Go And Do Likewise - Luke 10:25-37

Most of us know this story.

Uh in fact, the story, the parable of the Good Samaritan, has turned a phrase, a good Samaritan, into a cultural phrase that's in secular culture.

You might read of someone who did a very nice thing that was unexpected as a good Samaritan in the newspaper or online.

Unfortunately, however, certain uh familiarity with scripture sometimes makes us emotionally numb or unattached to the sad and shocking nature in stories of scripture.

We can imagine this story initially made the person that it was told to pretty uncomfortable.

And maybe, just maybe, this story is meant to make you a little uncomfortable today.

Because Jesus tells this story in response to a man who knows his Bible and knows it well.

He knows the right answers.

But in the story, he is trying to figure out something that all of us are tempted to think through.

And that is, how good do I really have to be to follow Jesus?

How good do I have to be to be saved?

How far does obedience in my life with Christ really go?

And instead of giving him a neat definition, Jesus tells a story that exposes his heart.

He points backward to the mercy we've graciously received, church, and he points forward to how we're supposed to show the same sort of mercy to our neighbor.

There are four points in this morning's message.

If you follow along, maybe you have a sheet of paper that you got as you walked in, four main points.

We'll walk through them as we walk through this familiar story.

And I pray the Lord would do a work that I cannot, that He would convict, train, teach so that we're more like Jesus.

Would you pray with me?

God, we pray for just that.

You know more than anyone else in this room my fallibility, any insincerity or sin, any ongoing struggles, my incompleteness.

And yet, Lord, this morning you have called me to preach your word, which is perfect and complete, lacking in nothing, so that we might be more like your son, perfect and complete and lacking in nothing.

Lord, we do know that we still struggle with it, sin.

Um, Lord, this side of eternity.

Yet, Lord, by your spirit, help us understand your word that we might better represent your son and enjoy all that you've given us as we ought to.

In your name we pray, and for your glory we aim.

Everybody said.

Amen.

Four points.

Point number one: the law exposes the heart.

Look with me in verse 25.

And behold, a lawyer stood up and put Jesus to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Let's make one thing clear.

When you read lawyer, most likely you think of someone who works with the law of our city and maybe, you know, represents someone in court.

That is not the case in this story.

This sort of lawyer is an expert in the law of God, the Mosaic Law, the 613 commands in the Old Testament.

He is a theologian and a city theologian.

And Luke immediately tells us his motivation for asking Jesus this question.

In order to put Jesus to the test.

So let's make one thing clear by the question and the response Jesus gives.

This is not an uninformed man sincerely asking Jesus how salvation works.

He is intending to put Jesus to the test.

He is knowledgeable about the scripture.

And as Luke will later tell us, he does so in order to justify himself.

Jesus sees what's in his heart.

That's the key to the whole conversation.

Self-justification.

That's what this man wants.

Verse 26, Jesus responds to the man.

He says, Well, what's written in the law?

And the man, of course, knows the law.

How do you read the law?

The man quotes from the book of Deuteronomy, and he quotes from the book of Leviticus.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Well, how does Jesus respond?

Jesus says, You have answered correctly.

Do this and you will live.

Okay, there are questions.

What does Jesus mean by do this and you shall live?

At first glance, it may even seem as Jesus is teaching a sort of works-based salvation.

Is Jesus advocating for that?

Do this and you'll live?

I don't think so.

In fact, absolutely, that's not the case if you read the rest of Scripture.

What I think Jesus is doing here when he communicates, do this and you shall live.

Jesus is implicitly communicating that the man had never perfectly done this.

Yeah, do this and you shall live.

I think Jesus is pressing the man's answer to its full weight.

You want life through obedience?

Okay.

Then actually obey.

Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might, with all your strength.

And your neighbor, do not love them occasionally or when it's convenient, or when you agree with them, love them all the time as you love your own self.

Jesus' words remind us of Leviticus chapter 18, where he said, of course, he being God, the one who does God's statutes shall live by them.

Leviticus 18 · chapter mention

So here's the problem.

None of us ever have or will ever meet that standard.

