The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE GOOD SAMARITAN
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE GOOD SAMARITAN
Lesson Plan:
1. The Greatest Thing in the World (v 25)
2. Jesus Shows the Way (vs 26-28)
3. The Lawyer (v 29)
4. The Lawyer's Question Answered (vs 30-37)
Lesson Setting:
Time: A.D. 29. December. Soon after the last lesson, "Mission of the Seventy," early in the
Perean ministry
Place: Northern Perea, beyond Jordan.
Research Thoughts: What is eternal life? What is necessary to obtain eternal life? What do you understand by "loving God with all the heart?" What by loving one's neighbor as himself? Who are represented in modern times by the priest and the Levite? Why did Jesus represent the good man as a Samaritan? What can we do to fulfill Jesus" command, "Go, and do thou likewise?" Compare what Jesus taught here with what He taught in Matthew 25:31-40.
Introduction: In our last lesson, "Mission of the Seventy," we saw Jesus, His work in Galilee completed (Matt. 19:1, 2), now beginning His work in Perea, the region beyond Jordan. He sent seventy of His best trained disciples, next to the twelve, across the fords of the Jordan a few miles south of the Sea of Galilee. To reach this ford they passed through the northern part of Samaria where the events recorded in Luke 9:51-62 took place; and the work of the seventy, described in our last lesson, followed. Jesus had now "steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem" (Lk. 9:51), where He knew that four or five months later He would die for the sins of the world. He marched a hero, doing His duty of saving others at the cost of His life.
Illustration: Just before a battle, Oliver Cromwell's men would look at their general, and whisper to each other, "See, he has on his battle-face." When they saw that set, iron face, history reveals they felt defeat was impossible. Thus Pompey, when hazarding his life on a tempestuous sea in order to be at Rome on an important occasion, said, "It is necessary for me to go: it is not necessary for me to live." The seventy returned with joy to Jesus, who Himself by this time had crossed the Jordan, saying, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. "And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you." This was the assurance of their success. The powers of evil, though they be principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12), shall fall before King Jesus. The disciples would meet opposition as sharp as serpents" teeth, and persecution and enmity as tormenting as a scorpion's sting, yet they made even these a help and nothing could prevent them from their triumph. But lest they should be tempted to become self-important and thus ruin their spiritual power, Jesus warns them not to rejoice in their power over evil spirits, the most difficult of their wonderful works, but to rejoice in being a part of the kingdom of heaven.
Scripture Reading: Luke 10:25
1. The Greatest Thing in the World
Eternal Life: As usual Jesus was teaching and preaching on His journey where His disciples had previously awakened an interest in His coming. The fact that the lawyer rose up to speak to Jesus implies they were probably in a house or synagogue. The question seems to have arisen from something Jesus had said in His discourse, probably on the life everlasting.
v 25 ... "a certain lawyer," ‘one learned in the law, an interpreter and teacher of the Mosaic law’ (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). Among the Jews, civil and religious laws were interwoven.
v 25 ... "stood up," indicating his desire for a discussion.
v 25 ... "and tempted him," not in the sense of trying to get Jesus into trouble with the authorities, but rather testing or trying Him about whether His teachings were wise and good, and in agreement with, or different from the teachings of the scribes. The lawyer tested Jesus by some of the controverted questions of the day.
v 25 ... "saying, Master," or Teacher, equivalent to Rabbi, or Rabboni. Jesus and the lawyer were both acknowledged teachers.
v 25 ... "what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" How can I as a child of God inherit from my heavenly Father, and so have possession of, eternal life? Eternal life cannot be earned nor bought, but only inherited by children from their Father. "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son" (1 Jn. 5:11). "If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17). Eternal Life: (a) Eternal life is, in the highest degree, a spiritual life. In other words, the soul in which each faculty and power is active and focused in the direction for which it was made. (b) Eternal life is not merely eternal existence, but that kind of life which naturally endures forever because it lives according to God’s eternal laws of spirit. It is the divine life, like God’s life. It is life belonging to heaven, inspiring all heavenly beings and making heaven what it is. It is a life full of the best things, perfect love, perfect joy, perfect activities, perfect character and everything making life worth living. (c) Eternal life is the one thing most to be desired. It is the question every person should ask: What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Eternal life is the ideal and goal of all true living, "The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Every wise man says from his heart with Paul, "I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." And most of all the young should face this ideal and goal. This desire is not just for ourselves alone, but for the whole world. The lawyer’s question can be wisdom for every statesman; wisdom for every ruler; wisdom for every voter; wisdom for every patriot; and wisdom for every neighbor. What shall I do so that my country, all countries, may inherit eternal life? The first requisite in the steersman of a family, a church, a state, a nation, as of a ship, is a knowledge of its goal. No helmsman, however experienced in seamanship, should be trusted to guide a vessel unless he can specify the direction (and to what port) it should go.
