first.
[00:23:18] When we have Jesus in our life and in our heart, he gives us the ability and capacity to love people.
[00:23:27] Yes. Even the unlovely?
[00:23:30] Yes. Even when.
[00:23:32] Even people that wouldn't.
[00:23:36] Even people that you normally wouldn't get along with.
[00:23:40] It's a supernatural love that comes from God's heart himself.
[00:23:46] We have to be careful to examine our own hearts for anything that is unlovely.
[00:23:53] Jesus challenged the lawyer about his own personal prejudice.
[00:23:59] A Samaritan was used as an example of someone who did what was right.
[00:24:06] Think for a moment if there's anyone in your life that you don't particularly like.
[00:24:12] And maybe if we're honest, you have prejudice towards someone.
[00:24:18] And think, if Jesus used that person as the elevated individual in this story, what would it teach us?
[00:24:28] We have to examine our hearts to make sure that there is no prejudice, no bitterness, no unforgiveness.
[00:24:37] Paul said in Galatians 3:28, there is neither Jew or Greek, slave or female, male or female, for we all are one in Christ.
[00:24:54] And the only way we are going to love other people properly is if we love Jesus first.
[00:25:03] And then he will give us the ability to love one another as he has loved us.