None of us.

That's why Paul will later say in Romans chapter 3, by works of the law, no human being will be saved.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

So I don't believe Jesus is giving a standard by which the man can justify himself.

Rather, he's showing the man never has lived by that standard and never can live by that standard.

How should we think about the law?

And Jesus' interaction from with this man who is a lawyer.

Well, the Bible tells us that God's law is holy, it is perfect, and it is good.

It promotes good in the society He created, and it restrains evil in the society He created in the old covenant.

But we also know the Bible teaches us that God's law is insufficient to save.

You see, God's law is holy, perfect, and good, but it just shows us we are not wholly perfect and good.

It shows us we never will be.

It shows us we will never meet God's standard, and so we need God's undeserved help.

You might say it like this.

The law is not a means of salvation, it is the proof that we need it.

The law was meant to point to the fact that those who lived under it never lived under it perfectly and would need someone to come and rescue them.

Guilty.

God did not give the law in the Old Testament as a ladder by which an individual could like climb and reach heaven, but rather as a mirror by which we would see the imperfections of ourselves that we might look up to God for help.

So back to the story.

Jesus is essentially saying to the man questioning him, okay, if you want to approach eternal life on the basis of obedience to the law, then the standard that you just set is the standard.

Go for it.

Go for it.

Go actually do it.

Love God perfectly and comprehensively.

Love your neighbor as naturally and consistently as you love yourself.

And you know what?

Our text actually kind of helps us understand that.

That's Jesus' intention.

Jesus is pressing the man's inability to do so because look at the man's response.

He knows he doesn't meet the standard.

That's why he, quote, desires to justify himself.

The man doesn't say, Great, I've done that.

Showing an ability to keep the standard, neither does he respond, then I'm in trouble.

Admitting his inability to.

What does he do?

Well, he starts narrowing the command in order to find a way that he fits the part.

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

It's been said before, self-justification looks for loopholes.

Narrows commands.

The man does not say, Jesus, how can I be more loving?

He says, Who?

How far does this command extend?

Who counts?

And, you know, implicitly, who doesn't count?

You know, Leviticus chapter 19, verse 18 says, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, which in that context referred to God's people Israel.

Leviticus 19:18

But not so many verses later in the same exact chapter of the old covenant, it said to welcome the sojourner who lives among you, love them as you love yourselves.

Chapter 19, Leviticus verse 34.

See, the the lawyer is trying to kind of find the boundaries of the law so that he can justify himself within those boundaries.

Hear me.

This is how our hearts work.

Naturally, this is how our hearts work.

Aren't is it not?

What are the limits of obedience?

And then can I justify my behavior to fit within those limits so I can feel better than other people?

Do I really have to forgive that person?

Well, don't you know what they did?

Is it really my responsibility?

I mean, there's other people in place for that.

Sometimes I fear the desire to um precisely define obedience is really a desire to limit obedience.

With the way, I mean if I can be just honest, with the way Christians as a whole justify their sin, and with the way some Christians as a whole justify their apathy so well, one would think we might believe we deserve heaven.

I've loved my neighbor fairly well.

I mean, who really fits in that category, right?

Well, Jesus next points out a problem through a story, and the problem in the lawyer's heart is that he merely loves those that are lovable.

And so he believes the law justifies him rather than exposes his sin.

He has an improper view of the law and a much greater view of his own heart.

And Jesus is about to expose that with one story, and the story is the one you know.

The story, if we're in point number two now, you see unexpected mercy come from an undesired person.

Look at verse 30.

Jesus replied, There was a man.

He was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

Let me explain some context here.

Uh if you know maps well, you know that's not technically down as far as cardinal directions go.

He's not going south, he's going north.

And so down doesn't mean uh like he's going south.

Down means he's going down from the hill of Jerusalem, which is 2,500 uh feet above sea level, down to Jericho, even though it's northeast, which is about 800 feet below sea level.

And he was going on this path that was notoriously dangerous.

And he's going alone.

Someone takes advantage of him.

Some robbers do.

The man, it says, fell among robbers.

