Do This and Live

A few days ago, I was discussing the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:26-37) with a group of friends. The parable is about a man who is robbed on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho and left for dead. A priest and a Levite pass him by without stopping to assist him. But a Samaritan man stops, cares for him, puts him on his donkey, and takes him to an inn in town. He gives the innkeeper money to care for the man and promises to repay the innkeeper if he has not left enough. The question Jesus asks is, “Who is the neighbor of the man?”

Someone in the group asked the following:

What is your philosophy of life?
1. “What’s yours is mine and I’m going to take it.” – That of the robbers
2. “What’s mine is mine and I’m going to keep it.” – That of the priest and the Levite
Or…
3. “What’s mine is yours and I’m going to share it.” – That of the Samaritan

How do you think Jesus would reply?

The Scripture gives us Jesus’ reply – the Samaritan was the neighbor to the man who fell among the thieves. Jesus’ philosophy of life was that of this Samaritan who gave of himself to help a stranger in need.

There are a few lessons we can take from this:

• Our neighbor is humankind – and sometimes the one you are called to help or is called to help you is the one you least expect.
• Loving involves sacrifice – love does not ask “What are you going to do for me”. Rather, it asks, “What can I do for you?”
• Love does not expect anything in return – there is no demand for repayment. Love gives because it wants to, not because it has to.
  

When the Lord explained why He chose Israel out of all the nations, He reminded them that “[the LORD] did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out” (Deut. 7:7-8a NIV). Likewise, God did not choose us because of anything in ourselves: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…for if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:6, 10 NIV).

What, then, should our response be? “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth…this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us” (1 John 3:16-18, 23-24 TNIV).

In Galatians 5:14 Paul reminds us: “for the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’”. This can only be done if we love God first (Luke 10:27). The Christian life is a response to love… the love of the Father, poured out on us through the giving of the Son for our sins. The Holy Spirit seals us in this loves and pulls us forward to love our God and one another. It is not a set of rules, “do’s and don’ts” – rather, it is a state of being that seeks to glorify God and think of the other above ourselves.

Let us strive to do this – and live.

Grace and peace,
mish