Luke 10:25-37

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Dean, School of Christian Studies, University of Mobile

CHRISTIANITY 104: BE GOOD NEIGHBORS
Luke 10:25–37

The Question (10:25–29)
A smug city lawyer threw a question at a country preacher, hoping to embarrass him.  The unnamed legal expert knew the Hebrew Bible spoke of an “eternal inheritance” for God’s people (Dan. 12:2). So he asked Jesus what he had to do to be sure of life everlasting. Jesus answered the question with his own question. “You are the lawyer. What does the law say?” The law, said the expert, said a man must love God with everything he had and must also love his neighbor as himself (Deut. 6:5, Lev. 19:18).  “Good answer,” Jesus replied. “If you keep the law as well as you quote it, you need not worry about a share in the life everlasting.” Do not think Jesus made salvation a matter of works. “Loving God” in other contexts passes for faith.

Loving God was no problem for the lawyer.  His real difficulty was in loving his neighbor.   “Who is the neighbor I must love?” An old Jewish book of wisdom (Sirach 12:1–4) told its readers not to help a sinner. The lawyer’s question may imply some people were neighbors and others were not, and even suggested he had to love only his fellow Jews. Jesus answered his question with a familiar story.

The Story (10:30–35)
“A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.” The road was treacherous. It covered only 17 miles but dropped 3,400 feet in elevation. Much of the trail followed the Wadi Qelt, a narrow gorge with steep sides and sudden turns. Limestone caves pitted the walls of the canyon, perfect hiding places for hoodlums. Five miles above Jericho on the old road is a pass called “the Ascent of Blood,” a name given because of the blood robbers shed there. As the man made his way to Jericho a gang jumped him, took everything he had, beat him brutally and left him for dead on the roadside.

By chance a priest came by. Priests were descendants of Aaron who ran the temple service in Jerusalem. Surely a man of God would stop to help. He did not. A Levite came by as well. Levites were members of the tribe of Levi but not of Aaron’s family. They helped the priests at the temple. Surely this man of God would stop to help. He did not. To check on the victim was dangerous (the robbers might still be near), inconvenient and possibly costly. If he was dead, touching his body might defile them and cost the price of the ashes of a red heifer, the loss of temple privileges for a week, and the expense of tearing a perfectly good garment as a sign of grief and of burying the body. 

Then came a Samaritan. Jews considered Samaritans rascals and renegades and hated them. Almost unbelievably this man stopped to help. As best he could he treated the victim’s wounds, pouring in wine to sterilize and oil to soothe. He tore his own clothing to make bandages. Then he walked while the Jew rode his donkey. At the inn he paid for two week’s stay and pledged unlimited credit for additional expenses. All with no hope of reimbursement because Samaritans had no legal standing in Jewish courts.

Here were three philosophies of life. The robbers lived by the principle, “What’s thine is mine. I’ll take it!” The priest and Levite lived by the principle, “What’s mine is mine. I’ll keep it!” The Samaritan lived by the principle, “What’s mine is thine (if you need it). I’ll share it!”

The Issue (10:36–37)
“Which of the three was neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” Jesus asked. The lawyer gagged on the hated name “Samaritan.” It was all he could do to snarl through tight lips, “The one who showed mercy to him.” “Right,” said Jesus. “Now go do as he did! That is what it means to love your neighbor as yourself!”

Strictly speaking the sharp city lawyer never got an answer to his question. It was the wrong question. The issue was not “Who is my neighbor?” but “To whom may I be a neighbor?’ And the answer is, “Who needs me is my neighbor.”