“And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke 10:25 (read 25-37)
To this question from a man who sought to be justified by his own works, Jesus responded with God’s law. We are to love God with all our being and to love our neighbours as ourselves (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18). This lawyer, wishing to justify himself but, perhaps, now a little troubled over his own lovelessness for his neighbour, questioned just how far this command extended with the question: “And who is my neighbour? ”
With the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus teaches us that our neighbour is not only the man or woman next door, our friends, or even those we might consider worthy of our love and respect. Our neighbour includes anyone and everyone with whom we in some way have contact or the ability to help and serve. Our neighbour includes all people.
Like the good Samaritan, we should care for the stranger in need, even if he is our enemy! We should not be as the priest and the Levite in this parable who, probably out of fear for their own safety, passed by the man who had fallen among thieves and was in need of help. They failed to love their neighbour, but the Samaritan gave of himself to help. If we truly love our neighbours as we love ourselves, we will use every opportunity and do all that we can to help those in need.
Jesus told the parable in answer to a Jewish lawyer who was testing Him with the question: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” When Jesus asked him, “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” he answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” Jesus responded: “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.”
And, if a person were able to do this perfectly, he could earn his way into heaven; but “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and “there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Eccl. 7:20). No one has such perfect love for God! And while men may think they love their neighbour, this parable reveals our utter failures here, too!
But all who have come short of the demands of God’s perfect Law are also “justifi ed freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). We cannot justify ourselves with God’s commandments as this Jewish lawyer sought to do; but through faith in Christ Jesus, who died for our sins and rose again, we stand forgiven and justified in God’s sight (Rom. 3:28). Then, as a fruit of our faith, we seek to love our Lord and Saviour above all things and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves (1 John 4:19ff.)
“Oh, teach me, Lord, to love Thee truly with soul and body, head and heart, and grant me grace that I may duly practice fore’er love’s sacred art. Grant that my every thought may be directed e’er to Thee. Amen.” (The Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn #399, Verse 5)
[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture Taken from the King James Version of the Bible.]