The Good Samaritan

by Greg Neely, Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Category: The Lord's Parables | Mar 1991

Under the Old Covenant in Israel, eternal life was secured, not by rigidly adhering to a set of rules called the Law, but by a relationship with God based on faith.

Obedience to God in keeping the Law was evidence of the relationship that existed. Thus, when the lawyer responded to his own question in Luke 10 about how to inherit eternal life, his answer was an appropriate summary of the Law.

The Lord Himself said the same thing when in Mark 12 He was asked "What commandment is the foremost of all?" His answer was that which the lawyer gave: "You shall love the Lord your God ... and your neighbor as yourself'. To the lawyer in Matthew 22:40 He said: "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets". Without a relationship with God based on faith in whatever generation, eternal life is not possible. The Law is not a formula for eternal life. It points man to the One who gives eternal life, God Himself. Rigid adherence to a legal system, as taught by the leaders in Israel, never purchased eternal life. The Lord abhorred merely formal observance of tradition and condemned Israel for it.

What is eternal life? The Lord Jesus defined it in John 17:3 where we read: "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God,

and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent". It is not simply a measure of the length of life, but it is a new life with new qualities based on a personal relationship with the eternal God, and given by Him to those who come to Him by faith in His Word (Rom. 6:23). Hebrews 11:6 makes it clear that in any generation "without faith it is impossible to please Him". The scribe in Mark 12:34 realized that a legal system was of no use without the intended relationship through faith and love. To him the Lord said, "You are not far from the kingdom of God". The system that was put in place was of continuous value, but each person had to be united to it by faith (Heb. 4:2).

A relationship of love with God demands an application to men. The apostle John later wrote to fellow disciples of the Lord and said,

If some one says "I love God", and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also (1 John 4:20,21).

One cannot claim to love those whom God loves, other men and women. It is not only the Law that insists that people show love to one another, but the New Covenant has the same requirement for us.

The lawyer, no doubt, believed he knew and loved God as he should. But he obviously did not understand what was involved. The teachers of the day restricted the meaning of neighbor to include very few. So he asked, "And who is my neighbor?" The lawyer could recite the words of the Law, but had little concept of its practical implications. He was about to learn how far short of God's standard he and his nation fell in their keeping of the Law. And he was about to see a beautiful picture of the mercy of God in Christ.

The identity of the man who fell among robbers is not given, perhaps since Christ was about to point out that one's nationality and religion had nothing to do with being a neighbor. As he travelled, he was beaten and left for dead. As a priest of the house of God, the first passerby certainly knew the Law and his responsibility to keep it. His condition before God should have complemented his position in the house of God (the same remains true today). Yet this spiritual leader passed by the one on whom he should have shown mercy. Though he knew the Law, his love for God was not what it should have been to compel him to come to the aid of the fallen man.

The Levite who passed by a short time later was also a man whose occupation brought him in touch with the holy things of God. His activities in the house of God, at the very heart of the place of service, should have been the mirror of his, affection and reverence for God. His lack of mercy for the one in need shows otherwise. He valued his position in the house of God, without guarding his condition: a danger in our day as well.

The Lord was not implying that every priest and Levite was without compassion. But he was showing that the legal system these men represented was not the means of salvation. The law was not wrong; the condition of the people was. In fact, as Paul later wrote, "The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good" (Rom. 7:12). But the people were unable to keep the Law due to weakness of the flesh (Rom. 8:3). Their self-righteousness kept them from true righteousness which a relationship with God would have given them.

The Samaritan was despised by the Jews, an outcast of their society. Yet, in the Lord's story, the Samaritan saw the beaten man, and without regard for his own safety, ensured appropriate care was given and proper provision was made. This was significant to the Jewish lawyer. His own people had passed by. Yet here was one whom he despised who stopped and fulfilled the true meaning of the Law without regard to race or status. To the question, "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?" he replied "The one who showed mercy toward him". And Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same". He would only be able to do so after humbling himself before God.

The one whom the lawyer rejected as a neighbor in his teaching was the very one whom the Lord showed to be a neighbor in His teaching. The lawyer had sought to justify himself with his scholarly questions. Yet he was brought face to face with his own shortcomings and those of his people in their keeping of the Law. Eternal life is not simply a scholarly matter. It is a matter of the heart that has been made aware of its sinful condition, and aware of the One who has taken a dealing with that sin.

Paul wrote, "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith" (Gal. 3:24). Upon recognition of his own weakness to keep the Law, this man would have done well to enquire further about Christ. He might have asked, as did the man who came to Christ in Matthew 19, "What am I still lacking?" He was told to give up his earthly treasures "and come, follow Me". The man in Matthew felt he had kept the Law. This lawyer no doubt knew that he had not. Both needed Christ. The Law could not save.

On another level, this parable illustrates another Man who was despised and rejected by the Jews, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to where we were, totally unable to save ourselves, and lifted us up from death to life. Religious formality is powerless to save in any generation. Yet He is One

who displayed rich mercy in saving us and bringing us to a place of rest where care can be provided. He paid the price in order for that care to be provided and has promised to return with further reward. The Lord did that for us without regard for nationality, religion, or social status. He became our neighbor, needy as we were and unable to save ourselves.

This parable speaks further at another level: that is, the neighborly example of the Samaritan to those of us who have a relationship with God. Formal religious behavior that is based on the hollow traditions of men does not please God. Furthermore, even the habitual following of scriptural doctrines, without a love for the Lord and a desire to please Him, is not pleasing to Him. Such are illustrated by the example of the priest and the Levite. Their occupation in the house of God was commendable, but their spiritual condition was deplorable. Men will know that we are disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ if we show love for each other. Paul writes to disciples of the Lord and says: "Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself" (1:om. 15:1-3). To the Corinthians he writes: "Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor" (1 Cor. 10:24). Our neighbor is the one who needs our help. Ours is not to choose where and when we serve, but whom we serve. That will dictate the where and when. And we will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be neighbors who show the mercy of God to those who are in need of it.

The parable of the Good Samaritan instructs us at three levels: firstly, that eternal life is the result of relationship, not rules, for "if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly" (Gal. 2:21); secondly, that Christ is the One who became our neighbor to lift us from death to life and bring us to a place of care and rest; and thirdly,, that disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ should show that neighborly, Christ-like character as we "Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfil the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2).

(All scripture is from the New American Standard translation of the Bible).

Greg Neely, Toronto, Ontario, Canada | Mar 1991
The Lord's Parables