LOVE GETS INVOLVED
AUGUST 28, 2016

THE POINT

Love for God includes a costly love for others.

“Now Luke turns from mission and discipleship to basic attitudes the disciple is to possess. In a series of three passages he addresses attitudes toward neighbor, spending time with Jesus and prayer to God. The grouping is important. It suggests connections among the various relationships. How we respond to our neighbor and how we walk with God are connected; in fact, both Jesus and the lawyer connect the two concepts in Luke 10:27-28. Ethics is not an abstract question of options in a particular situation; it is a matter of character developed through a walk with God and a focus on Jesus.”
THE IVP NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY SERIES

THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE

• Anyone can be nice, and the world applauds random acts of kindness.
• Random acts of kindness are great, but are they enough?
• It’s easy to be nice and kind when we feel like it, but the needs of others are not always convenient.
• Jesus told the Parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate loving compassion, and He demands that we show this loving compassion to others as well—even our enemies.
• It may not be an exaggeration to say that love is the most popular and most misunderstood subject in the world.
• In the minds of most people, love is primarily a feeling or an emotion.
• In the 1960s, while the Beatles were telling us that “All You Need Is Love,” Michael Jackson was assuring us that “A-B-C, one-two-three, that’s how easy love can be.”
• Love is not all we need, though it is primary, and it is most certainly not easy.
• The fact that Jesus commanded us to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44) shows how difficult real love can be.
• This week’s session on the famous parable of the Good Samaritan focuses on the nature of biblical love.

THE PASSAGE

Luke 10:25-37

THE SETTING

• Jesus’ encounter with the Jewish legal expert that led to His telling the Parable of the Good Samaritan occurred during Jesus’ later Judean ministry.
• This phase of Jesus’ ministry covered about three months in the fall and winter of A.D. 29—from the Feast of Tabernacles to the Feast of Dedication.
• This was a period marked by growing and sharper conflict between the Jewish rulers and Jesus.
• Only Luke recorded Jesus’ later Judean ministry (Luke 10:1–13:21), which included the mission of the 70 (10:1-24), the Parable of the Good Samaritan (10:25-37), a visit to Mary and Martha (10:38-42), and a short interval of several episodes before He returned to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (11:1–13:21).

Luke 10:25-28
25  And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
26  And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?"
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.".    NASB


KEY WORD: LOVE (v. 27)
The complete devotion of one’s entire being to God, not only in feelings, but in the actions of one’s life toward God and other people.

We Can’t Love God Without Loving Others.

• In a teaching-learning session learners were seated around the teacher, who also was seated.
• Therefore, that he stood up implies he had been part of the session for some period, even if not for the whole session.
• He didn’t just walk up to confront Jesus.
• The man raising the question is identified as a lawyer, meaning someone considered an authoritative interpreter of the Mosaic Law.
• Most often in Luke’s Gospel such persons are characterized as opponents of Jesus.
• In this case, Luke says the lawyer tempted Jesus or intended “to test Him” (HCSB).
• The word can be rendered either way, depending on intent.
• The question the lawyer asked expressed a legitimate concern that was important to Jews.
• Eternal life to this legal expert probably would have referred to life in God’s everlasting kingdom, though he may have understood kingdom more as a nationalistic, political entity rather than as a spiritual kingdom.
• In rabbinic style, Jesus answered the lawyer’s question by asking a question in return.
• This teaching method challenged the learner to search out an answer rather than being given one.
• It also allowed the teacher to assess what the learner already knew and understood.

“ Note, It will be of great use to us, in our way to heaven, to consider what is written in the law, and what we read there. We must have recourse to our bibles, to the law, as it is now in the hand of Christ and walk in the way that is shown us there. It is a great mercy that we have the law written, that we have it thereby reduced to certainty, and that thereby it is capable of spreading the further, and lasting the longer. Having it written, it is our duty to read it, to read it with understanding, and to treasure up what we read, so that when there is occasion, we may be able to tell what is written in the law, and how we read. To this we must appeal; by this we must try doctrines and end disputes; this must be our oracle, our touchstone, our rule, our guide. What is written in the law? How do we read? if there be light in us, it will have regard to this light.”
MATTHEW HENRY’S COMMENTARY ON THE WHOLE BIBLE

TRANSITION:

• As we’ll see in verses 29-32, this expert in the law couldn’t let things go.
• As a result, Jesus told him a story.

Luke 10:29-32
29  But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
30  Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead.
31  "And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32  "Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.     NASB

KEY WORDS: Priest (v. 31)
A class of male Jews descended of Aaron who were in charge of the sacrifices, offerings, worship, and maintenance of the temple.

Levite (v. 32)
Descendants of Levi, the lowest of the three orders in Israel’s priesthood, whose role was to assist the priests in their duties at the temple.

