“Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.” —LUKE 10:30-35
1. WHAT DO WE SEE IN THIS STORY?
In the story of the Samaritan, we are brought face to face with how Christian
The question asked by the religious expert tells us a lot about his heart.
He wanted to know if he was really
While Jews despised Samaritans and Samaritans equally despised Jews, in this parable, we find a Samaritan coming to the aid of a Jewish man.
The reality is that we are called by Christ not just to love those who are like us, but also those we don’t like.
Christian love
2. WHERE DO WE FIT IN THIS STORY?
Parables are both mirrors and windows.
The mirror allows us to see something about ourselves
The window allows us to see something about God
As we look into the mirror of this story, what do we see about ourselves?
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead” —Luke 10:30
The audience wouldn’t have been a shocked to hear of a man who traveled alone being robbed and beaten on this road, but of the three characters who saw him lying there dying, the one that stopped to help would have caused jaws to drop.
A. The Priest
“A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.” —Luke 10:31
b. The Levite
“In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.” —Luke 10:32
c. The Samaritan
“He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. Samaritan gave up his own animal for the wounded man to ride upon. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.” —Luke 10:34-35
AS WE LOOK INTO THE MIRROR OF THIS PARABLE, WHAT DO WE SEE ABOUT OURSELVES?
While we all want to look into the mirror of this parable and see the Samaritan staring back at us, the truth is, we’ve probably see more of the Priest and Levite.
THE OBVIOUS QUESTION THAT WE HAVE TO WRESTLE WITH: Where do we begin?
We begin where this Samaritan began. We ask God to give us
AS WE LOOK INTO THE WINDOW OF THIS PARABLE, WHAT DO WE SEE ABOUT GOD?
While story of the Good Samaritan is a very practical story that challenges us to
When we look into the window of this Parable we are reminded of our Good Samaritan, the Lord Jesus, and what He came to do in this world.
This parable proved to the lawyer that he’d not kept the law perfectly because like the Priest and the Levite, he’d failed to love his neighbor.
“Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.” —Luke 10:36-37
The lawyer, and
GOOD NEWS: Through the window of this parable, we see that the Good Samaritan is a picture of