Remember, the man asked Jesus the question, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ Luke 10:29, and so, Jesus is now going to go on to tell him the parable we call ‘The Good Samaritan’. And I say we call it ‘the good Samaritan’ because never once does Jesus call the Samaritan good.
Notice that a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho,’ Luke 10:30. It’s important to note that they were leaving Jerusalem to go to Jericho because this will remove any false ideas later concerning why the priest and Levite didn’t help the man. It’s been well documented that the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was an infamously dangerous road.
This poor man was attacked by robbers, and they stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead, Luke 10:30. In other words, they were ruthless in their attack and left the man in a hopeless, life-or-death situation unless someone helped him.
A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, we would think he would have stopped to help but he didn’t, he passed by on the other side, Luke 10:31. The priests served in the temple at Jerusalem twice a year for a week at a time, 1 Chronicles 24:1-19 / Luke 1:5 / Luke 1:8-9.
Next, we read of a Levite, a descendant of the tribe of Levi and who served as the assistants and helpers for the priests in the various activities within the temple, 1 Chronicles 23:24-32. When he came to the place and saw him, we would think that he would stop and help the man, but he didn’t; he, too, like the priest before, passed by on the other side, Luke 10:32.
As I mentioned at the start there is a false idea that the priest couldn’t help the man because he was on his way to serve in the temple and if he touched the man he would become unclean, Numbers 19:11. However, as I mentioned at the start, he’s not going to temple to serve, he’s leaving Jerusalem to go to Jericho, Luke 10:30. He’s going down the same road in the same direction, Luke 10:31-32.
Next a Samaritan, who was a descendants of the mixed race of people who inhabited the northern region of Israel following Assyrian captivity, 2 Kings 17:25-34, came where the man was and when he saw him, he took pity on him, Luke 10:33. But he didn’t stop there, he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, Luke 10:34.
Oil and wine were used in Bible times for soothing and as a form of antiseptic. But he didn’t stop there; he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him, Luke 10:34. Taking care of him probably meant taking care of all his provisions.
The Samaritan continued to look after the man, notice the next day he took out two denarii, which was around two days work of pay. He gave the money to the innkeeper and tells him to look after him, and when he returns, he will reimburse him for any extra expense the inn keeper may have, Luke 10:35.
It’s interesting to note that the inn keeper appears to be happy with his arrangement, suggesting that he may know the Samaritan and he could be trusted to do what he says he will do.
Jackson, in his commentary, says the following.
‘A day’s lodging would cost about one twelfth of a denarius; hence, he left expenses for about three weeks’ care.’
It’s now that Jesus asks the expert in law this question, ‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’ Luke 10:36. And the expert in law whom Jesus is addressing replies, the one who had mercy on him,’ Luke 10:37.
Every parable had a point or a purpose; they were told to get the listeners to think for themselves. They were always designed to get a response, a change in attitude or a change in action in those who heard them. And so, Jesus gets to the point, and He tells the man, ‘Go and do likewise, Luke 10:37.
Jesus is saying to that man, I know you understand how to get eternal life, Luke 10:35, because you answered the question correctly, Luke 10:27-28. I know you understand what I’ve just said to you through this parable, but here comes the hard part: go and do it, Luke 10:37. Love all people, have mercy on all people, not just the Priests, not just the Levites, but all people. Love even those Samaritan people that you can’t stand to be around.
And notice the Law expert never even mentioned the word ‘Samaritan’. He answers correctly to Jesus’ question, but he says, ‘the one who had mercy on him,’ Luke 10:37. We don’t understand just how much the Jews hated the Samaritans. This guy hated them so much he wouldn’t even use the word ‘Samaritan’, never mind call him a neighbour, Luke 10:29.
Remember in John 4, when Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well? After the disciples went away to buy some food, it says ‘Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’ John 4:27.
Now, why were the disciples surprised? Well, not just because she was a woman but also because she was a Samaritan woman. Even she was surprised when Jesus, a Jew, was willing to speak to her, a Samaritan.
