Who is My Neighbour?

The Parable of the Good Samaritan 

Luke 10:25-37

I read the account of a study that a certain seminary conducted with its preaching class. They asked each of the students to prepare a message on the “Good Samaritan” for a radio broadcast. The seminary then arranged for a man to feign a heart attack on the sidewalk in front of the students as they were on their way to preach the sermon. As I remember the story, in every instance the seminary student stepped around the “dying” victim to hasten on to deliver his sermon on the “Good Samaritan.” I must confess that I find the story somewhat believable.  

The primary enemy that our Lord Jesus faced during His three-year ministry here on Earth was organized religion and those religionists who sought to destroy Him.  This was the same group that stoned Deacon Stephen. 

Luke 10:25-28 indicates the attempt to trick our Lord Jesus and quieten Him.

.25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life? ”  Jesus answered with a question,  26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He, the lawyer, answered, “ ‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

The expert lawyer ‘having failed to quieten Jesus with his first question, posed a second question to our Lord.  I am thinking that the lawyer thought that he would certainly defeat our Lord with his second question:  29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus answered by answering the lawyer with a parable which is a story with a meaning. We would probably say that Jesus gave an illustration. 

 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.

Our Lord ‘ then pointed out the weakness of organized religion. 

31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.

32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

Both the priest and the Levite were professional religionists and checking on wounded wayfaring strangers was not on their scheduled job descriptions. Besides if the man was dead and the priest touched him, he could not perform his priestly duties for seven days.  They may have thought it to be a trick.  Anyway, they both looked the other way and continued their journeys without attending to the wounded traveler.

 Jesus continued by referring to a Samaritan.  The orthodox Jew considered a Samaritan to be a racially impure, segregated outcast.

33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.

34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Early in my days of pastoral ministry, I was the pastor of a church that had prospect visitation on Thursday evenings.  As I left my home to go to the church for visitation, I noticed that a new neighbor was standing in his front yard.  I thought that this was a good opportunity to meet him and invite him to church but if I did, I would be late for organized visitation, I waved, and he waved and smiled.  I went on without stopping.  My question as I look in the mirror is “Frank, who is your neighbor?

                                                                                                                                                                Frank Gillham

Bring Them In

1 Hark! 'Tis the Shepherd's voice I hear,
Out in the desert dark and drear,
Calling the sheep who've gone astray,
Far from the Shepherd's fold away.

Refrain:
Bring them in, bring them in,
Bring them in from the fields of sin;
Bring them in, bring them in,
Bring the wandering ones to Jesus.

2 Who'll go and help this Shepherd kind,
Help Him the wandering ones to find?
Who'll bring the lost ones to the fold,
Where they'll be sheltered from the cold? [Refrain]