If you had to condense all of the commands of God throughout the Bible into just 2 commands, what would they be?
Most of you probably already know that the Bible has done this for us, and you jumped right into "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." If that's where your mind went, excellent, we are on the same page. These two commands basically sum up everything has commanded of us. Everything we do ought to come out of loving God with all our being and loving others.
Now, how many of you obey these two commands all of the time?
That's a harder question. It is one thing to know what God commands, and it is another thing to actually obey those commands on a daily basis.
It's probably safe to say there are some people in your life that you don't like very much. Maybe it is someone from school, a family member, or some internet troll. What does it mean for us to love these people as ourselves? I mean, what about someone we absolutely despise, or someone who is actively trying to hurt us? Are we supposed to love them, too? How do we do with that command to love our neighbor when the "neighbor" in question is an enemy?
Our passage today is Luke 10:25-37 - the parable of the Good Samaritan.
“And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you read it?’ And he answered, “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.’ And he said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’ But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Jesus replied, ‘A wise 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. 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.’ 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.’"
There are two basic parts to this passage; two major questions from the lawyer which get addressed.
1. What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?
2. Who is my neighbor?
For both questions, Jesus responds with a question. In the first question, a lawyer (an expert in the Law of Moses) wants to know what he has to do to inherit eternal life. We might instinctively reply saying something like "There's nothing you can do to inherit eternal life. We're stuck in sin and there's nothing we can do on our own to earn forgiveness become right with God."
What is surprising to many people today is that Jesus doesn't go this way in His response. Instead, He asks the lawyer to look to the Scriptures. We see the lawyer respond with the two greatest commands, which sum up the whole Law, and says that if one follows these he can inherit eternal life. And Jesus once again doesn't reply with "Trick question, you actually can't do anything..." Instead, He says "Great, so go do it. Go and love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus agrees with the lawyer's interpretation. Perfect obedience to the Law of Moses would bring about eternal life.
The problem is, nobody can obey God's Law perfectly. We all fall short of the glory of God. We all mess up at some point. And that's why the apostle Paul, elsewhere in the New Testament, says that the Law of God shows us our sin - when we fall short it shows us how much we need Jesus. And here with this lawyer, Jesus is trying to show the lawyer his shortcomings.
So then we get to the lawyer's follow-up question, and it shows us where his heart is at: "And who is my neighbor?" The passage tells us he is trying to justify himself. He is trying to set a limitation on who actually counts as his neighbor, because if it just the people who live next door to him, then perhaps this guy really has followed the whole Law. Maybe he has a shot at inheriting eternal life. If it includes more than just the people living next door, though, well then he might be in trouble.
We like to put addendums and caveats on the rules because it makes us feel better. Think about a "speed limit" for a moment. Unpack those words - speed limit. Its a limit on how fast you are allowed to go on a road. According to the law, you are not allowed to go any faster than that limit. And yet most drivers treat is as a suggestion, a general guideline. As long as you're within 5 mph of the limit you're good, right? Wrong. That's not what the law says, and anyone who goes above the limit is technically breaking the law.
Now, I know what you're going to say, "Michael, everyone drives a little over the limit, I'm just following the flow of traffic. A cop isn't going to pull me over if I'm only going a few miles over the limit. As long as I'm not being reckless the cops aren't going to care." We make all these excuses so we can feel better about the fact that we're breaking the law. A small infraction is still an infraction. Maybe you make these kinds of excuses for copying a friend's HW, or cheating on a test. Maybe you make them for other rules in your life. Why do we do this?
Because it makes us feel better. It makes us feel as if we are not actually doing anything wrong. But Jesus' reply breaks through all of that. The lawyer wanted to justify himself by putting a limit on who counted as his neighbor, but Jesus didn't let him get away with it.
In the parable we find this ambiguous man beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the side of the road. The first two people to come across him are religious leaders. A priest and Levite would have known the Law, and that they were commanded to love this man and care for him. As leaders they were meant to set an example for others of obeying God's commands. But what do they do? They walk around him and continue on their way. They leave him for dead. Where is their compassion? Where is their love for this man?
Then a Samaritan shows up. For context, Samaritans were half-breeds in the eyes of the Jews. They were half-Jewish and half-something else. Their ancestors had married non-Jews and for that they were looked down upon by "full-blooded" Jews. In addition, they didn't practice all the same things the Jews did from the Law of Moses (partly because they weren't allowed in the Temple), which made the Jews look down on them even more. So, racially and religiously, the Samaritans were hated by the Jews. And likewise, the Samaritans hated the Jews back. There was a lot hatred between the two groups.
Yet what does this Samaritan do? Does he walk on by? No. He stops and shows compassion and love to this beaten man. He makes tremendous sacrifice to go out of his way to make sure this man is cared for. He sacrifices his time, his money, and his resources. The "half-breed heretic" demonstrates what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.
So, Jesus asks the lawyer, "who was a good neighbor to this beaten man?" The lawyer has to respond with "the one who showed mercy" - the Samaritan. So Jesus reaffirms his earlier command: "Go and do likewise." Go and show mercy to those who need it.
The application from this is simple. We should follow the example of the Samaritan. He came across someone in need, and he sacrificed his time and resources to care for him. How often do we come across people in need and make excuses as to why we don't need to help them?
We come across a homeless person and assume they will just use our money for drugs or alcohol, so we don't need to give them money.
We come across a kid getting harassed in school, but we don't know them very well so we don't need to step in and help. Its not our business anyway.
We see another student struggling with a class, but we don't have much free time anyway so we don't have time to help them.
The point of this parable is to show us that excuses don't work with God. If we know the good we ought to do, but do not do it, then for us it is sin. We need to stop making excuses for not having compassion on people. Everyone is our neighbor - our family, our friends, our actual neighbors, every other student and all the teachers and faculty at school, the baristas at Starbucks, and even the trolls on the internet.
Jesus' command at the end of this parable is to show compassion to the people we encounter in our everyday lives, even if it means we have to make sacrifices to help them. It's a hard command, but it's the right thing to do. It is the righteous thing to do. And it is what God wants us to do.
So, go and do likewise.
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