This is the 25th post as
I attempt to visit everything (pretty much!) Jesus said about money in the
gospels over 2 weeks. In order to do this I will be putting up around two posts
each day. This is coinciding with a 2-week preaching series that we are going
through at Community Church Putney- Jesus On Money.
The parable of the Good
Samaritan Luke 10:25-37
‘On one occasion an
expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do
to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the
Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
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.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied.
“Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify
himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A
man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers.
They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half
dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the
man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the
place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he
traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, 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, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day
he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he
said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may
have.’
“Which of these three do
you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law
replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do
likewise.”
Jesus uses this parable to illustrate what loving ones neighbour might
look like. He uses the fractured relationship between Jews and Samaritans to
emphasize that love, at it’s most godly, is showing it for those whom we find
difficult to love; it is being financially generous to people whom we don’t get
on with. Jesus is showing this ‘expert in the law’ that he is failing to keep
God’s commands and needs salvation.
Jesus says to this man, and to us, “Do this and you will live”; it is
only those who love God and love their neighbour, who are going to heaven!
All Christians have owned up their failure to love God and others; they
have come to Jesus not to ‘justify themselves’ but for His forgiveness and
transformation.
For the Christian, the generous God has taken their guilt away. But He
has also taken up residence in them, which leads to a transformed life of
generosity; they will begin to act like the Good Samaritan: like Jesus, they
may be despised but they offer generous love.
As Paul puts it,
‘So, my brothers and
sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might
belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might
bear fruit for God.’ (Romans 7:4)
Take a moment to ask God to search you:
Jesus says to us, “Go and do
likewise.” Are you living
like the Good Samaritan?
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