Anyone who has been a Christian for very long has heard the story of the Good Samaritan. Many people say this story was not real but just a parable by Jesus. The text never says this and seems to point to a true story of history. Jesus was being tempted by a lawyer into how he might receive eternal life. Lawyers are always trying to tempt people and many people were always trying to tempt Jesus. Jesus proceeds to tell the story of what we refer to as the Good Samaritan in answering the lawyer’s question.
(Luke 10:25-37 25 ¶ And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, 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.
28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.)
Let us look at the background to the story told by Jesus. In verse 25 we see a certain lawyer asked Jesus “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” This lawyer was not sincere in knowing how to be saved, but like a typical lawyer he was trying to tempt Jesus or in other words trick Jesus into saying something that contradicted scripture. Jesus as always when he was being tempted by someone turned the tables on the individual who was trying to tempt him. Jesus said to the lawyer “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” Jesus was saying you are a lawyer and an expert on the law of Moses and a teacher and yet you ask me such a dumb question as “What shall I DO to INHERIT eternal life?”. The question asked by the lawyer shows his ignorance as a person cannot do anything to receive an inheritance. If you have to do something for the inheritance then it is work and the inheritance is no longer an inheritance but rather your wages. An inheritance is something that someone else is giving you for nothing you have done. They did the work for you. The lawyer like most people always want to do works to get to heaven yet God says we are saved by grace and not by our works. (Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9Not of works, lest any man should boast.) People do not want to admit that we are never good enough to get to heaven on our own. Most do not want to admit that they are helpless individuals who must rely on Jesus rather than themselves for everlasting life. Jesus was telling the lawyer that you as a lawyer should know the law and that what is written in the law is that a person must obey the law with perfection if they want to get to heaven by works, but that the lawyer should know that that is impossible.
In verse 27 the lawyer says to Jesus “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 tells the lawyer in verse 28 that he has answered correctly and that he then had to obey the law perfectly as he had stated if he wanted to get to heaven by the law. The lawyer knew that that was impossible for a person to do so and in verse 29 he tries to weasel his way out by finding a loophole. Lawyers are great at doing this. The lawyer knew he had not always obeyed the law or anyone else and that Jesus had turned the tables on him and had trapped him. He knew he had to try and find a way out. The lawyer knew that he nor anyone else had always loved the Lord thy God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. No one ever has. In fact Jesus loved us first before we loved him. (I John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.) The lawyer was honest enough to himself to know that he had not always obeyed the law and he knew that breaking even one law would doom him so he knew he had to find a way out. He understood that it is the law of God, not the laws of God as it is all one. James says if you break even one point you have broken the whole law. A person may only have told a lie but they are guilty of breaking the whole law. (James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.) The part that really got to the lawyer was he had said that a person was to love their neighbor as thyself and Jesus said that he was correct and that he must do this for everlasting life. The lawyer knew he had many neighbors that he did not like so he tried to justify himself and get out of his predicament by saying to Jesus in verse 28 “And who is my neighbour?”. People are always trying to make themselves better than their “neighbor” in order to make themselves feel better. The way the lawyer stated the question was as if to say what do you mean by neighbor. Am I really to love the Gentile dogs or Samaritans or those who despise lawyers and have been mean to me? Do I really have to help the poor and give them my hard earned money? The Jews of his day hated the Samaritans especially and most Gentiles. The lawyers really hated them. Jesus knew this. Instead of coming to Jesus by faith as the worthless sinner that he was, the lawyer was still trying to justify himself and come to Jesus by works and the law. It was with the question “who is my neighbor” that Jesus proceeds to tell the lawyer the true story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus tells this true story to the lawyer to teach him that religion and the law will not save him or anyone else. In the story the priest represents religion and the Levite the law. The lawyer, as well as the Jewish people, were very familiar with both priests and Levites. In the story is also a wounded helpless man with no hope for survival who represents all of the unsaved who cannot save themselves. Religion (the priest) should be able to help this man and if not the law (the Levite) should. Jesus shows that religion and the law cannot save this poor man. Paul was a religious man before he got saved and what did he do in his zeal but beat and imprisoned Christians. Religion will never save anyone.