They robbed him, they stripped him, they beat him, and they left him half dead.

He's lying there with no help.

But good news it seems, there is a priest.

And a priest walks by.

Now, a priest was a descendant of Aaron, who served in the sacrificial and temple system of Israel.

They offered sacrifices, they taught God's law, they pronounced blessing, they represented God to Israel and represented Israel before God.

In the story, when Jesus says a priest was going down the road, everyone would have thought, okay, here comes a religious man.

Surely he will help.

Does he?

No.

He sees him on the road, and the text says he sees him.

He didn't miss him.

He sees him on the road and he goes around him.

He crossed to the other side.

So here we have a man publicly associated with the worship of God failing to love a person lying in front of him.

The priest passes.

But good news, there's another person, and that person is a Levite.

A Levite was a person from the tribe of Levi, and that's the tribe that the priests come from.

However, all priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests.

If you were a Levite and not a priest, you would help in certain duties within the temple.

You might assist the priests.

You might help in the music, you might help in the cleanup, you might help in guarding the temple or temple service or sacred duties.

So here we have yet again another recognizable religious servant.

Again, he comes to the place where the man was and he sees him.

Did he miss him?

No, he did not miss him.

The text says he saw him.

And yet he walked around him.

Yet again, another man publicly associated with the worship of God, failing to love a person in need, lying in front of him.

So by this point, Jesus' audience has heard Jesus say, a priest offered no mercy.

A Levite offered no mercy.

Now, you should know that neither one of those men were looked at upon or looked upon as villains.

Certainly not.

They were people who brought the news and message of God to bear before their people.

That was their responsibility.

To help them in sacrifice and in worship to God.

These are the guys that you expect to get the Bible questions right.

And that's what makes the story sort of uncomfortable.

Now, you may hear or have heard that the reason that they avoided the man on the road was because he looked half dead, and maybe he it might even be a corpse at this point, might have been unconscious.

I mean, it certainly didn't look like he had much hope.

And they avoided him because they did not want to become ceremonially unclean.

And there's certainly background to that.

Numbers chapter 19 addresses a corpse's uncleanliness.

Numbers 19 · chapter mention

Priests had particular cleanliness obligations according to Leviticus 21.

The problem is, Jesus never tells us why the men went around him.

Jesus never says that.

And I think that's probably intentional, by the way.

Jesus offers these men no excuse.

None.

However, they tried to justify themselves in the moment.

You know, I've been serving a lot of people in the temple.

This is my time to rest.

You know, I just went through a cleanliness procedure and I obeyed God's law.

I don't have time for this, lest I'd not be able to serve other people.

However, they tried to justify it themselves, they saw suffering and they kept walking.

And Jesus gives them no excuse.

But a third man, a Samaritan, walks by.

This is where the audience would be pretty shocked.

It's not a Jewish man, it's a Samaritan.

Here's the deal.

Most of you already know the story, and you know what's happening next.

And so you might be a little emotionally numb to like the great contrast between Jews and Samaritans and how Samaritans would not normally help a Jew or vice versa.

Please don't move too far past that.

In Israel's history, there was a split that took place after King Solomon and the kingdom of God's kingdom divided northern and southern.

Okay.

And there was nothing that could be seen about Samaritans that was good.

The word Samaritan bad to the Jewish audience.

Well, after the kingdom divided in Israel's history, the northern tribes, of course, went north Israel, southern tribes, south Judah, and Judah's where Jerusalem was.

Okay?

In 722, Assyria came in and conquered the northern tribes, deported some.

There was a bunch of people who came in and moved and moved out and around.

And now you have in Israel's history, Israelites intermarrying with pagan cultures, producing the Samaritan people.

Over succeeding centuries, the division between the northern and southern tribes, kingdoms, grew greater.

Jews regarded Samaritan religion as corrupted.

Samaritans regarded themselves as faithful worshippers of Israel's God.

By the time of Jesus, hatred was ingrained into the culture.

John chapter 4, verse 9.

