Who is My Neighbor?

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Who is My Neighbor? Luke 10:25-37 Introduction

MPS – The obligation of Christian love has no boundaries. We love God. We love our neighbor. We love our enemies. Why? Because God loved us! Luke 10:25-37 25

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

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Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36

Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Exposition I.

A Challenge (Vss. 25-29)

Our passage begins with a Jewish legal scholar questioning Jesus about the inheriting eternal life. Essentially, this Jewish lawyer wants to know what God’s law requires for His people. Or, to phrase it in a question: What does God expect of His covenant people? Jesus answers the lawyer’s question with His own question regarding the written law. Jesus is not interested in the traditions of the Jews. He is interested in what God’s Word says about inheriting eternal life as a child of God. The lawyer answers by reciting a summation of the law of God: Love God with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus is pleased with the answer and tells the lawyer, “You are right. Love God will all your being and your neighbor as yourself, and you will inherit the eternal life that belongs to God’s covenant people.” In other words, you will persevere to the end. You will enjoy the salvation that is coming for all God’s people who endure and remain steadfast in their faith. But the lawyer was uncomfortable with Jesus’ answer. Jesus had a way with people and their comfort levels. Jesus tended disrupt people’s presuppositions about life and religion.

If you have ever really studied Jesus, this has happened to you as well. If the Jesus you follow has never challenged you, made you uncomfortable, or causes you hesitate a little, it is because you are following a Jesus of your own making. You are not following the Jesus of scripture. The Jesus of scripture said difficult things and challenged long-held traditions and assumptions. And that is what was happening in our passage. The lawyer was a little uncomfortable with Jesus’ answer, so, according to verse 29, in an attempt to “justify himself,” that is, “justify his behavior,” he asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” T.S. – Jesus answers with a story in verses 30-35… II.

A Story (Vss. 30- 35)

In this story with a have a dangerous setting on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. It was about 17 miles long and people were frequently robbed and killed on the road. In Jesus’ story, an unidentified man is robbed and beaten by a group of robbers in the area. The thieves stripped him of all his clothing, leaving him naked and unconscious by the side of the road, left to die. Because the man was unconscious, there would be no way for him to identify himself verbally. Because the man was naked, there would be no clothing that would associate him with a particular religious group of common community. He was, as one scholar put it, “a mere human being in need.” So, as Jesus has set the stage, he introduces another character. A Jewish priest, and this priest seems to be caught between two tensions in his religious tradition. First, Jewish tradition taught that if a man were to see his fellow man “drowning, mauled by beasts, or attacked by robbers, he was bound to save the fellow man.” The Jew was not supposed to “stand by the blood of their neighbor.” In other words, the priest was obligated to care for the man, according to his own tradition. Yet, there were other traditions that seemed to exclude the possibility that the priest could help the fallen man. There were restrictions in their tradition regarding purity and the touching of dead bodies. If the priest came too close to the body of a dead man, he would be considered ritually unclean by his community. And if ritually unclean, he would be shamed for a season. So, the choice that the priest has to make is: do I “maintain my status within my supporting community,” or do I “reach out in freedom to the one in need beside the road?” We learn in verse 31 that the priest chose to “maintain his status in his own community” instead of reaching out and caring for the man who was about to die on the road. As the story progress, we encounter another character, this time a Levite. He was a member of the priestly tribe but not a descendent of Aaron like the priest who came before him. While the Levite served in some priestly roles, he was less restricted by tradition to care for the beaten man on the road. In fact, unlike the priest, the Levite not only looks at the beaten man but also moves in closer to get a look at him. And while we are not told why the Levite passed over the beaten man, it is safe to assume that his concern was more about his own safety and well-being than ritual purity.

Two Jewish people up. Two Jewish people down. Neither of the men helped the man who was lying beaten and half-dead by the roadside. Would anyone help the man? At this point, Jesus, to the horror of the Jewish lawyer, introduces another character, a Samaritan. Samaritans were despised by the Jews. Samaritans were considered unclean and heretics who insisted upon worshipping on Mt. Gerizim instead of Jerusalem. The Jews hated Samaritans, but in Jesus’ story, the Samaritan would prove to be the hero while the Jewish men would prove to be unloving to a needy person. For, it was the Samaritan, not the Jew that had compassion on the beaten man. And not just compassion in his heart, but compassion in his action. Look at what the Samaritan did for the man according to verses 34-35. He binds his wounds, provides oil and wine, places the man on his own animal, takes him to an inn to recover, and pays for him, making provision for even more payment if necessary. Now, let me ask you this question? Did the Samaritan chose to have compassion on the man because the beaten man was also a Samaritan? No. There is no indication whatsoever that the man on the side of the road was a Samaritan. Did the Samaritan take care of the beaten man because he was rich? No. Did the Samaritan take care of the man because he looked like he would be able to help him in some way? No. The Samaritan showed compassion without partiality. For all the Samaritan knew, the man could have hated people like him, but the Samaritan did not qualify the object of his love, compassion, and mercy. The Samaritan did not say, “You know, if I take care of this man, then maybe I will get something out of it.” No! The Samaritan saw the need, was moved with compassion, and he acted accordingly, taking risk, making sacrifices, out of love for the naked, beaten, forsake, halfdead man. T.S. – So, now Jesus has question for the lawyer? III.

A Question and Command (Vss. 36-37)

Of the three men, two of whom were your people, Jews, of these three men, who proved himself to be a neighbor? To this, the lawyer responded, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus acknowledged the lawyer’s right answer and commanded him to go be like the Samaritan. To go and do likewise, which means… Conclusion The question, “Who is my neighbor?” is the wrong question. Instead of asking, who is my neighbor, our question must be “To whom must I become a neighbor? To whom must I show mercy and compassion?” And, according to Jesus, it the one who is in need! Who is weak! Who is poor! Who is vulnerable! We are to show love, care, mercy, and compassion to the people who might ruin our religious and social reputations.

Loving our neighbor means getting our hands dirty, opening ourselves up to ridicule, making sacrifices, taking risk, and caring for those who cannot care for themselves! Loving our neighbor means going into the hard places of this city and loving those who have nothing to offer us in return. We, as followers of Christ, do not have the right to qualify who we will show love to in our lives and in this city. You may say, “Well, some people hate me,” and Jesus says, “blessed are you when you are hated and persecuted for my name’s sake.” You may say, “But those people cannot change,” and Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” You may say, “But I just don’t want to love my neighbor, and even more, I do not want to love my enemies. I want to love my people and that’s it.” And Jesus would say to you, “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” Those who follow Jesus, that is, true Christians, do not get to decide who is worthy of their love. Followers of Jesus will demonstrate their love for God, their neighbors, and their enemies in action, not mere emotion. If we will follow Christ, we will take up His cause to love those who are hard to love, because we too, were once hard to love. We were rebels against God. We were His enemies. Yet, while we are yet sinner, Christ died for us, demonstrating God’s love for us, that we might be saved and have the privilege of loving other as He has loved us in Christ Jesus. This morning, I am calling you, just as Jesus did the lawyer, to go and be a neighbor to people in this community. Do not qualify your love. Go and show mercy. Have compassion. Take risks for the sake of Christ this week. Get uncomfortable for once. Inconvenience yourself for the sake of Christ. You were made for this. You were made to love. Go, be like the Samaritan, because someone you once despised sought you in your broken condition, making you whole, forgiving you and having mercy upon you. This is what it means to follow Christ. This is what it means to live out your faith in Christ. Loving God. Loving your neighbor. Loving even your enemies, even as God in Christ loved you.