A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (October 12, 2015)
And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? (Luke 10:30-36)
This parable is one of the most well known parables of Jesus. It appears to be very straight forward and simple but let’s take a closer look at the origin and background. A lawyer asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him he must love God with all his heart, soul, heart and mind and love his neighbor as himself. The lawyer, wanting to test Jesus, asked him to define neighbor. Jesus replied with the parable of the good Samaritan.
Samaritans were religious outcasts to the Jewish people. There was a long history of religious conflict between these two groups. The Orthodox Jewish people were not to have any contact or association with the Samaritans and vice versa. The man that fell among thieves in this parable was from Jerusalem and so he was obviously a Jew. Notice in the parable that a Priest and a Levite (two prominent Jewish religious leaders) passed by the man (one of their own) that had been attacked. The Samaritan was the only one that stopped to help. This parable did not contain the answer the lawyer was seeking because he was probably looking for a more restrictive definition of neighbor. For example, Samaritans would probably be excluded from his definition of neighbor because of their differing belief system.
With this one parable Jesus cut across all religious barriers and basically included everybody as our neighbor. It also pointed out that compassion can be lost when we get too religious. Mercy and grace is not withheld by God from anybody, and it is not to be withheld by us from anybody, regardless of ethnic or religious background. Basically what Jesus was unveiling in this parable was the heart of God. You can see it manifested throughout the scriptures in numerous cases. God called Jonah to minister to the Ninevites who were stark enemies of the Jewish people. Jesus ministered to the Samaritan woman at the well. Paul was called as an Apostle to the Gentiles. These are just three major examples.
The bottom line is this: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). The key words in John 3:16 are world and whosoever. What that says is God’s desire is for everybody to have eternal life. If you are living in this world you are a whosoever and the mercy and grace of God is available to you.
Let’s just make sure we are not so religious that we start defining “neighbor” in a more restrictive way than God does.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
