SPEAKER_00 0:01

Who is your neighbor? As disciples of Jesus, how do we practice hospitality? Join Reverend Daniel as he preaches from the parable of the Good Samaritan found in the Gospel of Luke.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Please stand for our Gospel reading. Our Gospel reading is to come from Luke chapter 10, verses 25 to 37. Let's respond together. Glory to Christ our Savior. And behold, a lawyer stood out to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit the eternal life? He said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it? And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your might, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered correctly, do this and you will live. But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Jesus replied, A man was walking, was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound out his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I'll repay you when I come back. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, The one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, You go and do likewise. This is the gospel of Christ. Praise to Christ our Lord.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Church, this morning we are continuing the series on the theme of discipleship, and we are actually in our eighth instalment. So from now until the end of the year, uh we have uh this month marks the first uh time. We will begin a series on discipleship, but what it means to grow as hospitable disciples. So today will be the first instalment, and the next month, November, the first week, and December, we will run it through uh till the end of the year. So Luke 10, verse 25 to 37 is part of Jesus' last journey towards Jerusalem. So as an identity marker and uh and important for us, right, the onset, to understand uh that actually Jesus is turning towards Jerusalem. And Luke 9, 51 tells us when the days drew near for him, for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. So this kind of paints the context all the way till he goes to the cross. So the passage before us, Luke 10, verse 25 to 37, is structured as two matching dialogues between Jesus and the lawyer. Right? So uh it's important for us to uh to frame this. So if you like to take notes, you perhaps can uh just snap a picture of this slide. It gives us the the framework to understand why Jesus gave this parable. So there are two matching dialogues between the lawyer and Jesus. So verse 25 says, Behold a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, And Jesus, he said to him, and the lawyer answered in verse 27, and Jesus said again to him. That ends the first dialogue. The second dialogue begins when he, the lawyer, desires to justify himself, said to Jesus. Then Jesus began to share a parable, and then at the end of the parable asks a very important question. Uh, is that which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? Then verse 37 says the lawyer responds, he said, and then Jesus said to him. So this kind of uh frames the context for us to understand. The parable of the Good Samaritan is really not uh just uh that the parable, but it's framed within the context of questions and dialogue. So the central focus here I would suggest to us in this uh portion of Luke is on the practice or doing of God's word, which is in this context to love God and to be a neighbor. We see this uh as a kind of what we call a sandwich that envelopes this whole section. Uh we look at Luke 10, verse 25. Behold, a lawyer stood up, put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do? What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Verse 28, Jesus said to him, You have answered correctly, do this, and you will live. And at the end of uh the section or pericopy, um Luke 9, Luke 10, 37 ends with this. Uh, the response of the lawyer, the one who showed him, or the one who does mercy, who acts mercifully, and Jesus said to him, You go and do likewise. So it's about doing, it's about practicing uh what Jesus calls as the Shemah or the Great Commandment. So the the verb uh to do or in in the Greek is poair. Po'air is used in verse 25 and again in verse 37, and it bookends the whole section and reminds us that Jesus is giving them a command to do and act upon the present time. Right? Uh po'e is a very common word in Greek that speaks of in occurs very frequently in the New Testament to speak of doing actions, right? Blessed are you if you do it. And the lawyer has heard the word. What would he do? What would we do? Let us pray. Father, we pray that even as we look into your word this morning, Lord, we ask that your Holy Spirit will take your word and apply it to our hearts today. Lord, we know that it only and unless your word uh just takes residence in our hearts. Lord, all that I'm speaking is in vain. So Lord, we pray, Lord, take your word and apply it to our hearts this morning. We pray and ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. So Luke 10, verse 25 to 28 begins, and behold, a lawyer stood up, and Luke tells us, he stood up to put him, to put Jesus to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? So he said to him, What is written in the law, how do you read it? And he answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live. So a lawyer in the time of Jesus is not how we understand lawyers today. They are um people who are still very knowledgeable in the Old Testament