I love this parable told by Jesus. Many believers, including myself, mis-read this story and thanks to my senior pastor at church, he revealed Jesus in this parable and the truth will blow your mind, as it did mine.
The parable goes like this,
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”
28 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, 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.
34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’
36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
I’ve always felt a little burdened by what I understood from this parable. Are we supposed to take care of strangers we see half-dead? It just felt so “over”, to do so much good and take care of others who are hurting.
But let’s read very carefully, did Jesus ask, “Which of these three do you think the man was a neighbour to?” The half-dead, beaten man was not the neighbour. We are not told by Jesus to love the half-dead man. It was the Good Samaritan, He who showed mercy on the man, who was the neighbour! And who was Jesus talking about? Himself! Our Lord Jesus is our neighbour. So when Jesus said, we are to love our neighbour, it means we are to love Him who has shown mercy and compassion, taken cared of us when we were half dead!
And we know how the Samaritans were rejected and detested by the Jews back in those days, just as how Jesus was rejected in Israel. And yet, he had compassion on the man, unlike the religious priests and Levites back in those days. Jesus was talking about Himself and we are to love our Lord Jesus, who loves us so! Simple as that!
As Jesus said in Matthew 22:36-40,
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Love your neighbour as yourself; love Jesus as yourself.
Hope you enjoyed this sharing. Definitely one of my favourite bible parables to date! Thanks for Pastor Prince for revealing our Lord Jesus in all his sermons. Praise be to God!
Leave a reply