In verse 30 we see a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. The fact that Jesus says “a certain man” shows Jesus was speaking of a real certain person and not just any man and was not telling a parable. This can be seen in verse 25 when it says “a certain lawyer” whom everyone agrees was a real lawyer. This is also seen in Luke 16:19-31 which tells the true story of a certain rich man and Lazarus. This is also a true story and not a parable as many people falsely teach. Jesus as God is omniscient (all knowing) and knew about this man and his encounter on the Jericho road. Jericho was not far from Jerusalem and was known as a sinful city. The road to Jericho was full of robbers and thieves who waited for people as they traveled and going to Jericho led a person to sin. Jericho was physically down from Jerusalem at a lower elevation, but was also down spiritually from Jerusalem. In scripture the directions given relate to Jerusalem physically and spiritually. Jerusalem was the location of the temple and in theory the most holy people and the city of God. It was also located on a mountain. In scripture, going down represents going down spiritually from God. The person moves away from God and towards sin. This can be seen even with Abram who went down into Egypt to a land of sin. God told Abram to settle in the Promised Land and not in Egypt. When a famine hit, instead of trusting God, Abram went down to Egypt and away from God. (Genesis 12:10 ¶ And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.) We see in verse 30 that this certain man on his way down to Jericho was beaten and wounded and robbed by thieves who even stole his raiment (clothing) and then left him half dead. This certain man was walking the wrong road as he traveled. He was walking the broad road of destruction. He had his back to Jerusalem, the city of God and his face toward the sinful city of Jericho as he headed down to the city. This man’s life was also heading down spiritually just as he physically was headed down to Jericho. This led the man to be attacked. When we turn our backs to God, this opens the door for us to be attacked by Satan.
In verse 31 we see a priest who by chance came upon him as he was walking down from Jerusalem to Jericho, but instead of helping him he crossed over to the other side and continued on his journey leaving him to die. The priest who represents religion shows how religion cannot save anyone. When this man truly needed help, the priest (religion) abandoned him and passed by him on the other side of the road. This is what religion does. It abandons a person’s soul to hell as it cannot save anyone. It will leave you to die as this priest did. The priest was going to let this man just die and he would have been guilty of killing the man if the Good Samaritan had not stopped to help save this man’s life.
In verse 32 we see a Levite comes by and also leaves the wounded man to die and he also passes by on the other side of the road. The Levites helped with duties in the temple. Both the priest and Levite pass by on the other side so they will not even have to look at him or hear his moans and cries for help. It is the belief of “out of sight out of mind”. This is what these men were trying to do. The Levite, who represents the law, showed by passing on the opposite side that the law just like religion cannot save anyone. The law can only point a person to the fact that they are a sinner in need of a Saviour in Jesus, but it will never save anyone just like religion. (Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.)
I have heard many preachers and Sunday school teachers say the priest and the Levite could not stop and help this man because if they did they would become polluted and unclean and then they could not perform their duties at the temple. Priests were assigned to the temple for only a week at a time and only during certain times of the year. This is false teaching as verses 31 “came down a certain priest” and 32 “And likewise a Levite” show the priest and the Levite were headed down from Jerusalem on the Jericho road just like the man that was attacked. This shows that both the priest and Levite had completed their duties in Jerusalem and where heading home and therefore they had no excuse for not helping the wounded and dying man. These men were supposed men of God yet instead of helping the man, they went to the other side to avoid him.
