“Who is my neighbor?” That was the question that led to Jesus’ telling of the parable of the Good Samaritan, one of his most beloved parables. It’s a simple story that’s easily understood, but there’s also more to it than first meets the eye. With this parable Jesus teaches us about who our neighbor is, about love as the fulfillment of the law, and about God’s all-surpassing mercy for us. Blessed are those who behold his mercy!
This account comes from Luke 10, and the appointed reading actually begins a little before the events surrounding the parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus had spoken a blessing to his disciples. He said**, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!”** The things that God had promised were being fulfilled right in front of them. They were seeing things that prophets and kings longed to see but never saw. God’s own Son had come to earth. The kingdom of the Devil was being torn down as the Gospel of Jesus was proclaimed.
But not everyone was fixing their eyes on Jesus. Not everyone saw that he is the mercy of God. So Luke skips from this private blessing Jesus proclaimed on his disciples to another occasion, probably just after this, where an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus with the question, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
When Luke tells us that the man was testing Jesus, he’s telling us about this man’s motives. This expert in the law wasn’t asking this question because he was genuinely curious about the answer. Most likely, this was related to how Jesus so often associated with sinners, people who had a bad reputation, unlike the Pharisees and experts in the law who were regarded by everyone as righteous. In a sort of subtle way he was saying, “It is clear that God does not approve of people who cheat, who commit adultery, and who engage in all sorts of other sinful things. How then is it that you spend time with such people?”
If that’s what he was thinking with this test, Jesus could have simply answered that question. In fact, Jesus did answer that question in other places. He came to seek and save the lost. The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. But on this occasion Jesus didn’t answer in that way. Instead, he turned the question around on the man who asked it. He said, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”
And the man answered Jesus plainly and simply, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.”
And Jesus said, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”
This answer might seem a little puzzling to us. Do we not teach and confess that we are not saved by our works? Do we not proclaim that our salvation is by faith in Jesus? Isn’t that how we would have answered the question, “What must I do to be saved?” “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” That’s what Paul and Silas told the jailer in Acts 16 when he asked that same question.
But the answer that Jesus gave is both true, and perfect for this man. It’s true because what the man quoted was the summary of God’s whole law and is, indeed, what God demands. If you love God with all your heart and soul and strength and mind and love your neighbor as yourself, God will be pleased with you. Every sin we commit is a failure to love God or our neighbor or both, and so if we love God and our neighbor perfectly we will never sin. But that’s a big “if” and that’s the whole problem. God’s law is perfect, but we are not. God says, “Do this and you will live.” What happens to us if we don’t? The soul who sins will die.
And that’s why this was the perfect answer for this man. This man stood up to test Jesus, thinking that he was righteous and that he could wield the sword of God’s word against him. Jesus deftly turned the sword around so that it pricked that man’s own heart. Jesus ate with the sinners and tax collectors. What about this man? Had he shown love for his neighbors? So Luke says he wanted to justify himself and asked, “And who is my neighbor?”
And so Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. It’s a simple story. A man was traveling and on the way he was robbed and beaten and left half-dead on the side of the road. Down that same road came a priest and a Levite, first one and then the other. These men were the religious leaders of Israel. They had probably just completed their duties at the temple in Jerusalem and were headed back to their hometowns. But when they saw this pitiful man, a mess on the side of the road, they didn’t stop to see if he was alive or if there was anything they could do. No, to stop would be an inconvenience and more. It would put them in danger of the same robbers. It was much easier to pretend that they didn’t see anything, to pass by and keep on going.
But then a third man came down the road, a Samaritan. The Jews and the Samaritans hated each other with a hatred that went back five hundred years. Most of the time they wouldn’t even speak to each other, but on this occasion it was the Samaritan who stopped to help the man who had been robbed. He felt sorry for the man. He bandaged the man’s wounds. He put the man on his own animal so that he would walk instead of ride. When he got to town he took him to an inn where he cared for the man, and then when he had to leave he paid the innkeeper to see to it that the man had everything he needed, even promising to come back and pay for any additional bills.
It’s no wonder we call him the Good Samaritan. When he finished telling the story Jesus asked the expert in the law, “**Which of these three do you think acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?”** The answer, of course, was obvious. It’s the one who showed mercy to him.
With this parable then Jesus teaches us what it means when God tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. The expert in the law had wanted this to be an exclusive list, a way of limiting his obligations. He wanted to say, “Here are the people I should love. Here are the people I can ignore.” But our neighbor is everyone God places into our lives.
We can imagine this love for our neighbor as ripples on a pond. Who is my closest neighbor? For many of us, that’s your spouse. That’s a neighbor who is so close to you that the two of you are one flesh. Your children and other members of your household might be your next closest neighbors, the next ripple going outward. There’s your church family, the household of faith. There are the people you work with. There are the people you live next to. There are the people of your city, your country, and finally, there’s the whole world. But acting as a neighbor is something you do, and there’s only so much you can do to love strangers in Mongolia. So the neighbors you should focus on are the people God has placed in your life. And that could be anyone in need, even a stranger, the way God made the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan neighbors to the man who was robbed.
Just how we love our neighbor can happen in many different ways. The Samaritan bandaged the man’s wounds. He also paid for care when he couldn’t be there himself. There are different ways you can love your neighbor too.
“Go and do likewise,” Jesus said. And we can read those words in two ways. That expert in the law wanted to justify himself. But was he holy enough? And if we should ever think of ourselves as good enough to deserve eternal life, then consider Jesus’ words. Have we done likewise? To be like the Good Samaritan is not just an ideal; it’s a requirement. I can’t justify myself, when I have passed by people in need instead of being a neighbor to them. And if I can’t even love my neighbor as myself, how much less can I love God with all my heart and soul and strength and mind?
But remember that blessing Jesus pronounced on his disciples? Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For us, “Go and do likewise” is not a terrifying command that brings judgment. It’s a joyful reflection on how God has been merciful to you. Why would we despair when we have Jesus? Our sins are paid for by the one who could do nothing other than stop to help us, as undeserving as we are. Jesus is our perfect substitute who did love God with all his heart and soul and strength and mind, who never failed to love his neighbor as himself. And what a neighbor he is—the only one who could be a perfect neighbor to the whole world, to all people, even to you and me! How close he brings himself to us, even putting his name on us in our Baptism and giving us his body and blood as our food and drink!
As people who have been rescued from death by our Savior, we have the privilege of being neighbors and showing mercy to people in need. “Go and do likewise!” What a joy-filled command! We live in Jesus’ mercy. Let’s share that mercy with others. See what God has done for you! Blessed are those who behold his mercy. Amen.
— Pastor Seth Georgson