John 4:9

Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Luke chapter 9, just a few verses ago, by the way, in Luke chapter 9, a Samaritan village rejects Jesus, and we see James and John pretty quickly say, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

Luke 9 · chapter mention Luke 9 · chapter mention

Didn't think twice.

It was an immediate thought.

Like Sodom and Gomorrah.

They hated him.

Think about that.

In chapter 9, the disciples want fire to fall on the Samaritans, and now in chapter 10, Jesus makes the Samaritan the hero of the story.

Isn't that interesting?

The Samaritan, as he journeyed, look at verse 33, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine.

Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.

And the next day he took out two denai and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you need to spend, I will repay you when I come back.

Listen.

The priest saw.

Him.

The Levite saw him.

But the Samaritan saw him, and listen to this, had compassion.

It's that word compassion that's really important.

It's a word that Luke only uses a few more times.

The two other times that Luke uses that word compassion.

It is the compassion Jesus has for a widow in Nain.

The other time that word compassion is used in the Gospel of Luke is it's used when the father welcomes back his prodigal son.

It's a deep, like gut-level mercy that runs towards suffering, runs in love.

So look at all the man does.

The Samaritan went to him, bound up his wounds, poured oil and wine, put on his own animal, brought him to an end, paid for his safekeeping, and then promised to cover any additional expenses he might accrue until he returns again.

This is above and beyond.

So hear it, please.

Let me read this sentence carefully and see if you can follow along.

The despised man saw a half-dead person with no hope of helping himself, and then has the compassion that is described of Jesus and of the Father.

That compassion moves him to go to him, to rescue him at his own cost, and to provide care for him until he returned again, even promising to cover any cost of anything he may do before he returns again.

And he does this all for someone who under normal circumstances would have had uh would have wanted to do nothing with him.

Do you see it?

Do you see it?

Because I cannot help but see a connection to Jesus in our gospel here.

Now I know Jesus in the story is primarily teaching us about biblical love and compassion, about being a neighbor and showing mercy, but isn't the greatest picture of that kind of love Jesus Himself?

Point number three, and please don't move past this.

The mercy Jesus commands, the man and us as well by extension, is the mercy Jesus has shown us in his cross.

The kind of mercy Jesus commands in the parable of the good Samaritan is the mercy Jesus, our great Samaritan, the despised one, has shown us when we were dead.

You know, before asking, am I that sort of good Samaritan?

The gospel should force you to recognize I am first the helpless man beside the road.

Scripture describes our condition in Ephesians chapter 2 as dead in our trespasses and sins.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Unless someone intervenes, we lie dead with no hope.

No hope of life.

Facing death, Christ looked at us with compassion.

The same kind of compassion he describes himself having and his father having as he describes this man having.

Isaiah says of Jesus, he was despised and rejected by the very men he came to save.

Jesus came to people who didn't naturally love him.

Romans 5 goes even further.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

Enemies.

Jesus despised came for enemies who were dead.

The Good Samaritan loved someone who may have considered him an enemy.

Jesus loved us while we were his enemies.

So the despised man personally bears the cost of another man's rescue and safekeeping until he returned again.

Well, according to the gospel, Jesus bore the cost of our rescue, and it was enough for anything we could ever owe until he returns again.

So hear me clearly.

Every person who has ever existed has been given life from God, the gift of life from God, and amassed a great debt against him for spending all he's given us, transgressing his law and defying his authority in our lives.

Every one of us.

The good news of Jesus is that he looked upon broke and hopeless people who can't pay for the problem therein.

And instead of walking away to keep a kind of purity, he looked down with loving compassion and he came to rescue us, covering the debt we owe, and even covering the cost of anything we may still do and we may still need, keeping us safe until he returns again.

Our Great Samaritan did not merely cover the cost of our safekeeping in silver.

Peter tells us that we were ransomed, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.

So in this story, hear me clearly.

The compassion and mercy Jesus commands this man to have and us by extension to have for others is first both exemplified in and an overflow of the mercy we have freely received in Christ Jesus, the mercy we didn't deserve.

Jesus is speaking to this man about real compassion and love before he goes and embodies its himself perfectly on a cross, so that he and by extension we may go and do likewise.

