Pastor’s Podium

The parable of the Good Samaritan is often understood as Jesus is the poor guy laying in the ditch, bloodied and beaten and left for dead by evil people, and we’re the Good Samaritan, who comes along and loves and serves Jesus with our gifts, our mercy, and our compassion. Therefore, this parable often gets turned into the exact thing that Jesus was preaching against. This parable, taken and taught out of context, gets turned into a lesson on “What I need to do in order to please God and be like the Good Samaritan.”

But why did Jesus teach this parable? A hotshot young lawyer; a guy who thought he knew it all regarding the Word of God, stands up to put Jesus to the test. He asks,“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” This guy isn’t looking for an answer because he’s genuinely concerned, rather he’s looking for praise and accolades. Jesus knows what’s going on, which is why He responds with a question of His own.“What does the Bible say? What has God already said on this?”

The man does answer Jesus properly, reciting God’s Word. “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.” Jesus tells him,“You’ve answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.” But here is where the guy’s true intentions show. Seeking to justify himself, he levels another question at Jesus: “And just who is my neighbor?” After all, some people are just so rotten that they don’t deserve to be loved. So, who is my neighbor? Who, exactly, do I need to love? What boxes do I need to check off to ensure that I inherit eternal life?”

It from this self-justifying question that Jesus teaches the parable of the Good Samaritan. The proverbial Samaritan, the wretched and deplorable enemy, hated and despised by all Jewish people, is the one that shows true love, compassion, and mercy. That hated and despised Samaritan shows what it means to truly love your neighbor.

Why did the Samaritan stop and show such love and compassion and mercy to this man? After all, the guy in the ditch hated him, and you hear it in the young lawyer’s response to Jesus. He can’t even bring himself to admit that the Samaritan proved to be the loving neighbor.“The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus then tells the lawyer, “Yeah ... now you go and do likewise. You go and be just like the Samaritan.”

But why did the Samaritan stop and show such love? No one would’ve faulted the Samaritan for walking on by, or even kicking him or going through his pockets as he passed by. But, that’s not who the Samaritan was. It had nothing to do with the guy in the ditch and whether or not he was worthy. The Samaritan showed love because that’s just who the Samaritan was.

Therefore we are the man in the ditch. Jesus, the truly Good Samaritan, came down from heaven, for each of us. Consider how Jesus kept the standard of the parable of the Good Samaritan. St. Paul says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Samaritan transported the poor victim to an inn where he could receive care while he healed. Christ sends the Holy Spirit to gather His people into His church where they also receive care and healing. It is there that we receive the medicine of immortality that Jesus has given to His church to care for His saints.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus has taught us that there is absolutely nothing that we can do to inherit eternal life. Instead, there is this impossible standard of love that none of us can meet. Thankfully, Jesus is the Christ who kept this high standard of love in that He loved us even while we were the most unlovable. We inherit eternal life because Christ has died and He put us in His will. Now we shall live forever even as He has risen from the dead and lives into all eternity.