Scripture Reading: Luke 10:26-28
2. Jesus Shows the Way
No Socratic reasoner ever equaled our Lord in argument. Jesus, in the most natural manner, referred the lawyer to his own authorities, and said "What is written ...?" (v 26) It was the lawyer’s business to know God’s law.
v 26 ... "in the law" the answer to the question is plainly given. Jesus did not express an opinion, but referred him to the Scriptures, which both believed. Thus Jesus avoided all carping criticism and all opportunity for fault-finding with His teaching.
v 26 ... "how readest thou?" The usual rabbinical formula when Scriptural evidence was wanted; perhaps implying a little more, viz., ‘To what effect’ have you read the Scriptures? Draw out the answer from the fountain of truth. Some conjecture that Jesus pointed to the lawyer’s phylacteries, on which the first passage quoted was always written.
The Lawyer: "And he answering" (v 27) quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, and Leviticus 19:18, probably a well-known summary. The first of the two laws was written on the phylacteries the lawyer wore when he prayed, reciting it morning and evening.
v 27 ... "Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God." This is the first duty of all God’s creatures. He is worthy of love. He is lovable and attracts love. As soon as a right-minded person sees God as He is, especially as revealed in Jesus Christ, he is drawn to love Him. This love is also the best, the noblest, the most elevating, purifying, enlarging act of the soul.
v 27 ... "With all thy heart." The word, ‘heart,’ denotes in general terms the affection and will; affectionate choice, "the love of conscious resolve, expressed with will, which must at once become a second nature" (Cremer’s Biblico-Theol. Lexicon). "The heart is the center of all physical and spiritual life, the soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavors" (Thayer’s N.T. Greek-Eng. Lex.).
v 27 ... "And with all thy soul." The ‘soul’ is the individual existence, the person himself, the seat of the will, dispositions, desires, character. The two words, ‘heart’ and ‘soul,’ are united to teach that the entire undivided person must share in that which it has to perform with the heart. "The soul, according to Jesus, is a man’s inmost self; the seat of his conscious personality, inherently immortal, precious beyond all price" (Hastings’ Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels).
v 27 ... "With all thy strength." The whole power of man must go into this love. Not only all the heart, but the most intense power of all the heart. Not only man’s whole mass, but our whole mass heated to the highest degree. In other words, not only all the soul, but all the soul at its strongest and best. The greatest momentum of a person is made up of the whole mass moving with all the velocity of which it is capable.
v 27 ... "With all thy mind." True love has its intellectual and reasonable side. It is not blind. And love always exalts the mind, enlarges the intellect, and stimulates thought.
v 27 ... "And thy neighbor as thyself." Love is that principle in the heart from which flows the Golden Rule. Love is the perfect keeping of all commandments regarding the duties to our fellow-men. "Love is the fulfilling of the law."
Jesus: "Thou hast answered right" (v 28). The lawyer’s authority was Scripture, not tradition. Hence, his answer agreed with the teachings of Jesus.
v 28 ... "This do, and thou shalt live." Have eternal life. The spirit of love is the spirit of eternal life, the life of heaven. It makes us children of God, and therefore His heirs. Note: In the Greek there is an enlightening use of the tenses of the verb "do" which cannot be expressed by the English verb. In the lawyer’s question, "What shall I do?" (v 25), "doing what" shall I inherit eternal life? "The tense implies that by the performance of some one thing, eternal life can be secured. What heroic act must be performed, or what great sacrifice made. The form of the question involves an erroneous view of eternal life and its relation to this life" (Int. Crt. Com.).
v 28 ... "This do, and thou shalt live." But Jesus’ reply in the present imperative, means "Continually do this, not merely do it once for all; with special reference to the form of the lawyer’s question" (Int. Crt. Com.). The reason why perfect love is eternal life is because perfect love to God and man is the perfection of character and life both for the individual and the world. It is the life of God Himself. It is the life of angels, and of all the perfected children of God. It is heaven itself. When a man is told that the whole of religion and morality is summed up in the two commandments, to love God and to love our neighbor, he is ready to cry, like a friend from Montana at the first sight of the sea, 'Is this the mighty ocean? Is this all?' Yes! all; but how small a part of it do your eyes survey! Only trust yourself to it; launch out upon it; sail abroad over it; you will find it has no end; it will carry you round the world. Love is the seed plot of all virtues. It is the tree of life, bearing fruit by the River of Life, whose very leaves can heal Nations. Out from it grow the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, the Fruits of the Spirit, the Spectrum of Love described in 1 Corinthians 13.
