12th Sep 26 | 04:00
Studies by Book
The Good Samaritan
📖 Luke 10:25-37
*Faith in Christ demonstrated by works* _(Luke 10:25-28)_
_James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also._
The question of the lawyer to Jesus was, “Teacher, What shall I *do* to inherit eternal life?”
Our Lord began from the place of what the lawyer knew very well, which was the law. So, the Lord asked the lawyer what was in the law and how did he read and understand the law. The lawyer answered correctly and the Lord told him, “...*do* this and you will live”.
Now, if we would look at the passage in the Gospel of John, we will read there, something, that seems contrary to what the Lord is saying in Luke 10:28.
In the Gospel of John and in the sixth chapter, the people were looking for Jesus because they had eaten of the bread and the fish _(John 6:26)_. The Lord confronted them to seek, instead, for eternal life. They then replied by asking Jesus, “What shall we *do*, that we may work the works of God?” _Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you *believe* in Him whom He sent." John 6:29_
We need to know that there is no inconsistency in the statements of our Lord but we have the opportunity here to embrace a grand experience of life, in Christ Jesus.
On one side is the emphasis of faith and belief to inherit the promise of eternal life _(John 6:27-29/Galatians 3:18/3:10/3:26/2:21/Romans 4:13-16)_. On the other is the statement that Jesus made to the lawyer after he had quoted the law, _And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." Luke 10:28_.
The clue to this riddle is how it is explained for us in the second chapter of the epistle of James. The essence of James’ explanation is that faith must be demonstrated by works. If faith is not demonstrated by works then faith is dead _(James 2:17,20,26)_. Faith alone cannot save a man _(James 2:14)_.
*Thought to ponder*
```Imagine the impact the church would have had on our world, if only, all of us, all the time, were to demonstrate our faith, through our works.```
*Jesus living His life from within us* _(Luke 10:29)_
The lawyer answered correctly to his own question, which was, “Teacher, what shall *I* do to inherit eternal life?” _(Luke 10:25)_ This was a personal question raised by the lawyer and not a generic one. Nevertheless, when Jesus said that he now needed to live out, what he had answered so well, this man strove to justify himself _(Luke 10:28-29)_.
God sees the heart. Nothing can be hidden from His sight. We endeavour to justify ourselves before people and somehow, we even begin to imagine that God too, would see us as righteous. We are actually attempting to establish our righteousness before God _(Luke 16:15/Romans 10:3)._
The Pharisee stood up and prayed with himself _(Luke 18:11)._ We can see, right there, the problem of the Pharisee. He was all about himself. He had no real relationship with God. His prayer was a prayer of justifying himself _(Luke 18:11-12)._ Whereas, the tax collector cried to God, a prayer of brokenness and repentance _(Luke 18:13)._ It was the tax collector, who was justified before God and not the Pharisee _(Luke 18:14)._
It is the heart that God sees _(I Samuel 16:7)._ There the Lord sees that we are not aligned to His ways. The Lord has revealed His ways to us. Our attitude towards people is an important matter of the heart that God tests in us. God has given to us His yardstick of relating with people around us _(Leviticus 19:34)._
When we look into our own hearts, before God, in the light of His benchmark of relationships with people, we realise that we fall terribly short of His expectations. It is at this point, where the healing process of God, needs to begin to take place, in each of our lives.
It begins with brokenness and repentance as expressed by the tax collector but that is just the first step. Realising that we do not have the right attitude of God, towards people around us, we turn to Jesus, seeking His forgiveness, surrendering ourselves to Him, to be crucified together with Him, and then we rise with Christ in the newness of the Spirit, in order to love people, the way Jesus would _(Romans 8:2-4/10:4)._
Believing in Christ Jesus is righteousness _(Galatians 3:11)_ but faith without works is dead _(James 2:14/2:26)._ What this means is that Jesus is alive in us and it is His resurrected life that operates from within us, by faith, and we express the resurrected life of Christ _(II Corinthians 4:10)._
One of those expressions will be the way we relate with people around us, as Christ would.
*Thought to ponder*
```Is the resurrected life of Christ, operational, from within you?```
*He enables us to love people* _(Luke 10:29-37)_
The first question of the lawyer to Jesus was, “Teacher, what shall *I* do to inherit eternal life?” _(Luke 10:25)_. He now wanted to justify himself by asking the second question, which was, “And, who is my neighbour?” _(Luke 10:29)._
The story of the Good Samaritan, narrated by Jesus, was an answer to both the questions of the lawyer.
