|
|
|
The Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37 Key Verse: 10:37 "The expert in the law replied, 'The one who had mercy on him.' Jesus told him, 'Go and do likewise.'" In today's passage Jesus tells a story about a Samaritan. It has come to be called the parable of the good Samaritan. It has inspired countless people down through the ages to do good, especially to help the needy. Today we see many "Good Samaritan Churches," and so many "Good Samaritan Hospitals" that we cannot count them all. There are also "Good Samaritan laws" to protect people who help the needy from lawsuits. Professor Jang Hajun wrote a book titled “Bad Samaritans,” which points at greedy capitalists. Anyway, the story of the good Samaritan has had a powerful effect on humankind. Why? Because it reveals the compassion of God and the grace of Jesus Christ. From today’s passage, let’s learn how to practice God’s word in our lives and how the compassionate heart of God is. I. "Do this and you will live" (25-29) Look at verse 25. "On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. 'Teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?'" To become an expert in the law was not easy. It required rigorous study from a young age. This man must have memorized the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. He must have taken many tests. He had to go to Gangnam Hakwon to get good scores in SAT. His mother had to get a part-time job to support him financially. He had to break up all the relations with his friends to concentrate only on his study. Finally, he won the full score in SAT and was admitted to Jerusalem National University. He went on to study hard to enter Jerusalem Law School. Finally, he became an honorable expert in the law. There was no one who exceeded him in the nation. But he heard of Jesus whose teaching people were amazed at. He wanted to know how much knowledge about the Bible Jesus had. He was proud of his knowledge. He wanted to test Jesus and test himself. So he stood up with confidence to test Jesus. His question was “what must he do to inherit eternal life?” He asked the question to test Jesus, but his question revealed his real problem – The problem of no eternal life. The problem of no eternal life was the problem all human beings has had down through history. All mankind is to die. So whenever they think of death, they cannot but become serious about it. Some people easily say “Death is just the end. There is no after-life.” They think of death as biological stopping of bodily functions. They think when they stop breathing there is no suffering, no pain, no feeling, no thought . Their way of thinking leads to hedonism. Their motto is “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” (1Co15:32) On the other hand, some people choose to take an existential approach. They put more value on their present life itself. They interpret every experience as of value according to their philosophy. They seek successful life, financially abundant life, and noble life through their efforts. They desire to accomplish something valuable through their life. So they study to get Ph.D degree, or pass national exams such as bar exams and public administration exams to get secure jobs. Some music talented people try out for the “Super Star – K” competition to become a popular singer. Some people put more value on living a busy life. They have their day full of compact schedules, so that they want to be shown as a celebrity. Usually we pretended to be very busy to show ourselves as a celebrity. Ungodly people are inclined to avoid the matter of eternal life. They confine it to the area of religion. Whenever they are asked about eternal life, nine of them will say “Oh, stop. Please respect my private life.” They draw the line at talking about life and death problem. But here we must look at their inner cry. They cry deep in the heart, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” like this expert in the law. They are waiting to be spoken to and hear the message of eternal life from a Bible teacher. They are really desiring to be spoken to! If you look into their souls, they want to listen to God’s word about eternal life. Sheep outwardly refuse our invitation to Bible study, it is just an expression of his or her soul’s crying. They inwardly waiting for us to invite once again and to open the door. The Samaritan woman at first refused Jesus’ asking of water. Likewise, we must not take sheep’s early steps of response seriously Let’s invite campus students to the Bible study again and again until they accept our offer. Surely they show their positive response to us. It is because they are created in God’s image and crying for eternal life. A man named Nicodemus visited Jesus at night. He was a man of the Pharisees. He was also a member of the Jewish ruling council. He was so rich that money did not mean to him any more. He accomplished whatever he wanted to do – money, power, honor and people’s recognition. This self-made man had no place to climb up. Whatever he did was not meaningful to him at all. He felt extremely lonely and dry in his soul. So he wanted to solve his unanswered and complicated life problem. He was afraid to be seen by paparazzi, so he chose one night to meet Jesus secretly. Jesus saw his life problem with sharp insight. Jesus diagnosed his problem as “not being born again.” So he said, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”(John 3:3,5) “Being born again” relates directly to the