LUKE 10:25-37: LOVING OTHERS
In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus essentially asks
a lawyer (in response to his question) what the greatest two commandments are,
namely, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” These two commandments can be
summed up as, “Love God, and love others,” and the focus of the succeeding
passage then is on that of the second commandment: love others. The question
then is, “How do we love others, and what does it mean?” Jesus presents a
parable in this particular passage to answer this very question.
Luke 10:25-37
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 And
behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is
written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered,
“You shall 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 your neighbor as
yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this, and you will live.”
29 But
he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus
replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among
robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now
by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by
on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the
place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a
Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had
compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up 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. 35 And the next day he took out two
denarii[a] and gave
them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend,
I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do
you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He
said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do
likewise.”
Loving Others Means Loving Our
Enemies (vv. 30-33)
From
the example presented in this parable, it becomes clear that loving others
means loving our enemies. This man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho.
This statement has much more involved in it than simply a man traveling. Because
he was traveling from Jerusalem, he was likely a Jew. The history of the Jews
and Samaritans is a tense one. Their hatred for each other was unmatched. Yet
the man who showed him compassion was the Samaritan. The example we should take
from this is that to love others, we must look beyond the factors that separate
us. We must love our enemies, not just our friends. This is easier said than
done. How often do we show hatred toward our enemies instead of love? I would
submit that it happens more often than not, and if we say we do not have
enemies, we deceive ourselves. Even Jesus had enemies. Even God had enemies. In
fact, the Bible says that before we became children of God, we were enemies of God.
Yet he loved us anyway. Why are we to love our enemies then? This I the very
example God showed us. He loved his enemies. So should we.
Loving Others Means Actions More
than Words (vv. 34-35)
Loving
others means that our actions are more important and reveal more than our
words. It would have been one this story had stopped in verse 33 with the
Samaritan man having compassion on the Jewish man. It doesn’t though. The
parable continues with the Samaritan taking care of the Jew. Again these two
were considered enemies. Yet the Samaritan took care of the man as best as he
could. He bent over backwards to show him compassion. He took action. Loving
others means so much more than simply saying we love others, but it is, in
fact, taking action and showing it.
Loving Others Means Going against
the Status Quo (vv. 36-37)
The
status quo in this culture was obviously hatred between Jews and Samaritans. This
is revealed, in fact, by the priest and the Levite, two holy men, bypassing the
man in need. If any human can be looked to for an example, it is the holiest of
holy people. In this case, it was the priest and the Levite. People looked to
them as an example so it could be assumed that it was OK to bypass this Jewish
man in need who, by the way, was one of them, not their enemy. The man who
helped him, however, was one who decided to go against the status quo of hatred
and humble himself to help this man. It was a Samaritan, an enemy. If we are
going to truly love others, we must go against the status quo. We cannot be OK
with mediocrity in our love toward everyone. We cannot love some people and
neglect love toward others. Again this is easier said than done, but our lives
must reveal the love of God, a matchless love toward everyone including his
enemies. We must fight against the status quo.
Conclusion
Loving
others includes all of these factors and is shown to us through this parable
told by the Lord. If we claim to be people who follow God, we must keep in mind
the greatest two commandments: love God, and love others. Often we focus on the
first one, but to truly fulfill the first one, we must also fulfill the second
one. We must love our neighbor (meaning everyone) as ourselves. This takes
great mercy and compassion at times, but keep in mind that it is a commandment;
it is not optional. Let us love others.
