10:25 ¶ And, behold, a
certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to
inherit eternal life? 26 He said unto
him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered
right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29
But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my
neighbour? 30 And Jesus answering said,
A certain man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his
raiment, and wounded him, and
departed, leaving him half
dead. 31 And by chance there came down a
certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at
the place, came and looked on him,
and passed by on the other side. 33 But
a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him,
he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set
him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took
out two pence, and gave them to
the host,
and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest
more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 36
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that
fell among the thieves? 37 And he said,
He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou
likewise.
The Old Testament’s
most important and foundational commandments are laid out here in this
conversation between a lawyer and Jesus inserted in the text for us right after
the seventy return. First, as Jesus said elsewhere;
Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.
This is certainly one
of those commandments that goes beyond dispensational considerations. It is
primary for both Judaism then and Christianity afterwards. To love God is
fundamental to our faith. These two commands are more general than the
Christian calling to not only love God but to love their brothers and sisters
in Christ. In the following Christians are called to love each other.
1John 4:17 ¶ Herein is our
love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as
he is, so are we in this world. 18 There
is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath
torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his
brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21
And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his
brother also.
John 13:34 A new
commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. 35 By
this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
But, these two
universal commands extend to loving others, even hated groups, people we regard
as inferior and spiritually deficient, the lost, or even other people who we
just believe have it all wrong.
Once we acknowledge
faith in Christ and believe in the precepts and statements laid down in God’s
word this is the first and perhaps the most difficult of the things we are
drawn toward. Loving God in the face of death, sickness, grief, and
discouragement is a difficult thing. Loving our neighbor, considering how
despicable even the best of people can be, is a huge challenge. The lawyer
doesn’t question this difficulty, though. He provides Jesus with an opportunity
to explain what God means by neighbor and it is not just the person over the
fence next door. The lawyer, in trying to justify himself, is about to receive
an indictment for at least one of his most basic prejudices.
Samaria was the capital
of the northern kingdom of Israel after Israel and Judah split during the reign
of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, as recorded in 1Kings12. Then, see 1Kings 16:29. The Assyrians conquered Israel
and removed the Jews from there to other territories, replacing them with others
as was their custom in conquest. Jewish priests were brought in to teach them the
religion of the Jews and a distinctly different sort of Judaism grew up with
distinct customs and norms that underscored the divisions between the Jews and
the Samaritans.
2Kings 17:6 In the ninth
year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria,
and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the
cities of the Medes…24 And the king of
Assyria brought men from
Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim,
and placed them in the cities
of Samaria instead of the
children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria,
and dwelt in the cities thereof…26
Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which
thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he
hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not
the manner of the God of the land…28
Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and
taught them how they should fear the LORD.
The Samaritan religion
is called Samaritanism and is based on the Samaritan Torah. They believed they
most closely followed the true religion of the Jews that existed before the
Babylonian captivity. They worshipped at the ruins of their temple in Mount Gerizim.
The mount is mentioned in Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges. The temple was
destroyed by the Jews in around 100BC. The Jews did not regard the Samaritans
very favorably.
In fact, the Samaritans
were hated. They worshipped in a different place. They had a different history
than the Jews and the Jews regarded them as inferiors, spiritually,
politically, and every other way. They were not just somebody else but they
were somebody else the Jews expected nothing good out of and looked down their
noses at. But Jesus points out that this victim of robbery has no mercy shown
to him by a pious priest and then a Levite. It is the proverbial, “Good
Samaritan,” who renders aid. This story taught the lawyer that one’s neighbors
included anyone you chanced upon and even someone whose ethnicity or religion
you hated might be someone that God would want you to aid in their time of
distress.
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