In verse 33 we see a certain Samaritan saw the man and had compassion on him. The phrase “a certain Samaritan” again shows this was a real person and not just a parable being told by Jesus. The Samaritan was hated by the Jews of which the wounded man most certainly was a Jew, yet the Samaritan saw him and had compassion on him. The Samaritan represents Jesus as the Great Physician. Jesus had compassion on everyone who has ever lived. He had so much compassion that he gave his life for sinners like all of us so that people may call upon him for salvation and receive the free gift of everlasting life.
In verse 34 we see the Samaritan had more than just compassion for the man. He actually did something for him. He bound up (tended to) the man’s wounds as best as he could, then placed him on his beast while he walked and then brought him to an inn to receive help and rest. The Samaritan in essence change places with the wounded man by now having him on the beast while the Samaritan was walking on the ground. This is what Jesus does for us. He took our place on the cross and he washes our wounds of sin away with his own blood, binds them and then gives us rest by having us cast our burdens on him. The Samaritan used his expensive oil and wine to try and help this man just as Jesus as God humbled himself by becoming a man and has given Christians all of his wealth. A person can only be healed by the great Physician of Jesus. Only Jesus can heal a sin laden heart. Oil in scripture represents the work of the Holy Ghost by anointing and the wine represents the cleansing of the person by the word of God in Jesus. The person must be anointed (convicted) by the Holy Ghost first before they can receive the wine. Wine as an alcohol is a cleansing agent. Notice the Samaritan applied the oil first and then the wine. Many people are like the Samaritan in that they have compassion on people but unlike the Good Samaritan they never stop to actually help the person, especially to tell the person about Jesus. In this verse we see how the wounded man never tried to help the Samaritan, but rather let the Samaritan do everything. He never refused the help of the “enemy” in the Samaritan. When people are dying they will usually except help from even their worst enemy. This represents how people must come to Jesus as they are and let Jesus do all the work and healing and never try to help Jesus with salvation. The Samaritan brought the dying man to the inn which represents the church. It is here that the man could receive the gospel and the help he needed. The church needs to teach people to do like this Samaritan and go out on the Jericho road and bring in the lost to tell them about Jesus.
In verse 35 we see how the Samaritan left two pence and paid the man’s bills, a man he never had met. Two pence was two days wages and here represents God’s unlimited wealth. He told the innkeeper that when he came again he would give him more money if it was needed, just to make sure he took care of the wounded man. Jesus paid our sin bill with his death on the cross and Jesus has promised us Christians access to all of his wealth and promised us he will return for us one day. The two pence represents the only two things we all need; the Holy Ghost and the word of God. The word of God gives us the gospel and the way of salvation and the Holy Ghost convicts us of our need to be saved and our need for a Saviour.
In verse 36 Jesus asks the lawyer which of these three was neighbor unto the wounded man. Was it the priest, Levite, or the Samaritan? Jesus stated that these men were all neighbors of the wounded man by his question. Jesus was showing the lawyer that “our neighbor” is not just the person that lives next door to us, but is everyone that we come into contact with. We as Christians need to remember this true story and be neighborly by telling everyone we see about Jesus so that we may lead them to Jesus and save their souls from everlasting fire and damnation.
In verse 37 the lawyer tells Jesus that the neighbor is the one who showed mercy. The lawyer still never learned his lesson as his hatred for the Samaritans still exists as he cannot even say the name Samaritan, but rather says “He that shewed mercy on him”. Jesus tells the lawyer to then go and do likewise. Jesus had taught the lawyer and all of us a lesson in this true story. Jesus had taken what was a foolish question from a lawyer who was supposed to know scripture and who had tried to trick him and turned the table on him by showing him the failure of trying to get to heaven by religion, the law, and his works and that instead he needed to trust in Jesus as his Saviour. The same applies to all of us. Jesus taught us that everyone is our neighbor. Remember this true story and not a parable as many falsely teach and its lesson to not only help our “neighbors”, but also to never take the broad road down to Jericho which leads to destruction and hell, but to always take the narrow road that goes up to Jerusalem and leads to salvation and everlasting life.
