Challenging stories – The Good Samaritan
The Good Samaritan story is in response to the question in Luke 10:25-29 – what must I do to inherit eternal life?
Luke 10:30-37
In this story, Jesus is saying if you want to earn your way into heaven love your neighbour as the Samaritan did. We’ll never be able to love like this all the time, Jesus was highlighting man’s inability to earn their place in heaven. We’re not the Good Samaritan, we’re the wounded man. Jesus came to earth to be our rescuer, he is the ultimate Good Samaritan.
The priest and Levite are the religious, Christian people, you and I sometimes, but what was it that made them walk on the other side of the road?
- They felt superior
- They had a high view of themselves because they worked in the temple, though really they were ordinary people.
- We must be careful we don’t act like them and think of others – it’s their own fault they’re in this situation or because of my position I won’t get involved and help.
- Romans 12:3
- They pretended to ignore
- They both saw the man yet moved on and ignored him.
- There’s so much in life we pretend not to see, not just the homeless on the street, but the work colleague whose upset, the person at church whose lonely and we don’t get involved because we don’t want to be inconvenienced.
- There’s always an excuse
- We always have excuses for why we don’t get involved and help e.g. I don’t have time, got no expertise in that area etc. the excuses are never ending.
- Jesus says go and be like me, but we’re often more like the priest and Levite than we’d like to admit
Jesus is the Good Samaritan and has great compassion for us, this moved him to act, he left heaven to rescue us here on earth, John 6:38, and it lead to sacrifice, he sacrificed himself on the cross for us.
Have you accepted the help of the Good Samaritan?
Which shoes will you put on this week – the priest’s, the Levite’s or the Good Samaritan’s?