We began this section of Scripture in our last study with a look at the question that this scholar of the law asked our Lord Jesus. The questions is seen in Luke 10:25 where he says to Jesus, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This question comes to the minds of most people. Not very many people will admit to wanting to die. Most religions have some form of eternal life and with that this question comes to the minds of most people. For this scholar this was a question that he knew the answer to, well at least intellectually. He knew the proper answer to this question himself and looked to trip Jesus up with this question as we looked at last time.
So Jesus didn’t directly answer the question but asked the scholar “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” This man gave the correct interpretation of the Law by stating that the answer is that “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.”
This answer was a proper understanding of what the Law of God will do and that is to help us to live this way in loving God and man. But the problem is still there and that is how can we perfectly live out this Law? Because the question was how to inherit eternal life and the answer really points to living that Law out. Jesus challenges this man by saying in Luke 10:28 where we finished our last study, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”
We talked last time about how the Law of God exposes our sin. It shows to us what sin is and this is the very thing that it did here. But as we will see, this man just like many of us tried to find a loophole in the Law to justify his sinfulness. This brings us to our first point for this study.
1.The scholar MAINTAINS his innocence.
Look with me at Luke 10:29 that says But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
So we see this man had the right answer, Jesus confirms that his answer is correct but when he was challenged to live it out he then began to look for a way to make himself look as if he was living out the Law perfectly. Most of the religious people that Jesus encountered had this same attitude. Later on when Jesus has a conversation with the person we most often call the rich young ruler, he answered this question by saying in Luke 18:21 “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
They did not come to Jesus in hopes to find out what their own sin was or what they really needed to do to become a recipient of salvation but rather in hopes of being justified by Jesus. Luke records for us that this man looked to justify himself in Luke 10:29 by asking Jesus “And who is my neighbor?”
This man knew the proper interpretation of the law but lacked the ability to do what it said. Jesus rebukes this behavior in very strong words as we can see in Matthew 23:23-24 where Jesus says “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!
Jesus had told the people in Matthew 23:2-3 “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and keep, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.
They knew the Law of God but they made their own laws and edits to the Law so that they could look good as if they were keeping the law. This man looked to be approved and looked to maintain his innocence by asking this question concerning who his neighbor really is? This brings us to Jesus’ response in what we will see in our next point.
2.The MAIN POINT of the parable.
Look with me at Luke 10:30-36 that says Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 And a priest happened to be going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him, and when he saw him, he felt compassion. 34 And he came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, and he put him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And on the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ 36 Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?”
As we see often Jesus responds in a way to help clarify the point. In this parable that we know as the Good Samaritan we will notice that there is a point to the entire story. All of this points to the question that this scholar asked back in Luke 10:25 which was “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
Hindsight tells us that we know that no one can earn salvation, no one can “do” anything to become recipients of salvation but for Jesus’ audience this would be a very intriguing question that many would want to know the answer to. They wanted eternal life, they wanted to be a part of God’s Kingdom so this answer from Jesus would be what everyone wanted to hear. But as we see he gives them a parable to see who it is that really has eternal life.
In this parable we will see 3 different men that could have helped this other man that had been robbed and left for dead. Let’s look at the first one as Jesus tells the story. Jesus says in Luke 10:30-31 “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 And a priest happened to be going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
The first person that encounters this man that had been robbed, beat and left for dead was a priest. In the minds of those listening they would have thought that this priest would have been in the right for not going to help this man. I mean Leviticus 21:11 says that a priest shall he approach any dead person nor defile himself even for his father or his mother.
This priest could have thought this man was dead and decided to walk the other way to keep himself holy as the Law prescribed. If this priest was to come in contact with a dead body then they would have to be ritually cleansed before being able to perform duties again as a priest. Of course I believe that Jesus purposely chose this story to show them that love, compassion and mercy are attributes of people that have truly received eternal life. So I believe he chose this priest to show this scholar that they were like this priest in looking for loopholes instead of showing compassion. They would look to uphold certain portions of the Law and make new laws of their own to justify why they didn’t keep others.
The next person to encounter this man left for dead would be who we see in Luke 10:32 that says Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
Just like the priest this Levite did not look to be compassionate but looked for a reason to go the other way. The two men were both knowledgeable in the Law which they knew could provide them a cleansing if they decided to help but instead they went the other way. Both the priest and the Levite would be considered the top of the religious ladder in Jewish custom but here we see that Jesus is conveying that they were not interested in reaching out to others. They were not concerned with the well being of this man and just like them, the religious leader of Judaism was not concerned with the common people.
Then we see the third man that encounters this man left for dead in Luke 10:33-35 that says But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him, and when he saw him, he felt compassion. 34 And he came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, and he put him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And on the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’
The importance of a Samaritan being the most compassionate of the 3 men that encountered this man left for dead is significant in this story. Jews hated Samaritans simply because they were half Jew and half Gentile. They looked at Samaritans as filth, unholy and defiant against God. So Jesus uses this Samaritan as an example of a person that has shown compassion towards this man. Not only would this Samaritan show compassion by stopping but he would also bandage his wounds, take him somewhere to be cared for and gave his own money to take care of this stranger.
This Samaritan would be looked at by Jews as one that breaks the Law of God and unworthy of eternal life. But in this parable Jesus shows that the Samaritan was the one that not only knew the law but lived it. He would live out Leviticus 19:33-34 that says And when a sojourner sojourns with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. 34 The sojourner who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.
Also Deuteronomy 10:19 that says Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.
He was not looking for excuses to not do what was needed but had compassion. The priest and Levite could have helped. It was not completely forbidden to help this man but it would have cost them time, money and effort in which they did not want to participate. The main point of this parable is in showing not who your neighbor is but are you being a neighbor to others as you have been told to do by the command of God? Jesus asks the man after he tells the parable in Luke 10:36 Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?”
This question really points towards the fact that a person that has received eternal life will not be looking for reasons to not show compassion but will be compassionate because of the desire to be like their Father and God. This leads us to the last point for this study.
3.Those who receive MERCY will do the same.
Look with me at Luke 10:37 that says And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
We see here that this scholar clearly understood the point of the parable. We do not know if this man was truly saved but what we do know is that Jesus again confirms that his answer is correct. He answers Jesus’ question of who proved to be a neighbor by saying “The one who showed mercy toward him.”
*Showing mercy towards others is an attribute of every Christian. If you profess to be a Christian and you lack compassion and mercy then I would doubt that you have received mercy from God. Jesus says in Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
1 John 3:16-18 says By this we have known love, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
In another parable that Jesus shares He says in Matthew 18:33 Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’
The point of that parable points to the same reality that a person that has been forgiven by God will in fact have the same attitude towards others. We will never be perfect in this but we must strive for this way of living.* The original question was what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
The answer is “Go and do the same.” This is not pointed towards earning salvation but that if you can live a life full of mercy towards others that there is no need to question your salvation because that is simply an attribute given by God to His children. My thoughts on this is that Jesus knew that this man was uncompassionate, unmerciful and unloving therefore he exposes this to him to show that his status as a scholar, his intellect and his standard would not give to him eternal life but only mercy from God. The fact that he had mercy from God would show up in the way that he lived that out towards others in his life.
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