kingdom of God The kingdom of God relates to eternal life. Therefore, “being born again” precedes eternal life. “Being born again” happens from above, not by human effort or struggle. That is to say, “being born again” is a gift God gives freely whoever believes in him. Apart from human point of view, no one can think about eternal life. No human efforts, no religious piety, no sacrificial life, no devotional life can give us eternal life. Because they come from human effort and struggle. Human elements must be excluded for us to get eternal life. Eternal life is from above. It is God’s gift from above. It belongs to the kingdom of God; it is given by faith in Jesus the way God destined. The expert in the law misunderstood God’s truth. He thought he must “do” something extraordinary to earn eternal life. That was why he asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He didn’t know that eternal life cannot be attained by man's effort. This man needed to turn away from himself and look up to God. To help him, Jesus first pointed him to the Law. Look at verse 26. "'What is written in the Law?' he replied. 'How do you read it?'" Jesus helped him return to the Bible. The Law or the Bible is the word of God. Jesus wanted him to realize that the Bible can teach him the way to eternal life. The expert knew the Law well. In verse 27, "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'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" It was not an interpretation, or his own opinion. He quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 with no mistake. He demonstrated a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the Law. Jesus said, "You have answered correctly, A+." Then Jesus touched the man's problem. Look at verse 28b. Jesus said, "Do this and you will live." Knowing was not enough. The man needed to do what the law commanded. His problem was that he didn’t obey God’s word. He spoke very well about the Bible. He had a good knowledge of God’s word. But he didn’t practice. He was like an obese man who doesn’t exercise. He was like a smart man who doesn’t study at all. He was also like a jobless man who doesn’t look for a job. He liked to teach the Bible, but he didn’t listen to God’s word. He taught the Bible as a professional job, and published a lot of papers about the Bible, and delivered weekly Bible message at the synagogue. However, he didn’t try to speak to neighbors for invitation to Bible study. He didn’t try to make a call to sheep for invitation to Sunday worship. He didn’t try to make time for a conversation with sheep at lunch meetings. In Luke 11:46, Jesus warned this kind of person about their spiritual laziness, saying “Woe to you because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.” St. James said “faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2:26) He knew well what his problem was. But he had no power to obey God’s word. Though he was willing to put God’s word into practice, he failed whenever he tried to do so. He needed the Savior Jesus to solve his weak problem. We have the same problem as the expert in the law. No one can practice God’s word fully by their willpower, for the sinful nature weakens man entirely (Ro 8:3). So the law that was intended to give life actually brings death. St. Paul explained the deeper purpose of the law in Romans 3:20: "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." An honest study of the law, applied to our own lives, should lead us to admit that we fall short, the fault is ours, and we are without excuse. Then what should we do? It is time for us to surrender to God. It is time for us to cry out for Jesus’ help. It is time for us to accept Jesus as our Savior. St. Paul found Jesus after his long and sweating groaning and conflict. “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!”(Ro7:24) Paul was humble enough to reveal his weakness before Jesus. He asked earnestly for Jesus’ help. Then he experienced Jesus’s giving power to overcome his sinful nature and weakness. He felt the power of Jesus’ blood. II. Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan (30-37) When the expert in the law heard Jesus saying, “do this and you will live,” he asked again, “And who is my neighbor?” His reply should have been like this: “I am weak doing so. My sinful nature always weakens me so fully that I can’t do anything good. So what should I do?” He should have been humble to learn from Jesus. He should have asked further questions for the solution to his eternal life problem. Instead of asking for help, however, he wanted to justify himself, asking, “And who is my neighbor?” The man diverted the conversation to the secondary issue of loving his neighbor. At that time, Jewish people excluded women, children and Gentiles. They also excluded people who didn’t observe the Law. He tried to restrict the definition to the word, “neighbor” so that he could show that he could live up to this second teaching, “Love your neighbors.” He was proud that he was loving God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength and with all his mind. But he was less proud in loving his neighbors. He had many people he didn’t love. He didn’t like people without law. He didn’t like public sinners and the Samaritan people. He hated the barbaric Gentiles. He couldn’t accept even people with different hobbies and different taste of food and different political opinions. So he tried to restrict the definition to the word, “neighbor” to the very degree that