scriptures. So they are the uh almost like a scribe, they are teachers, they are people that have been acquainted with the scriptures to a pretty high level. So he stood up uh and to test Jesus by seeking some kind of self-justification. What must be done? Jesus to have eternal life. So then Jesus uh replied by asking him what is written in the law. The lawyer replied by quoting what uh is called the Shema or Deuteronomy 6, 4 to 5, which is a very familiar scripture to Jewish life and worship. Uh the synagogue and the temple is something that they they learn to hear and familiarize themselves with the words of the Shema from Deuteronomy 6, 4 to 5, which is here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. It's also cited uh Leviticus 19, 18, to love your neighbor as yourselves. So, however, again the lawyer wanted to justify himself, so he probed further and asked Jesus, Who my neighbor is? Who is my neighbor? Who is entitled to be my neighbor? So Jesus answered then by sharing the story of the good Samaritan. So Luke 10, verse 29 to 37 reads, But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, Who is my neighbor? Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped him and bit him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levi, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two dinari and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I'll repay you when I come back. Which of these three do you think Jesus asked proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, The one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, You go and do likewise. During the time of Jesus, as a consequence of the spreading of Greek culture and Roman occupation, it could not be generally assumed that those dwelling among the people of Israel qualified as neighbors. Different attitudes towards these foreign intrusions develop into a fractured social context in which boundaries distinguish not only between Jew and Gentile, but also between Jewish factions. The story of the Good Samaritan aims to answer the question: how far should love reach? How far should love reach? The choice of opening of the story of the Good Samaritan, a certain man, in some sense constitutes a powerful rhetorical move on Jesus' part. Stripped off his clothes and left half dead, the man's uh anonymity throughout the story is insured. We do not know who he is, what identity he holds, whether he's a Jew, he's a Gentile, he's a Samaritan, he's a Greek, he's a Roman soldier, we do not know. He stripped off his clothes and he's we can't identify who he is. So he's simply a human being, someone you meet on the road, a neighbor, but he is in need. So Jerusalem is located about 2,500 feet above sea level, and Jericho is actually in the bottom of the valley, about 800 feet below sea level. So it was not uncommon at that time as one travels down from Jerusalem to Jericho to face danger from muggers and robbers in the rough terrain. The road from Jerusalem was thus down from Jerusalem was thus replete with danger. Priests and Levites during the time of Jesus shared a high status in the community of God's people. As most were born into priestly families. They were born, and because of that, they are part of the priestly class. With that brought them a certain status in Jewish society. The world of the temple in the time of the first century draws distinct boundaries between what is clean and unclean, including clean and unclean people. Thus, life in the temple for priests and Levites were often concerned with one's status, one's position, one's hierarchy in society, and ask them cataloging. Within their world, their association with the temple commences them as persons of exemplary piety, whose actions would be regarded as self-evidently righteous. And they are accustomed to be evaluated on the basis of their ancestry. You are born to where? To which family? The priestly class? And that's all that matters. So they were not evaluated based on perhaps their character, their performance. Whether are they merciful? Do they care for the weak, the lost, those who are in need? So their responses to the men who fell among the robbers was not surprising. So a priest and a Levi, a Levi is closely associated with a priest because he assists the priest in temple duties. So their response was far from surprising. It was expected response. Because if they get in touch with a dead body, presumably the man was left for dead, presumably he was dead, and if they touch the dead body, it will make them ceremonially unclean. And if they are going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, perhaps they are going home, right? They have a long time doing their temple duties, and it's time to go home to their family. And why would they want to risk being uh ceremonially unclean? And the implications of that is that they will then have to do a about turn and return back to Jerusalem for another week of purification rites instead of heading home. Why would I do that in all practicality? After all, this man is unidentified, we don't know who he is, he's just a man in need, without status, without position. So the most natural thing to do is to just walk away. So both of them, the priest and the Levite, pass by on the other side. They seemingly did nothing for the man in need. We see a different response from the Samaritan who came by. He had compassion and did something. And we'll see later, it's more than