The Good Samaritan

Oh boy.  Self-justification.  That’ll get you into trouble every time.  So, we’re at one of the most famous stories in all the Bible, the one about the Good Samaritan.  Now let’s be clear – that’s just a heading in our Bibles.  It’s nowhere in the actual text.  Jesus doesn’t call this Samaritan good. To be clearer, if He had, those around Him would have protested loudly.  “There’s no such thing as a good Samaritan!”  This was a matter of deeply entrenched prejudice dating back centuries.  Jewish society in itself had “us-es ” and “thems” as Luke makes plain – but throw a Samaritan in the mix and all Jewish society becomes an “us”.  Not that all this uproar would worry Jesus at all as He is about to demonstrate.

You see, an expert in the law comes to Jesus and asks Him what he has to do to inherit eternal life.  This will not be the last time someone asks Jesus this question and it’s a question we should all ask.  But Jesus, instead of answering, makes him answer his own question.  To his credit, the Lawyer holds nothing back – “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.”  Matthew 22:40 says everything in the Law and the Prophets hang on these.  That’s a lot of weight.  Brave man.  Maybe.

“You have answered correctly.  Do this and you will live,” Jesus replies.  And this is where it gets hard because knowing something or even suspecting something is right is only part of the battle.  The other part is putting it into practice.  And part of us might not want to put whatever that “it” is into practice at the level we suspect it demands.  That’s this man’s problem.  He had the answer.  But he was still squirming because deep down he knows something isn’t right.  So here comes the attempt at justification.  “Uh, Jesus, follow-up question.  Um, exactly who’s my neighbor?”

Ouch.  Jesus, throughout Luke, is erasing boundaries left and right.  He’s eating with sinners.  He’s touching the sick.  He’s raising up the humble.  I don’t know how much this lawyer knew about all of that, but if he thought he was going to get a pass on this question, he was wrong.

Jesus tells the story we all know so well.  A good Jewish man falls into the hands of highway robbers.  They take his clothes, beat him up, and leave him for dead on the side of the road.  A priest and a Levite – good, upstanding, respectable members of Jewish society – see him and pass by.  But then a Samaritan comes along….

You can already feel the tension.  Two have already passed by.  But surely Jesus isn’t about to make this Samaritan the hero of the story, is He?  Well, yes.  Actually yes.  He is.  This Samaritan outsider bandages the hapless man up, provides transportation to the nearest inn, and pays the innkeeper to watch out for the guy.  Then he tells the innkeeper he will pay him more if necessary when he returns.

Scandalous!  I can almost feel our lawyer wishing Jesus would just finish this unpalatable story and have done with it.  But Jesus, having been asked for clarification, now puts the man on the spot to see if he’s been listening.   “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

Note:  The man takes the long way around to respond.  There was a one-word answer.  Let’s just say it together.  It isn’t hard. “Samaritan.”  Let’s try it again.  “Sa-ma-ri-tan….”

…He couldn’t say it.  Instead, he chose seven words.  “The one who had mercy on him.”  Driving the point home, Jesus tells him, “Go and do likewise.”

Now maybe we don’t catch it.  We’ve grown up with charitable organizations with the word “Samaritan” in the title our whole lives.  These are the good guys.  But not here in Luke.  This interaction was the most unlikely and extreme example Jesus could have given this man.  The point is simple.  Everyone is your responsibility; everyone is your neighbor.  Loving them seeks no justification.  Don’t look for it.  You want eternal life?  Leave justification out of it.  Just do it.  Luke 10:25-37