Illustration: "Love is a compound thing. Paul tells us. It is like light. As you have seen a man of science take a beam of light and pass it through a crystal prism, as you have seen it come out on the other side of the prism broken up into its component colors – red, blue, yellow, violet, orange, and all the colors of the rainbow – so Paul passes this thing, love, through the magnificent prism of his inspired intellect, and it comes out on the other side broken up into its elements. And in these few words we have what one might call the spectrum of love, the analysis of love. Will you observe what its elements are? Will you notice that they have common names; that they are virtues which we hear about every day; that they are things which can be practiced by every man in every place in life; and how by a multitude of small things and ordinary virtues, the supreme thing, the summum bonum, is made up?" (Dr. William Harrison).
Scripture Reading: Luke 10:29
3. The Lawyer
v 29 ... "But he willing (‘wishing’) to justify himself," made himself appear right both to his own conscience and to Jesus. The very asking of the question showed that he was not sure that he had lived up to the standard he had quoted. His conscience troubled him, even in his self- righteousness, lest he might have failed somewhere in this high ideal. Jesus’ objective was to make this lawyer see himself as he really was, a sinner in the sight of God, and thus inspire him to seek help and forgiveness from Jesus the Messiah. The Lord wanted him to enter upon that new life which would be the beginning of eternal life, growing into the fullness of its blessing and glory.
v 29 ... "Said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?" The degree in which he had kept the law of love depended on the answer to this question. If his neighbor meant his personal friends, he may have kept the law in some measure, or, at least, had come much nearer than if "neighbor" included a wider circle. Doubtless this was a disputed question among lawyers. For the streets of Jerusalem were filled with a motley group, gathered from all quarters of the globe. And it was a serious question to this Jewish lawyer as to who had the right to claim from him the duties of a neighbor.
Scripture Reading: Luke 10:30-37
4. The Lawyer’s Question Answered
v 30 ... "A certain man went (‘was going’) down from Jerusalem to Jericho," a distance of eighteen miles. "We may believe that the narrative is not fiction but history. Jesus would not be likely to invent such behavior, and attribute it to a priest, Levite, and Samaritan if it had not actually occurred" (Int. Crit. Com.). Jerusalem is 2400 feet above sea level, and Jericho is 825 feet below the Mediterranean, so that the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho descended more than 3200 feet, or three-fifths of a mile. The road was a dangerous path (not like our roads), lying much of the way in a deep ravine through soft rocks in which caves and chambers abounded. It is still advisable to have an escort on that road. The spot is unmistakable. About halfway down the descent from Jerusalem to Jericho, close to the deep gorge of the Wady Kelt, the sides of which are honeycombed by a labyrinth of caves, in olden times and to the present day the resort of free-booters and outlaws, is a heap of ruins marking the sight of an ancient Khan. Not another building or trace of human habitation is to be found on any part of the road.
v 30 ... "And fell among thieves." Highway robbers, bandits. Van Doren wrote, "Forty thousand workmen were dismissed from work on the temple of Herod at this time." Perhaps some of these may have turned to robbery for a living.
v 30 ... "Stripped him of his raiment," implying that he was despoiled of everything he had. v 30 ... "And wounded him," by inflicting blows upon him. "Beat him," in the R.V. The Priest: "And by chance" (v 31), more correctly "by coincidence," "providentially." There is not any word in the New Testament meaning chance, luck, fate, or arbitrary fortune.
v 31 ... "There came down a certain priest." This priest was on his journey from Jerusalem, possibly to Jericho, one of the homes of priests. Perhaps he had completed his regular week of Temple service. There his duties would have been threefold: ministering at the sanctuary before the Lord, teaching the people the law of God, and inquiring for them the divine will (Davis’ Bib. Dic.). This service should have made him particularly inclined to do works of mercy and help those in need. Instead ...
v 32 ... "he passed by on the other side," Plenty of excuses could have arisen in his mind, such as: hurrying to reach home; robbers might attack him; the man might die in his hands, involving him in endless trouble; someone else who had more time will see to the wounded man.
