Good Samaritan

John

Generous and Wise / Luke 10:25–37

We see this in our passage this morning. The parable of the good samaritan comes out of a question, “who is my neighbor?”

Luke 10:25 ESV

“Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Luke 10:26 ESV

“What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

Luke 10:27 ESV

“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.”

Luke 10:28 ESV

“You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

Luke 10:29 ESV

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

The Priest and Levite

Luke 10:30–32 ESV

Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

The Good Samaritan

Luke 10:33–35 ESV

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

Generosity is not a consideration of the abundance of resources, but the consideration of needs being met. The gospel is all about understanding that our needs have been met. That we have complete sufficiency.

The Samaritan undoes what everyone else did

Gods activity is in the wilds of “bandits and inns.” We can’t control that God acts but trust that He does and that He pays what He owes. And more. To disreputable characters. This means that God works generously and abundantly in situations that are less than or show no abundance. ( Oakman, Douglas E. 2008. *Jesus and the Peasants*. Cascade Books. 179)
In fact, we have to understand that this is the generous act of the reign of God in dire circumstances, that God, in the person of Christ comes to bandage our wounds, comes to deal with the less than savory circumstances, becomes the commoner for us to become royalty, this is shown in the way that the Samaritan places, though beaten man on the donkey

Luke 10:36–37 ESV

Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”