• The lawyer may have felt uncomfortable with the progression of the conversation to this point.
• If his intent was to trap Jesus, he had failed, perhaps feeling trapped himself.
• If he earnestly wanted to know how to inherit eternal life, he may have felt embarrassed that Jesus pointed out that he already knew the answer; he just hadn’t put it into practice.
• If his intent was to establish that Jesus’ teaching was consistent with the Law, well, obviously it was.
• He either wanted to prove he had been faithful to the Law or to provide an excuse for why he had not.
• Whether he had been, could depend on how one defined neighbor, so he asked a follow-up question: And who is my neighbor?
• The lawyer probably had a narrow definition limited to fellow Jews that he hoped Jesus would affirm.
• Nothing is said to identify the traveler, but most would assume he was a fellow Jew.
• Followers of Christ are not to look for ways to limit acts of compassion.
• That people are in bad situations because of poor choices does not eliminate the need for someone with compassion to help restore them.
• We fail to show love when we fail to take action on behalf of others.
• Our awareness of the needs of others confronts us with the challenge of whether and how to respond.

TRANSITION:

• The conclusion of Jesus’ parable is very familiar today.
• But it would have created quite a shock among His original audience.

Luke 10:33-37
33  "But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion,
34  and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35  "On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.'
36  "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?"
37  And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."     NASB


KEY WORD: Samaritan (v. 33)
Considered “half-breeds” by the Jews, they were the result of intermarriages between the remnants of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) and Gentile foreigners imported by the Assyrians after Samaria’s conquest.

We Are Commanded to Love No Matter What.

• The general perception would have been: It’s all over for the injured man.
• He is as good as dead, if he isn’t already.
• If anything remained to be taken, the poor man will be stripped of that too.
• No one would ever expect a Samaritan to be a hero.
• Compassion means “to be moved from the depth of one’s being; to have pity.”
• The Greek word literally means “to be moved from one’s bowels,” for bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity.
• We would say, “moved from the depth of one’s heart.”
• Compassion is having a sympathetic consciousness toward others in their distress, accompanied by a desire to alleviate it.
• In the New Testament, the word reflects the totality of divine mercy to which human compassion is a proper response.
• Therefore, compassion is more than a feeling; it is acting like God acts.
• The story ended; next came the lesson.
• However, Jesus did not state the lesson but asked the lawyer another question that would force him to acknowledge the point of the story.
• By the question, the lawyer was compelled to focus on the Samaritan.
• His original question had been, “Who is my neighbor?”
• Jesus reversed it to ask, “Who proved to be a neighbor?”
• The lawyer’s question had the potential to pose a limit on who a neighbor was.
• Jesus’ question opened the door to an inclusiveness in which a person asked, “How can I be a neighbor?
• Perhaps the lawyer could not force himself to answer forthrightly, “The Samaritan.”
• Hence, he replied, “The one who showed mercy toward him.”
• Mercy denotes “compassion,” “kindness,” or “good will,” especially toward the miserable and afflicted.
• That being true, Jesus said unto the lawyer, “Go and do the same.”
• He was to be a neighbor to everyone and anyone—even Samaritans—just as the Samaritan in the story had been a neighbor to a Jew in need.
• Love is shown by action.
• Love can be costly.

WRAP IT UP:

• The priest and the Levite saw the injured man, but they did not see an opportunity.
• Even if they felt sorry for him, apparently that was not enough to move them to action.
• The Samaritan’s exercise of compassion required a personal investment on his part in at least three ways.
1. First was the investment of time.
o He interrupted his own journey, took personal time to provide immediate care for the man, and planned to provide subsequent care.
2. Second was the investment of resources.
o The Samaritan drew from his own supply of bandages, oil, and wine; he used his own animal to provide transportation; and he pledged financial support as necessary.
3. Third was the investment of personal effort.
o He treated and bandaged the man’s wounds, transported him to a place of refuge, and provided additional care for him once they arrived at the inn.
o He did not assign the work to someone else.
• What a model for becoming involved in ministry to others this Samaritan is!
• Ministry is more than a feeling, a word, a good thought, or an organized church program.
• It is seeing an opportunity and, being moved by love, going into action to bring relief to someone in distress and need.

IN SUMMATION:

“The legal expert viewed the wounded man as a topic for discussion; the bandits, as an object to exploit; the priest, as a problem to avoid; and the Temple assistant, as an object of curiosity. Only the Samaritan treated him as a person to love. From the illustration we learn three principles about loving our neighbor: (1) Lack of love is often easy to justify, even though it is never right; (2) our neighbor is anyone of any race, creed, or social background who is in need; (3) love means acting to meet the person's need. Wherever you live, needy people are close by. There is no good reason for refusing to help.”    
LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE NOTES