The Levite: "And likewise a Levite" (v 32), also probably going home after his service in the Temple. A Levite was one of the tribe of Levi; a priest was of the family of Aaron in that tribe. The Levites performed the humble services of the Temple, as cleaning, carrying fuel, and acting as choristers. Levites were also writers, teachers, preachers, and literati. The scribes and lawyers were frequently of this tribe, which, in fact, was set apart by Moses as the intellectual body in the nation.
v 32 ... "Came and looked on him." But resisted the impulse, and like the priest "passed by on the other side."
The Samaritan: "But a certain Samaritan" (v 33). The Samaritans were a mixed race, descended from a commingled ancestry of Jews and unbelievers at the time of the captivity of Israel (2 Kin. 17:24). They accepted the Pentateuch only, as their Bible. They were believers in the true God. They did not accept the rest of the Old Testament because that was a history of the Jews only, who refused to allow the Samaritans to worship with them (see Jn. 4:9).
The Samaritan: "as he journeyed" (v 33), "making a journey, presumably longer than from Jerusalem to Jericho, fully equipped for a long journey, and so in possession of means to help, if he have the will" (Expositors Greek Testament).
v 33 ... "and when he saw him he had (‘was moved with’) compassion." "That sacred feeling will keep him from passing by, though tempted by his own affairs to go on and avoid trouble and loss of time, as ships may pass by other ships in distress, so deserving ever after to have branded on them antiparelthen, i.e., Passed By On The Other Side" (Bruce, Exp. Gk. Test.).
v 34 ... "Bound up his wounds," requiring personal care and gentleness.
v 34 ... "pouring in (on them,’ R.V.) oil and wine," the usual remedies in the East, commended by Greek and Latin physicians.
v 34 ... "set him on his own beast," while he himself walked along beside him. His care must have consumed considerable time, exposing him to danger from robbers.
v 34 ... "brought him to an inn," more like our hotel than the common khan of Luke 2:7.
v 34 ... "and took care of him." Giving personal attention, which is always more costly and more blessed than money.
v 35 ... "And on the morrow ... he took out two pence" (denarii) from his girdle, worth two day’s wages (Matt. 20:2). The Samaritan paid a considerable amount ... "whatsoever thou spendest more," etc. He did all he could consistent with his other duties ... "I will repay thee," no doubt with a slight emphasis on the "I," meaning, "You know me." He apparently expected to return to the place of his business. He was probably a regular customer at this Inn.
Jesus’ Question: "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him" (v 36), to have become neighbor by neighborly action.
The Lawyer Answers: "He that showed mercy on him" (v 37). "This story teaches the whole doctrine of neighborhood. First, and directly, what it is to be a neighbor, namely, to give succor when and where needed; Next, indirectly but by obvious consequence, who is a neighbor, namely, anyone who needs help, and whom I have opportunity and power to help" (Exp. Greek Test.).
Jesus Brings the Truth Home: "Go, and do thou likewise" (v 37). Then you will know that you have eternal life. Now the question was no longer one of understanding the law, but obeying it. Not, "Who is my neighbor," but, "Do I love him?" Am I seeking to find my neighbor? Are we truly neighborly? Compare the conditions given in Matthew 25, where the good deeds enjoined are not substitutes for faith, prayer, love, and honesty, but the proofs of a right heart, from which all virtues grow. The fruits of the Spirit are the proofs of the Spirit.
Applications to Modern Times: (a) the road to Jericho runs by our own doors, through every place of business, along every country road, freeway, and city street. There is no lack of opportunity. (b) From the day that Christ died for sinners until now, Christianity has been trying to save the weak, the unworthy, and the neglected and downtrodden. It does not compel the elimination of the weak in order to produce the strong. Here Christianity is immeasurably superior to Darwin’s cosmic process. Not only does it give the weak a chance to live, but it makes service to them a means of promoting or developing sainthood. (c) "It is no mere sentiment, but meant to be embodied in act. Exquisite emotions tend to evaporate like waste steam, instead of driving the wheels of yesterday. An ounce of help is worth a ton of sympathy. Feelings without action harden the heart. Beneficent action without feeling does little good. But the perfection of both is when every throb of pity is incarnated in a deed, and a wise head plans and a swift hand executes what a loving heart prompts for the help of a neighbor" (Maclaren). (d) Both as individuals and as a nation, we are to treat the poor, despised, outcast, and degraded, as our neighbors, giving them all possible aid, not passing them by on the other side. Christians are to treat Indians, Asians, Jews, Arabs, African Americans, prisoners, the poor and ignorant as our neighbors. Almost every town and city; almost every part of our nation has some portion of this problem. The only solution is that which Christ gives in this lesson.