As you have been loved by God, unlimited, undeserved, unconditioned.

Look at the mercy you have received.

An undeserving man, an undeserving woman.

Then empowered by God's Spirit, face back to the cross, become the kind of person who gives that mercy away.

Listen, until you recognize how undeserving you were, until Christ came to you, you will never exemplify the sort of gospel love Jesus desires you to.

And Jesus said, You go and do likewise.

The lawyer asks, Who qualifies as my neighbor?

And Jesus does not give him a smaller list of people to love.

Jesus gives him a vision of the kind of person he is called to be.

Then the lawyer answers the Jesus' question.

The one who showed him mercy.

Notice the lawyer doesn't say the Samaritan.

That's probably purposeful.

I don't want to admit it.

He may think.

The one who showed him mercy.

Jesus answers, You go and do likewise.

Go and do likewise means we should show mercy as we have been shown mercy, even to those whom we may not believe deserve it.

Because we did not deserve it.

The love of God in Christ has given us no room to say they don't deserve it because neither did you.

You can stack up every reason you would like to to try to justify yourself or explain away why they don't deserve your care and compassion.

Why they don't deserve your care and compassion.

Why they don't deserve your care and compassion.

But there is one reason that explodes all of the excuses you may make for yourself.

And that's the mercy of Jesus you have received that you didn't deserve.

He saw a person and he was moved toward him with the same kind of compassion that Jesus looks out upon the crowds and sees sheep without a shepherd.

Same kind of compassion a prodigal looks at and receives from his father.

Now, let me be very clearly, let me let me say very clearly, this does not mean that Christians abandon wisdom.

This does not mean that we abandon like moral discernment or theological conviction in how we serve.

Oh, certainly not.

There are numerous passages about being careful to put certain people in leadership, giving people a microphone, giving away money without wisdom and consideration, giving away money to some who have done particular things, working for money and more.

There are multiple passages about that.

It does not mean Christians abandon wisdom or theological conviction, but the parable of the Good Samaritan does mean a person does not need to deserve mercy to receive it.

The parable of the Good Samaritan means a person does not need to deserve mercy to be shown it, especially by those who don't deserve it themselves and know they don't.

And it does mean that we should be very careful in putting conditions on mercy, justifying a lack of grace for the only one who could truly justify it had compassion on those who didn't deserve it.

Jesus is the only one who could justify not showing mercy.

And he showed it with compassion in his eyes.

So in view of the mercy of God shown in the gospel, God's people should be especially good at moving toward people who everyone else moves around.

We should be especially good at it.

Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

In view of God's mercy, present yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Look to his sacrifice, and in view of his mercy, follow suit.

Go and do likewise that's how you worship God.

So what might go and do likewise look like today?

I have a number of examples I think are helpful to think through.

Staying at the hospital with someone who has nobody else, bringing meals, taking an elderly neighbor to appointments, helping a single mother whose life is genuinely difficult, welcoming a foster child or supporting a family that does, walking patiently with someone trying to escape addiction, helping a person whose crisis is inconveniently timed, using your money to meet someone's particular need instead of just saying, stay warm and eat well.

Showing kindness to someone from a group you've been trained to distrust, loving a coworker who's openly been hostile toward your faith, noticing a lonely person everyone else walks past, giving up an evening because someone's life has fallen apart.

Go and do likewise.

Who is close enough to see that you with Jesus' eyes are to have compassion on.

Church.

Let's be clear.

Jesus found us helpless, with no hope for life, dead.

Jesus moved toward us, not a way.

Jesus loved us when we were his enemies, not his friends.

Jesus paid what our rescue cost.

And now he says, go and do likewise.

It's not because doing so will make you a Christian.

It's because the people who've received the mercy of God undeserved should be willing and ready to show the same mercy of God toward those who don't deserve it.

And when we do so, we look like the Christ who first loved us to a world who needs the Christ who first loved us.

May we exemplify the love of cross, the love of Christ, and may it be made visible in our lives for others, so that the world sees Christ in us.

Go and do likewise.