Luke 10:25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” ESV
This parable begins with a question, not out of curiosity but to test Jesus. “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus is not troubled by being tested nor does He consider the lawyer’s question a sign of ignorance. In fact He assures him that the lovely words he’s memorized from the Shema are the truth to live by. I know all about having faith based on the “right” memorized words and how wide the gap can be between them and the power of faith behind them, until we recognize Jesus came to bridge that chasm with His parables.
Part 1: The Test — The Memorized Answer — The Assurance
There is a hangover flaw of sin in the heart that makes us content to be confident in the memories of what we already know; to just put our head down and move along to avoid any messy, uncomfortable challenges. But our challenge as students of the Bible is to dare to test Jesus. Jesus’s challenge is to dare us to learn beyond our memorized answers. Jesus knows our reality better than we do. His encouragement is to acknowledge the truth of what is already memorized and to create a new structure of learning that supports the desire to think and remember more.
Part 2: The Attackers — The Victim
Don’t miss Jesus’s identification that these attackers are “robbers.” They are thieves who will attack an unprepared traveler without mercy to steal everything and leave their victims behind with nothing but their nakedness, and near death.
Part 3: The Priest — The Levite — The Samaritan
The ordained, respected one passes by “on the other side” to insure he will be clean enough to perform the rituals and sacraments required of him somewhere else. Next, one of God’s own chosen tribe, singled out for special service to assist in worship chooses to pass this unclean man by “on the other side” too. “But a Samaritan”…the outcast…is the one who remembers compassion and interrupts his own journey to make caring for this defiled, broken man his business.
Part 4: The Unlikely Neighbor — The Result…Mercy
Martin Luther King noted that the priest and the Levite asked ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ The Good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I don’t stop to help him, what will happen to him?’ a Mercy that prompts action is what turns memorized answers into truth that reveals faith.
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