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Copyright © 2012 J. Neely. All rights reserved.
Chapter 6 - Good Samaritan
Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25-28
25 And [kai] , behold [idou] , a certain [tis] lawyer [nomikos] stood up [anistemi] , and [kai] tempted [ekpeirazo] him [autos] , saying [lego] , Master [didaskalos] , what [tis] shall I do [poieo] to inherit [kleronomeo] eternal [aionios] life [zoe] ?
26 [de] He said [epo] unto [pros] him [autos] , What [tis] is written [grapho] in [en] the law [nomos] ? how [pos] readest thou [anaginosko] ?
27 And [de] he answering [apokrinomai] said [epo] , Thou shalt love [agapao] the Lord [kurios] thy [sou] God [theos] with [ek] all [holos] thy [sou] heart [kardia] , and [kai] with [ek] all [holos] thy [sou] soul [psuche] , and [kai] with [ek] all [holos] thy [sou] strength [ischus] , and [kai] with [ek] all [holos] thy [sou] mind [dianoia] ; and [kai] thy [sou] neighbour [plesion] as [hos] thyself [seautou] .
28 And [de] he said [epo] unto him [autos] , Thou hast answered [apokrinomai] right [orthos] : this [touto] do [poieo] , and [kai] thou shalt live [zao] . KJV-Interlinear
25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' 26 And He said to him, 'What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?' 27 And he answered and said, '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.' 28 And He said to him, 'You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.' NASB
The Pharisees, and Sadducees, the scribes and the elders of Judea prided themselves on their knowledge of the Law (the books written by Moses) and the Prophets (the rest of the books of the Old Testament written by various other people throughout ancient history). They went so far as to categorize the scriptures into major and minor principles. The major ones of course were mandatory, and the minor principles were not so mandatory on ones life. Most of this we have discusses in detail in our study of Matt. 22:34. That study is included in the study covering the week prior to Christ's crucifixion.
The scriptures were sent to the end of the line, as the priorities of academics came to outweigh the principles of scripture, as regulation after regulation began to evolve in the few centuries prior to the First Advent, and thus came to replace the teaching of the Word of God.
In this fourteenth parable in our study, the Good Samaritan, we come to see the hypocrisy and the inadequacy of mans ability to save himself. 'What? You say. I thought this parable was about being nice to others. The do-gooder parable.' But such is not the case.
This is probably the most well known parable of them all. And that said, it is probably the most misunderstood and misapplied parable of them all. Now here is a test question. The parties in this parable are the good samaritan of course, the man who was robbed, the people who walked past the robbed man. What do each of these stand for? That should keep you busy for a little while.
Likewise, the parable begins in verse 30. So why are we starting in verse 25? What does the scribes question have to do with the parable? Hummm! We should stop the lesson here and wait for the next lesson so you can do your homework. Right?
Ok, so we won't do that ... for now anyway.
The setting now is this. We are about six months prior to the Cross. Jesus is teaching to a large crowd, as large crowds are now common around Him. Jesus is the least difficult person to find by the way. Just follow the crowds and there He is.
The scribe stands up. This gets the eyes of everyone on him and off of Christ. The scribe is one who belongs to the elite and liberal thinking group, in Jesus' day. They do not seek answers for anyone in order to help them, but they seek attention, adoration, and position in order to satisfy their own ego and selfish desires for same. In their eyes it is far better to have a suffering crowd looking up to and dependent on them, than it is to discover solutions for the problems of those who are in need.
Thus we have a question put to Jesus. 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'
Now this is a scribe and a lawyer, an expert on the scriptures. He is not interested in eternal life, but his motives lie in catching Jesus in an error so as to discredit Him, and then people will look back to the scribe as their expert rather than to Jesus. This is the typical liberal approach to life. Truth is ignored, and lies are spread, in order to gain their own popularity. Their selfish motives are greater than their desire to help others. Better to discredit the truth, and thus gain power, than to pursue the truth and help others. Or so is the attitude of this liberal scribe and lawyer.
So Jesus returns the question with a question. The scribe asks what he 'can do' in order to gain eternal life. But Jesus throws him back to the very scriptures in which he thinks he is an expert. 'What do the scriptures say?' And the man responds back correctly by quoting from Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18.
Later (just a couple of days prior to the Cross) the Pharisees and the Sadducees will again attack Jesus with a similar question regarding the greatest of the commandments, Matt. 22:34+.
The mans response should have been to ask, 'How can I do this? I am not able. I need help.' Instead, he tried 'to justify himself,' that is, to defend himself against Jesus' words. So he tried to move the focus off himself by asking the definition of a neighbor? Again this is the ruse of the liberal. They seek to define rules and therein lies their religion. Government and regulation or something with which to control the masses by means of dependence rather than solving the problems of the masses.
The scribe or lawyer as it is mentioned in our passage, submitted the question in order to trap Jesus. He was not interested in being instructed by Him.
By this, Jesus showed or demonstrated to Him and those who were listening, what was required, and that mankind does not have the wherewithal to accomplish in himself the means of salvation. He is in need of something greater, a greater righteousness in order to be saved.
The first law concerns mans relationship with God. And herein God is referred to as the unique second person of the trinity, the Lord or 'kurios,' the ultimate authority, and deity 'theos.' This person, the Son of God, is standing right before the crowd and this scribe. But the question, before one can have a relationship with God is, to recognize Him, first, and to believe in Him, second. The scribe had the academic knowledge, but he did not accept even the scriptures in which he was supposed to be an expert.
He not only stumbled in the first part of the answer by not recognizing God, but he also stumbled in the second portion by trying to superficially define who a neighbor is. An attempt to impose artificial morals on society.
Now, Jesus will follow the question with a parable. Here Jesus is the good samaritan. If one has the heart of a neighbor then one will see the needs of and help out a neighbor, and without pursuing some predefined and self righteous rules as to just who is and who is not a neighbor. Only mankind seeks such distinctions between themselves. We generally call this prejudice.
By the way this form of prejudice comes in many forms. I'll present two examples. Iraq was a hot bed of terrorism. It may have or may not have had weapons of mass destruction. Was the invasion justified? Or, do we condemn it because no weapons were found? Now while you ponder that one, here is a second question. We drive along in our cars and eventually we take an off ramp. There is a person there with a sign asking for financial support. Do we help them or not? Do we predefine their motives as virtuous or deceptive? Does it matter? Who is our neighbor? What is our responsibility?
Here, in our passage, we will see a man who is robbed, an outcast, who fell on difficult times. The religious leadership of the day rejected the outcast just as they rejected their Lord. But along comes a good samaritan, Jesus, and extends the hand of salvation to those who are outcast - be they the deprived of the land, be they the gentiles who are almost always looked down upon, be they anyone whom the leadership despises and has no time for. So both He who seeks to help and he who is in need of help are rejected by those who are put into, or by those who seek, high office for which the very purpose of that office is in providing help, because their agenda is not to rise to power in order to lead, but to gain high office in order to satisfy their personal ego.
Hummm! Did I give away the answers to the earlier questions posed?
Well, inevitably the self righteous person will make an issue out of themselves rather than out of the issues of responsibilities of the offices they desperately aspire to. The self righteous person will make issues out of missing truths thus intimating that action is or was unnecessary. Self righteous persons will attempt to judge others and thus justify not helping them because they are not deserving of help. Self righteous persons are not interested in what is right or in the honorable thing, but only in their self image and thus they pursue a path to discredit those who stand on correct Biblical principle and truth.
They embrace the lie and reject the truth.
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