just something. He did great things in contrast to the priest and Samaritan. Sorry, the priest and the Levite. We see the status of the Samaritans as a social religious outcast can be observed in Luke 9, 51 to 56. It tells us that when the Samaritans did not receive Jesus, the disciples of Jesus, James and John, wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume them, revealing their anger, perhaps their prejudice towards this so-called mixed-race people, and their hatred towards Samaritans who had rejected Jesus. So the hatred between Jews and Samaritans was so great that they don't even want to mention the word Samaritan in their lips. So there is, again, great animosity even within the people who call themselves who were living in the land in Jerusalem at that time. So it's rather strange for Jesus to talk about the presence of a Samaritan in the story where it's in the vicinity of Jerusalem with the presence of priests and Levites. What is a Samaritan doing in the story? He should be far away, he shouldn't even be named. So, I mean, as we will see later, the story of why the Samaritan comes in is a powerful polemic against the culture of the day, against the status and society. And it's in line with Luke's team. Right at the beginning of Liu's gospel, uh, he said he has come to lift up the lowly, and the proud and the arrogant will be brought low, but the lowly will be raised high. This is how the gospel, the good news, shifts status and position in first century Jewish society. So, unlike the priest and the Levite, the Samaritan came, saw the man who fell among robbers, and was moved with compassion to action. So we ask the question: is this a new thing? Is this something that the Samaritan shows out of his own initiative? But actually, if you look within the wider context of the Gospel of Luke, in fact, the Samaritan was just acting according to who God is in his covenant faithfulness. And we see that in Zechariah's prophecy in Luke 1, 78 to 79. It says, Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high. So uh in in Zechariah's prophecy, he recalls the tender mercy of God's intervention upon Israel. And again, Jesus in the face of a widow's loss of her only son in Luke 7, 13. When the Lord, when Jesus saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, Do not weep. So the Samaritan then participates in the compassion and covenantal faithfulness of God. It's not not new, it is who God is. God is a covenant-keeping God, God is full of compassion. This is how he has revealed himself in Lew. And the Samaritan was just following. He was not setting a new precedent, he was just following what was truly on the heart of God. Being compassionate and merciful, being faithful to the covenant of God, to show mercy and to bring compassion. So the Samaritan sees and responds to the man who fell among robbers with personal attention and loving care. Remember, I said at the beginning that the key word is boe, which is do, and how that frames the entire narrative. And now we see in Luke 10, verse 33 to 35, just very compact, just a few verses sandwiched between them. There are so many things that the Samaritan did in terms of doing verbs or action words that uh happened within this short uh few verses. It says, A Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. What did he do? He went. Just highlighting all the action words. He went, bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, he sat him on his donkey, brought him to an inn, took care of him. Next day he took out two dinari, gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him. Whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. So the Samaritan acted. In fact, he uh personifies the heart of God in his mercy, in his actions, and he is the one that was a true neighbor. So, what are some implications for us today? I just like to share with us uh from this passage uh three implications. Firstly, it's about human needs and God's call to action. At that point, you know, some of us uh think that, oh, maybe uh next day today I'm not free. The person is lying there dead, don't know who he is. Maybe I need to call my wife or settle my children or do some duties at home or at work, you know. Uh wait, another day, stay there, you know, the person will have died, right? So it is really meeting human needs at that point. When we see a need, God wants us to meet it, not to say, uh, maybe tomorrow or put it in my calendar, maybe I can do it. Yeah, it's too late for that, right? So it is grace responding to a need. It's God's grace in us, stirring our hearts to see a need and to meet that need. And a preacher once says this, and I think it's very true. And if We like to take note of this. He says this what we see often determines how we will respond. What we see often determines how we will respond. And that response exhibits who we are on the inside. I repeat again, what we see often determines how we will respond. And that response exhibits who we are on the inside. Who is the one that does what a neighbor should do? Right? So the lawyers' question who is my neighbor would focus on whether the wounded man possessed neighborly status. Whether he's fit for me to be a neighbor too. Who is my neighbor? Is it is he a priest? Is he an aristocrat? Or who is my neighbor? Is he a Samaritan? If it's a Samaritan, then please, I mean, uh Jews don't associate it or name Samaritans in our breath. So who? Who is that? Who