he would intend. The expert in the law was knowledegable and clever, but he had failed to grasp something very important: the heart of God. So Jesus wanted to teach God’s heart by telling the most beautiful stories of the good Samaritan. Look at verse 30. A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. It is about 27 kilometers from Jerusalem to Jericcho. The journey from Jerusalem to Jericho is a sharp downhill descent from 762 meters above sea level to 250 meters below sea level. It is a barren desert area and was historically the haunt for robbers of various kinds. They could waylay travelers, rob them, and then disappear into the desert without being arrested. The robbers stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. He was bleeding and unconscious. Without emergency aid, he would die. He needed emergent help desperately. Then a priest happened to be going down the same road. Perhaps he had just finished his weekly duty in the temple. He might even have delivered the Sabbath day message. Then he came upon the dying man. He clearly saw him dying. Then he might have thought God’s word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Naturally he should have carried him to the hospital. Deep from his conscience, a voice resounded, “He needs your help!” But he avoided the calling. He tried to find ways of making excuses. He might have thought that touching a dead body would make him ceremonially unclean. He might have thought that he had a busy schedule the next day and the other people would help him. Anyway, he passed by on the other side of the road. On his way home, he said an emergency prayer, "Lord, thank you for saving me from robbers on the way home." Look at verse 32. Then a Levite appeared. Levites were temple servants, so he should have saved the half-dead man. As he looked around and found there was no one, he went away hurriedly. He might have made the same excuses as the first man. Look at verses 33-35. A Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was. Though he was a Samaritan whom Jewish people hated, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying “Look after him. When I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.” Wow! What a touching story it is! What made him different from the priest and the Levite? When the Samaritan saw the half-dead man, "he took pity on him." That is, he had compassion on the man. Compassion means “suffer together.” When you have compassion on others, you put yourself in their place and feel the same thing they were feeling: pain, the awful loneliness and sorrow. If you feel this, you are motivated to help them at any cost. All human beings are created in the image of God. They have God’s compassionate heart. But they cut off from God, so they have lost their God’s compassion. They have lost basic humanity. They have become selfish and merciless. How then can we have God's heart of compassion? To restore God’s heart of compassion, we must think about the heart of God through Bible study. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The world deserves to be loved by God? Not at all. The Bible describes how the world is: As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. (Ro 3:10-12) But God so loved ‘this world’ that he gave his one and only son Jesus, because he had compassion on us. Whenever we read this verse, we are touched and moved by God’s compassionate heart. Jesus was full of compassionate heart all the time. One day, Jesus and his disciples went on a picnic to a solitary place for a brief rest. But many people looked for Jesus by using their iphone’s location tracking service. The disciples forgot to turn off their cell phones. So their location was marked on Google Map. They ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of Jesus and his disciples. How much burdensome Jesus and his disciples felt about them! But when Jesus saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them. The reason was that they were like sheep without a shepherd. They were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus saw the fundamental problem of that time as a shepherdless problem. Without a shepherd, they could not but wander aimlessly and suffer a lot spiritually and physically. Jesus felt the same way they suffered. So he changed his schedule abruptly and began to teach them many things. And he taught his disciples to feel responsible for them by saying, “You give them something to eat.” These days Jesus wants us to have compassion on campus students. Campus students are our neighbors. They are like a man who fell into the hands of robbers. There are a lot of spiritual robbers around us: heretics, pleasure-seeking, sinful desire, fatalism, defeatism, easy-going life style, and nihilism and so on. They were stripped, beaten, and left half-dead. They need emergent help. Who helps them? Jesus asks us through the story of a Samaritan man: “They are in emergency. Who helps them? Which of you do you think is a neighbor to the people who fell into the hands of robbers?” Jesus wants us to be a good Samaritan to our neighbors. How can we help them back to life? We can use oil of God’s word and wine of prayer. Then we can bandage their soul’s wounds with the compassionate heart of God. Let’s look at Jesus who had compassion on the flock coming towards him, thinking of them as shepherdless sheep. Let’s hear Jesus’ prayer on the cross towards those who nailed him: “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” |
| 
|
