Day Four: The Good Samaritan
Aug 25, 2005 Print This Post
//MEDICAL CONDITION: Sore
//ITUNES: “Caroline” – David Gray
Luke 10:25-37
One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?
Jesus replied, What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?
The man answered, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. And, Love your neighbor as yourself.
Right! Jesus told him. Do this and you will live!
The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
Jesus replied with an illustration: A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes and money, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.
By chance a Jewish priest came along; but when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt deep pity. Kneeling beside him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with medicine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two pieces of silver and told him to take care of the man. If his bill runs higher than that, he said, Ill pay the difference the next time I am here.
Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits? Jesus asked.
The man replied, The one who showed him mercy. Then Jesus said, Yes, now go and do the same.
Four Questions
What can I learn about God?
What strikes me is that God can look right through the external stigmas we apply to people. The Samaritans were hated because of their mixed heritage, and yet Jesus makes the Samaritan the protagonist in his story. Not only that, but if you asked Joe American what word goes with “Samaritan,” I would guess most would say “Good.” I love that. It reminds me of the verse in 1Samuel 16:7:
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, cbut the LORD looks on the heart.”
What can I learn about people?
There is a total flip in this story. Jesus is responding to the question “Who is my neighbor?” So he tells his story and then flips it by asking “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” He has painted the Samaritan (who does the right thing, despite his his despised social status) as the neighbor that this man is to love. Then he flips it back and says be like this neighbor.
What can I learn about me
It makes me rethink my stereotypes about people and look for examples that they can be to me on how to live this command to love. I like to think that I don’t carry any stereotypes about people, but that is just untrue. I may disguise them, or push them down, but if I am really honest, I still carry them. I think we are all like that.
Connect the dots.
I am going to do a little search on the internet today. I am going to type in categories of people that I stereotype in my brain and I am going to try to learn something from them.
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