First, let's look to Luke 10:25-29 as follows;
One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking Him this question: "Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?" Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it"? The man answered, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul all your strength and all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself." "Right" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live." The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
We have discussed these verses many times. We blog often on loving and loving one another. I have written many times that loving God and loving one another are the two greatest commandments. I, myself don't give them their importance, Jesus does. When we look at these verses perhaps we come up with similar questions like, "who is my neighbor?" or "how do I love people out there?" We may wonder what such love looks like. Jesus' response is one we all know and is a wonderful example of putting this teaching into practice.
For Jesus' response let's look at Luke 10: 30-37 as follows;
Jesus replied with an illustration: "A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes and money, beat him up, and left him for dead beside the road. By chance a Jewish priest came along; but when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side."
"Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man he felt deep pity. Kneeling beside him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with medicine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two pieces of silver and told him to take care of the man. If the bill runs higher that that, he said, I'll pay the difference the next time I am here."
"Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits," Jesus asked. The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy." Then Jesus replied, "Yes, now go and do the same."
In this we see a man beaten and robbed. We also see a man of faith, a priest who we can imagine teaches about the ways of life. We see him pass by and wonder, why? We then see a temple worker pass by as well, and again we wonder why a man so attached to the temple would pass by? Then we see the Samaritan, despised by the Jews, despised by those who taught and worked in the temple, stop. The Samaritan generally despised and thought of as being dirt himself, knelt in the dirt and had compassion on this man and showed him mercy. He surely had plans as he was on a road going somewhere but his compassion led him to surrender his plans for the needs of this stranger. That in itself is a great picture.
This Samaritan had a one seat vehicle and gave that seat to this man. He let him ride the donkey while he walked along side. His compassion led him to sacrifice his comfortable ride so another could be helped. He led the man on his donkey to an inn where he got a room and tended to him even more. Once he felt the man was okay to leave the Samaritan's generosity caused him to pay the innkeeper for the room, the food and beverage and whatever else he had used in caring for the man. Not only that, he left enough money for the man's future needs while he was away. The Samaritan's integrity led him to promise the innkeeper that if the man needed more, give him what he needed and he would be repaid upon his return.
The Samaritan's compassion for this man led him to be merciful to the man, he surrendered his plans for the sake of this man, he sacrificed his ride on the donkey for the comfort of the man in order to get him to a place where he could heal, his generosity led him to provide for the man's needs and his integrity led him to provide for any needs he might have while he was gone with a promise to pay the innkeeper for any extra charges.
Let us ask ourselves how far we would make it in this story. Would we stop and help? Would we stop, help and transport? Would we stop, help, transport and linger to care for him? Would we stop, help, transport, linger and pay for all his needs? Would we stop, help, transport, linger, pay and return for such a man? In light of Jesus giving this illustration of what loving our neighbor is, and who our neighbor is, how well do we love our neighbors? How far does our love go?
When Jesus was done with this lesson He said, "Now go and do the same". How well do we "do the same" as Jesus instructed?
Compassion and love lead us to do many things, to go beyond, to sacrifice, to be generous, to set aside our lives for a time to walk along side another. Compassion and love lead us to stand at the side of a loved one in times of loss. It allows us to be the strength a friend needs to get through a tough time. Compassion can bring out the best in us.
The world teaches us to get and grab what we can for ourselves and let others deal with their own lot. We may often see the world view of others as not our responsibility. We may think that it is everyone for themself. It may make sense to hold onto our money rather than help a stranger. We may think our plans are more important than stopping to assist someone.
How does Jesus respond to such beliefs. How does He respond to maybe the priest and the temple worker having such beliefs. Jesus points to the Samaritan and says, "go and do the same". This is what loving looks like.
Love somebody. Love everybody.