The Good Samaritan

Weekly Update – October 23rd, 2025 

It was great to have Daniel Good back with us last Sunday. He preached from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21.  It was a good bookend for what we had been looking at the previous two weeks in Luke 10:1-24 and our being sent into the harvest. This week we will be back in the gospel of Luke looking at the parable of the Good Samaritan.

As the parable begins, we have a lawyer who comes up to Jesus and asks him what he needs to do to ensure that he has eternal life. Jesus masterfully turns the question around and asks him what he thinks the Scriptures say. This lawyer replies in Luke 10:27, “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.” This lawyer has surely answered correctly. In fact, Jesus gives this same exact answer in Matthew 22:37 when he is asked what the greatest commandment in Scripture is. But knowing that he cannot live up to these commands perfectly, the lawyer then asks a follow-up question. He says in Luke 10:29, “And who is my neighbor?” In those days it was believed that those who were Jewish considered only other Jews to be their neighbors. In fact, the Pharisees held that only other Pharisees were their neighbors. So in their own minds you had many who knew the commands of God, but yet they found loopholes that allowed them to justify their sin. It is with this in mind, the desire to find a loophole, that the lawyer asks this question.

From here many of us are familiar with the parable. Jesus says that a man is robbed, beaten and left for dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. A priest and a Levite both ignore this half-dead man and pass by him on the opposite side of the road. Two men, who would have been revered by society, fail to show compassion. But then, a Samaritan comes along. Not only does he stop, but he inconveniences himself, bandages up the man’s wounds, puts him on his own donkey, and pays for his care. The Samaritan showed the right response to a man who was in need of help. 

Now here is the point that Jesus makes. In Luke 10:36, Jesus asks the lawyer, “Which of these do you think proved to be a neighbor?” The lawyer is without excuse. He replies, “The one who showed mercy towards him.” Jesus then concludes, “Go and do the same.” Many would take this closing conversation and conclude that we should follow the example of the good Samaritan and help people on the side of the road and give people in need a place to stay. Yes we should do that, but there is more to this parable. Jesus here is teaching us that beyond serving those who are our neighbors, we should desire to show mercy and compassion on all people, regardless of who they are or what the circumstance. 

This lawyer wanted to justify himself so that he could pick and chose who he showed mercy too. He wanted to justify himself so that in his own mind he could live up to his own standard of devotion to God and love for neighbor. But the truth is that none of us can live perfectly up to that standard. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, “There is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.” So even if we could justify helping some and neglecting others, we would still fall short of perfect obedience. That is why God sent his son Jesus Christ who lived in perfect devotion to his father and who perfectly loved his neighbor. Jesus Christ came, lived and died for our sin and our falling short of perfection. And when we turn from our sin and follow Jesus Christ, we have the mercy of God extended to us in forgiveness. It is this mercy that motivates us to love all and show mercy to all. We shouldn’t seek to justify our lack of devotion to God, but instead we should remember the mercy of Jesus Christ who gave his life for those he came to save. And in remembering this mercy, we too show mercy like the good Samaritan, but even more than that, we show mercy just like Jesus showed mercy to us. 

It is interesting that this parable comes right after Jesus sending the 72 into the harvest. For as the 72 come back and give their joyous report (10:17), Jesus gives thanks that the Father has revealed salvation, not to the wise and understanding, but to little children (10:21). Therefore, when the lawyer stands up seeking his own justification, we see that the one who is “wise and understanding” doesn’t get it. The question shouldn’t be, “what can I do to inherit eternal life”, instead it should be, “How can I show mercy.” The answer to that question leads us to see our need for grace through Jesus Christ alone.

Serving Him with You,

Pastor Michael Nelson