That’s why she said to Jesus ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” For Jews do not associate with Samaritans,’ John 4:9. The Jews hated the Samaritans. This man’s answer to Jesus must have hurt his Jewish pride so much that he couldn’t even say the word ‘Samaritan’.
To understand a parable, we first need to understand the original text. In other words, what did the parable mean for those who first heard it? Some people have become experts at making every little detail mean something in a parable.
For example, people will say that the priest and the Levite couldn’t help the man because of religious reasons. They will try and find out who the robbers were and who they stood for. People fail to see the point, and we get so tangled up in the text sometimes, trying to get a point from every little detail, we end up missing the main point.
We forget to ask the first question: what did it mean to those who were listening? When Jesus was telling this man this parable, the man wouldn’t listen and then think to himself, Who’s the man who was robbed? Who were the robbers? He knew exactly what Jesus was talking about.
The lawman forgot the Law because of traditions. The lawman was just like the Priests and the Levites; they paid lip service to the Law. They forgot what God said to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion,’ Exodus 33:19. Mercy to a Samaritan was the last thing in that Jewish man’s mind.
But by the time Jesus had finished, the lawman knew that Jesus was saying to him, ‘I don’t want lip service, I don’t want sacrifice.’ So what did Jesus really want him to understand?
The parable was about the Jews getting rid of their racist attitude towards the Samaritans, that is, the Gentiles, and instead of treating them as outcasts, getting them to treat everyone justly and with mercy, Matthew 23:23. It’s about loving your neighbour as you love the Lord and yourself.
The Samaritan did exactly what the priest and the Levite should have done. The Samaritan did what the lawman now needs to go and do. In other words, he needs to practice what he preaches. But my point is this: not all parables can apply to us today, but we can still learn many lessons from them.
So now that we understand what the parable meant to that lawman, we can go on and see what we can learn from it ourselves. The lawman only asked Jesus the question, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ for this reason, he wanted to justify himself, Luke 10:29.
In other words, he wanted to make himself out to be a blameless and a Law-abiding Jew. And so what Jesus did in the way of this parable was to get him to look at himself. So that the lawman could see his own sinfulness and see just how far from the Law he really was.
When it comes to justifying ourselves of sin, we have all become experts. And that’s because we all have different standards about the Law or God’s Word. In other words, we can all give a good reason for not doing something we shouldn’t be doing.
Or in the case of the lawman, something he should have done. Sin isn’t just about the things that you shouldn’t do, like gossiping and drunkenness. But sin is also not doing the things that you should be doing, James 2:2-5.
There may be poor people in the world’s eyes, but they may be richer in faith than we are. Poor people have as much right to the kingdom of heaven as you and I do. The lawman had to learn to treat all people the same, whether they were a Jew or Samaritan, Jew, or a Gentile.
Because the Gospel is not just about believing, it’s about doing, and if you don’t do for one, which you would do for another, then that is sin in God’s eyes. It’s all very well preaching and talking about the needy; it’s all very well having our after-worship chats about those in need. But if we just talk the talk and don’t walk the walk, we’re sinning, James 2:15-17.
That’s what the priest and the Levite did in the story, Luke 10:30. They were going somewhere, but so was the Samaritan. The only difference was that the Samaritan stopped to help.
We can stop and help people, we can stop and share the gospel with people, because wherever we go, we can wait. We may not be able to stay long with them, but you can arrange to catch up with them again later. That’s what the Samaritan did, Luke 10:35.
He didn’t just help the man and then leave him to it; he went back to make sure he was OK. Let’s not make excuses for not helping people and try to justify ourselves. Let’s practice what we preach because we love our Lord and show our neighbours how much we love them.
The real question the lawman should have asked Jesus was, ‘Master, how do I love my neighbour?’ But he didn’t ask that, he asked Jesus, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ Luke 10:29. And we should be asking the question that the lawman should have asked. Jesus, how do we love our neighbours? We love our neighbours by helping our neighbours with the love the Lord has shown us, Galatians 5:6.