is my neighbor? So he wanted to know who is my neighbor, but Jesus answered by sharing the story of how we should act as a neighbor. So he turns the question on his head. So Jesus presupposes, Jesus' question presupposes the identification of anyone as a neighbor. The man in need could be anyone. It could be, regardless of social status and hierarchy at that time. Right? So by pressing on to anyone as a neighbor and how we act, how we respond to needs around us, it opens wide the door of loving action. So the conclusion is the one who is a neighbor is the one who shows mercy, the one who does practices mercy by responding to the need at that point. So the second implication for us, and which is key, is that neighbor love, love for anyone in need, uh knows no boundaries. Sometimes it challenges us. The good Samaritan, the story challenges us because a lot of times in status conscious context, we always help those we want to help or help those we think are worthy to be helped. Right? But neighbor love knows no boundaries. So the Samaritan stops on the road to Jericho to assist someone he does not know. Who is this? I don't even know who he is, a stranger. Despite the self-evident peril of doing so. It's a dangerous road. The lack of identification to who the man is, maybe it's a scammer, you know, just lying there on the road, and the moment you go near, he will take a knife and dagger, or you know, and or I mean there's no guns at that time, but probably a short dagger and just stab you to death. You don't know. He's a stranger, and sometimes you say, Don't go near strangers. That's what I tell children, because you don't know. I mean, especially this neighbor, I mean, don't ever go near that. I believe if we are parents there, we have children, we'll probably say that. And I think it's perfectly alright in the context of our time where there are so many scammers. Scam uh during the time of uh first century, perhaps the context is different. But nevertheless, he was acting in a sense of putting himself at risk because he doesn't know what to expect. He pours oil and wine into the wounds, which during the time was a standard medicinal treatment for cleansing and cleaning up the wounds. That's what he did. Pouring uh wine and oil was uh treating, a form of treating or providing care. He did not stop there. Uh the tail terrain was very rough. He sacrificed it by putting the man on the donkey and while he walks on the rough terrain, right? And I best I guess that is the most logical thing to do, right? Otherwise, how is he going to carry him on his back? But anyway, so he walks on the rough terrain on foot while putting the man uh on his donkey. In order to obtain care for this stranger, he enters an inn, uh, itself a place of potential danger because we don't know whether he'll be attacked by someone and enters into an open-ended monetary relationship with the innkeeper. Um, whatever he spends, whatever you spend, I will repay you. There's no limit, no. It's giving a blank check to say, no, uh, whatever you need, just fill it up. How many of us will do that to a stranger? Just to ensure that he has the care that is needed, giving a blank check. Uh most of us will not do that, right? To to do uh, yeah, but that's what happens. And during that day, the days, during the culture of that time, extortion is also uh being practiced. So the innkeeper could have extorted more, you know. Maybe I did this for the man, I did that, and you know, he extortion could easily happen. He gives of his goods and money freely, making no arrangement for a repayment. And in some way, the the Samaritan actually saved the man from slavery because during the time when um you you could not pay up, um, and when you uh you owe money, let's say to a landlord, you end up becoming a slave if you are not able to pay up. So, in an indirect way, the Samaritan actually saved this man from being a slave to the innkeeper. So the third implication: we are to act in compassion and show mercy. Luke's description of the encounter between Jesus and this lawyer, this expert on the on the law is open-ended. We do not know what the conclusion is. He's agreed that the one who uh showed mercy is the one that acted uh rightly, but is it ended in an open-ended way. He has heard the word, but will he do it? Will he act as the good Samaritan? We will we do it. So the crux of it all, the parable, as I said in the beginning, leads us to a setup for Jesus' own question in Luke 10.36. Which of these three do you think prove to be a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers? In fact, the question is also pointed to us, you know, are we a true neighbor in the parable? Are we a true neighbor? Would we act like the Samaritan or would we be like the priests and the Levite to pass the man by? But it's important for us to note right the context right at the onset of the story, which is why I said uh the the first slide is important for us to see the context because the whole context of why Jesus shares this story is because the lawyer wanted to justify himself, right? He wanted to uh probe further into what it means, whether he is uh who is my neighbor, the question. He wanted to justify himself. In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, the truth is we are and in most cases not able to love God and neighbor perfectly, right? How many of us can fully obey uh the commandment, the Shema, to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves? Jesus