{Luke 10:25-37}
25On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]“
28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Just to forewarn, I need to say that the following are a collection of thoughts and that they are in no way (by my own merit, that is) prescriptive. In other words, let the Word of God and Spirit teach you in all things (John 14:26), nothing else.
First of all, notice that when the “expert in the law” answers his own question, he cites two commands: Love God and people. In Matthew 22:34-40, a Pharisee who also happened to be “[an] expert in the law” asked Jesus what the single most important command was. Jesus didn’t respond with only one. In fact, he responded with the same answer the “expert in the law” gave in the passage above. Why? Because to Jesus, loving God and loving people are inseparable. You cannot do one or the other. In order to love God, you must love people. 1 John 4:19-21 says:
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Why do you think this is? Why does God demand it from us, and place such importance on it? Do you think it has anything to do with being made in the image of God – or that God values life?
After the man answers, Jesus actually affirms the man, because he really did answer correctly. The only problem is, we can’t do this unless we are born of the Spirit. Love comes from God, and until we have God in our life, we are unable to love. 1 John 4:7-8 says:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
As Jon Courson puts it:
This do, and thou shalt live. Such is the basis of the law. The problem is, we can’t. So we’re dead. Grace, on the other hand, says, “Live – be born again – then you’ll be able to do.” (page 353)
Love is a part of the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians
Take some time to read the passage again. Slowly. Let the words hit you. Try to imagine being the man. Try to experience what he experienced. Try to think what he might have been thinking as he came upon this man.
If this would have happened to you, how would you have felt. Inconvenienced? How might have you reacted? What would you have done?
The reason this is so crucial is because situations similar to these happen every day all around us. We need to see the need, and act as Christ would.