What is the message of the story? The message of the story is compassion. The Samaritan had compassion on the man, who was injured. The lawyer displayed resistance to the matter of compassion, as he was not willing to even utter the word ‘Samaritan’ from his lips _(Luke 10:37)_, for the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans _(John 4:9)._ The Priest and Levite, also did not demonstrate compassion. They saw the injured man but compassion was a quality that they did not want to take on, though their life was altogether, God related _(Luke 10:31-32)._
The Samaritan, however, was the one, who truly demonstrated the character and nature of God. He had compassion of the injured man _(Luke 10:33-35/Matthew 9:36)._
To learn this lesson, we must first be honest to accept that to a large extent, the Lawyer, Priest and Levite, in the story, represent us. This is our big struggle. We are quick to say that the Lawyer, Priest and Levite did not do right, in what they said and did but are we willing to accept that they are nothing but our representatives? They were who we are, on an everyday basis.
Secondly, are we willing to admit that we do not have it in ourselves to be compassionate to people around us? We are, essentially, selfish. This is where we come to be crucified with Christ and the life, which we now live is lived by faith in Him, who loved us and gave Himself for us _(Galatians 2:20)._ We always carry in us the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus is manifested in us _(II Corinthians 4:10)._
The resurrected life of Jesus, being lived out, in and through us, is visible in our mercy and compassion, to people around us _(Hosea 6:6/Micah 6:8/Matthew 20:28/Ephesians 5:2/Luke 6:32-36/I John 3:16-18/I John 4:10-11)._ The life of Christ, which is of being compassionate and merciful to people, is a quality that we demonstrate, individually, as well as, as the church _(Ephesians 3:18-19)._
If we do not have compassion and mercy on people around us, we do not have eternal life.
*Thought to ponder*
The church MUST exhibit mercy and compassion on people, as it is the nature of Christ.
*New creation in Jesus for good works* _(Luke 10:37/Matthew 25:31-46)_
The Lord commissions all of us to go and do as the Good Samaritan had done _(Luke 10:37)._ This was in response to the two questions raised by the lawyer. The first being, “Teacher, what shall *I* do to inherit eternal life?” _(Luke 10:25)_ and the second was, “And, who is my neighbour?” _(Luke 10:29)._
To understand and implement the commission of the Lord, we need to look at the last judgment that is explained for us in _Matthew 25:31-46._
People will be divided into two groups, the goats on the left and the sheep on the right. The one on the right, the sheep are being seen/called as blessed/righteous _(Matthew 25:34, 37, 46)._ Whereas the ones on the left, the goats, are being judged by the Lord as cursed _(Matthew 25:41)._
What was the difference between the two groups? The difference between the two groups was the attitude of the heart. For the first group, the blessed and righteous ones, caring and blessing people had become natural for them. They did not care for people to prove their spirituality before God or because they were doing it to the Lord _(Matthew 25:40)._
The attitude of the heart of the second group, the goats, is chilling. Their answer to the judge was, when ~we~ did we see you in need? In other words, they are revealing that if they had known that it was the Lord, then they would have cared for those in need.
Does this not expose us, friends? Our so called, spiritual activities seem to be all done from compulsion and with a motive to meet the demands of demonstrating our allegiance to God. We are like the lawyer, the priest and the Levite. We somehow think that we must earn our salvation. Our love for people is not natural. If we truly desire to love people from our hearts, let us realise that the old man of the flesh must be done away with and we need to rise anew in Christ _(Romans 6:6-11)._
Love for people must become our very nature, which is possible, when we die to our self with Christ and rise with Christ, in His resurrected life_(II Corinthians 4:5/Galatians 5:13/I Peter 1:22/I John 3:14/I John 4:11-12/I John 4:20-21)._
God called those, who loved their neighbour as righteous. We know that righteousness before God is by faith _(Romans 1:17/3:21-22)._ We also know that faith without works is dead _(James 2:14, 17, 20, 24, 26)._ What therefore is the holistic understanding that we need to have for our everyday life?
The answer is _Ephesians 2:8-10._ We have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation is a gift from God to us. Salvation is not by works. We cannot earn our salvation by good works but we have been saved by grace through faith, for good works, which ~is~ God has made possible already for us, in Him, that we should live a life of loving and serving people.
*Thought to ponder*
If the expression of our salvation is partial, loving God only, then the Day of Judgment will be petrifying
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