said, do this and you will leave. But how many of us uh can fully fulfill the criteria to love God with all our hearts, mind, soul, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves? Right? It is something we recite uh the summary of the law very often at our services, right? So the question is can we do it? If we cannot do it, then how can we be safe? How can we be safe if we do not uh love our neighbor? It's almost read in a surface, reading in on a surface level is as almost Jesus is saying that until and unless you uh love your neighbor as yourself, that way you will not inherit eternal life, right? If you look at the context, the question is, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, uh, what is the law? What is within the law? And then loving God, loving our neighbor. So can we then be safe? How would we respond? Would we be like the Samaritan? How many of us would be like the Samaritan? Can I have a show of hands? How many of us would very naturally respond? I see some hands. Thank you. A few hands, huh? Okay. So I'd like to respond by saying that actually all of us um cannot do it. You know, all of us cannot fully fulfill that. We may think we can, but when we we are when we are faced in the situation where our interest and priority gets uh in the way, we always will choose the easy way out. In our flesh. Right, in our flesh, right? If you were a priest and a Levite in that time, do you think it will help the Samaritan? Do you think it will trouble yourself to go back to the temple to glorify yourself for one week and then come back again? Uh yeah, so the parable kind of reads us in a certain way. And I said in the beginning that what frames the entire narrative uh in the wider context is actually Luke 9.51, where Jesus said, when the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. So the kingdom of God is coming through his death, Jesus' death and resurrection, and all the way Luke 9.51 to 1927 is what we call Luke's travel narrative, and Jesus is walking and walking and working his way towards Jerusalem. That is the context. So Don Carlson, in a uh sermon he preached on the parable of the good Samaritan, uh gives us an insightful comment. He says that actually, not that Jesus is actually the good Samaritan in the story, but it is he is a type or you know, if you think about it, if Jesus is Jesus truly the good Samaritan? I think he is, right? Because Jesus, if we put Jesus on as a role of the Good Samaritan, he saves the unknown person, the unidentified person from death. He was left half dead, right? The Samaritan acted to save the man from death. He heals him, bounds up his wounds, pouring oil and wine. He pays all the charges at the inn. Not only that, he gives a super deal, he says whatever charges that he's further incurred I will pay back. And he guarantees that he's not a slave because if the man couldn't pay up his uh charges in the inn, he will become a slave to the innkeeper. But Jesus guarantees that that he's not a slave by paying up for him. So in a way, Jesus is a type of a good Samaritan. He's not literally the good Samaritan in the story, but if he's on the way to the cross, perhaps the story of the good Samaritan alludes to Jesus as the truly good Samaritan. So, in other words, we are called to action to love our neighbor because Jesus himself will eventually fulfill the role of the Good Samaritan through his death and resurrection. And he sets us an example that we are to do likewise. So Christian good works or hospitality always predicates, presupposes God's love and mercy for us. And because Jesus is a type of the good Samaritan, uh, we are inspired that you know we don't uh have to come to the parable thinking that we have to match up to the standard, but in a way the parable reads us: are we the good Samaritan? We are not. So we depend on Jesus as a good Samaritan, as the one who saves us from death, who heals us, who pays all our debt, and guarantees we are not a slave. So God calls us, church, to rise up, to be a neighbor to anyone in need. And we can do that, not because of a self-righteous justification, like the lawyer who came and said, uh wanting to justify himself, wanting to test Jesus. That's the whole context of the whole parable. He wanted to test Jesus, he wanted to justify himself. Only to be found one thing that he can't do it, right? The logical conclusion is he can't do it because it's so profound. I mean, Jews, Samaritans, you know, it's a shocking parable because the parable reads the lawyer, because Samaritans are not someone you name. And in the story, the Samaritan is a hero, right? So it kind of puts the lawyer to shame and puts him in his place to realize that actually we are not able in our own strength to love God and love our neighbor. But because Jesus is the one that is going towards Jerusalem, because he is setting the pace and preparing the way, we are called to do. That's why the parable ends to say, go and do likewise. It's called to action. Do likewise. We are to act like a neighbor, but not in our own strength. But it predicates, presupposes that we know Jesus as a good Samaritan, as a God who came down to save us from death, to heal us, heal our wounds, to pay our debt, and to guarantee that we are not a slave.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

If you'd like to know more about Asian Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.