Luke 10:25-37 Good Sam

Luke 10:25-29 A lawyers asked Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. Parallel passages in Matt 22:35, Mark12:28, but then go on to other topics. Luke records a different part of the response. Matthew, Mark, and Luke record Jesus' question to the lawyer - you know the answer, what does the Law of Moses say? Insightfully, the lawyer did not respond with the ten commandments, but responded with the great commandments, loving God with all your heart, and loving your neighbor as yourself (Deut 6:5 and Lev 19:18), Jesus responded to Him with Deut 4:1 - do this and you will live - the answer to the lawyer's initial question. Luke is the only one who recorded the follow-up question from the lawyer - who is my neighbor? And Jesus responded with the parable of the Good Samaritan.

         With all of the run-ins Jesus had with scribes, Pharisees, and lawyers, it seems odd that this lawyer actually responded to Jesus with insight. Perhaps He had been following Jesus' teachings and recognized that Jesus was saying something new - that the love of God transcended the law. Perhaps after working as a lawyer, he realized that the law could not save or bring eternal life, but only condemnation and death. In any event, Jesus thought highly enough of him that He gave one of the great teaching parables that even those who do not believe in Christ still know and recognize as a great teaching.

Luke 10:30-37 Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. So much has been written on this that there is little I could say that would give insight. Perhaps it was just one more episode in Jesus' exposition on the inadequacy of the legalistic religion of the priests and Levites. In modern times, besides the innumerable hospitals named 'Good Sam', the conviction of people that they need to stop to help stranded motorists or hitchhikers is probably a result of this teaching.

         Why does this parable touch us so profoundly? Perhaps it is because deep down, we feel that this is how God should be, and this is how people who reverence God should act (like the Samaritan, not the priest or the Levite). We connect because this is how God made us. And that should tell us something about the teachings of Christ.