Slices
Prepare
Use Psalm 107:1,2 as inspiration to thank God for all the good things he has brought into your life.
Bible passage
The parable of the good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
26 ‘What is written in the Law?’ he replied. ‘How do you read it?’
27 He answered, ‘“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, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”’
28 ‘You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied. ‘Do this and you will live.’
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’
30 In reply Jesus said: ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half-dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. “Look after him,” he said, “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”
36 ‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’
37 The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’
Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’
Explore
In a way, Jesus doesn’t really need to say anything after the lawyer’s answer (v 27). It captures exactly the purpose of the story that follows … except the lawyer doesn’t get the ‘neighbour’ part.
This is what discipleship is all about – responding to God’s grace and goodness with all of ourselves, all we think, say, feel and do – and letting our thankfulness spill over into the way we treat others. If we could only love perfectly, that’s all that would be needed – Jesus needn’t continue with the story. But we can’t because we’re blinkered and sinful – essentially, selfish and self-preserving.
It’s not about how much we have to do to earn a way into God’s good books, as the lawyer thinks (v 25). The story Jesus tells (vs 30–35) shows there can be no limits or exceptions to this thankful way of living. The focus is not on how much we need to do, or should or should not do (as the two religious leaders thought), but on how much our ‘neighbour’ needs (as the Samaritan demonstrates selflessly). Following Jesus means being so thankful to God that we don’t even stop to think about how much serving others is costing us. This too is part of ‘dying to self’.
Respond
So, what happens now, when Jesus says to you, ‘Go and do likewise’ (v 37)?
Deeper Bible study
‘[Grant] us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the world to come, life everlasting.’1
Jews made no distinction between religious and civil law. The lawyer, an expert in the Mosaic Law, knew the Torah – but it is not easy to find eternal life clearly affirmed there. The lawyer was challenging Jesus. He posed the question of the ages, asked by all societies and cultures down through time. How do we find the afterlife? Can we live for ever? Eternity belongs to God and so Jesus asked him what God’s Law said. In the spirit of the old covenant, the lawyer answered well: loving God and loving our neighbour.
The lawyer, however, annoyed that Jesus turned the question back on him, went a step further, trying to trick Jesus. First-century Judaism was obsessed with boundaries, with detailed regulations about relationships between Jews and Gentiles, Jews and Samaritans, men and women, and so on. Protecting these boundaries masqueraded as a religious duty. Within all these strictures, who is my neighbour?
So Jesus tells the ‘good Samaritan’ story and asks the question on which the lawyer had hoped to impale Jesus. Which traveller was the neighbour? The lawyer cannot even bring himself to say ‘the Samaritan’, but his circuitous answer says more than he intended. Jesus shifts the question from the boundaries of legislated social interaction to the essential nature of neighbourliness with a story that shatters the human boundaries of class and ethnicity. The duty of neighbourliness reflects the love of God and of others. Mercy sees only need and responds with compassion. Those who show mercy show that they belong to the kingdom, because they exhibit the behaviours of the age to come, the qualities which are the mark of those on the path to eternal life.
Lord of the age to come, give us the grace to be people of compassion, people of true mercy, fit for eternal life.
1 Chrysostom, 347–407
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Ezekiel 24,25; 1 Peter 3
Pray for Scripture Union
The SU Council is meeting today. Give thanks for the volunteer members who represent different parts of the country, varied age groups and who bring specialist expertise to different elements of the movement’s work. Pray that God will direct their discussion.
