By: Dale Weckbacher
Luke 10:36-37
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.”
(ESV)
The parable of the Good Samaritan is perhaps one of the most
well-known of Jesus’ parables. Today we
equate Samaritans with people or organizations that are compassionate to those
in need. One of the largest hospitals in
my hometown of Phoenix Arizona is Good Samaritan Hospital. Samaritan’s purse, an organization run by
Franklin Graham is usually one of the first responders offering help to people
around the world falling victim to some disaster. However, in the time of Jesus Samaritans were
not held in such high esteem.
Samaritans came about because of the division of the Nation
of Israel after the rein of King Solomon (1 Kings 12). The result of this split and separation from
Jerusalem by the northern tribes of Israel, specifically the tribes of Ephraim
and Manasseh caused great antagonism to develop between the Jews and
Samaritans. (1) So vile was this antagonism that it escalated
to Jews wanting nothing to do with Samaritans.
(2)
Viewed in this historical context, we now see mention of a
Samaritan in response to a question asked by a lawyer (Luke 10:25-29) attempting
entrap Jesus would have been viewed as offensive. In fact, another lawyer or even possibly the
same one did admit to being offended by the words of Jesus (Luke 11:45). The source of offense in comes because
of words of rebuke uttered by Jesus towards the Pharisees about their religious
arrogance (Luke 11:37-44). Taken in this
context we can now have a better understanding of what Jesus wants us to learn
from the parable of the Good Samaritan for it demonstrates arrogance of the
priest, and the lawyer who could not be bothered to stop and help the man in
need (Luke 10:31-32), and the compassion of a despised Samaritan who
demonstrated compassion (Luke 10:33-35).
By praising the acts of the Samaritan (Luke 10:36-37), Jesus was
rebuking the animosity that had developed between Jews and Samaritans, both of
whom he would die on a cross for providing salvation for sins.
While it is easy for us, almost 2000 years later to stand in
condemnation of the religious arrogance of the Pharisees and Lawyers of Jesus’ time,
we must also guard against developing a similar arrogant gospel that condemns
instead of points people to Jesus and his provision of salvation and
restoration of our relationship with God.
This is the challenge of the church today, balancing the justness of God
with his grace. Unfortunately, I see
many churches leaning heavily towards the extremes of moral legalism or cheap
grace instead of striving to achieve this balance. The reason this is unfortunate is that it,
1)
Legalism sets up people to fail – The purpose of
the law of God is to serve as a school master showing us the high standard of
God’s Righteousness (Galatians 3:24).
When I picture a school master I picture a cold person whose duty is to
strictly enforce a set of rules and regulations. In the case of following God’s law to the
letter we all have failed (Romans 3:23) and even one failure results in a death
sentence upon our lives (Romans 6:23). While
it is important for everyone, especially those claiming to be followers of
Jesus Christ to live in obedience to the law (i.e. the 10 commandments) it is imperative
that we remember we are not saved through our adherence to these rules but by
God’s infinite grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).
To require total adherence to the Law of God in order to achieve
salvation only sets someone up to fail, not something most would want to become
part of. Instead the Gospel is about God
knowing our hopeless situation and sending His Son to take the death penalty
for our sins. I now want to obey God’s
Word not out of some selfish desire to achieve salvation and eternal life but
out of love for the fact that God Himself died to provide my salvation.
2)
Cheap Grace lessens the value of what Jesus did
on the Cross – The other extreme prevalent in the church today is
antinomianism. The word antinomianism is
derived from the Greek and means lawless.
(3) This belief stems from an extreme
interpretation of Ephesians 2:8-9, believing that since grace saves us there is
no longer any need to follow the Old Testament laws, including the 10
commandments. While we indeed are saved
by the grace of God since none of us has strictly followed God’s law to the
letter, we must not use the grace of God as a blank check to live a life of
sin, something condemned by Paul the same one authoring the words in Ephesians2:8-9, in Romans 6:15. We cheapen the
value of God’s grace when we fail to condemn sin instead of using sin to
demonstrate our need to repent and turn to Christ (Romans 7). Unfortunately, many modern churches lean
towards antinomianism in an effort to boost their membership by not offending
anyone with the sin in their lives. Woe
to the pastor that must answer to God some day for their failure to address the
sin in their parishioner’s lives, sin that prevented them from achieving a
strong and vibrant relationship with God through Christ.
Let us in the church today not fall into the trap of
religious arrogance as did the religious leaders and lawyers of the time of
Christ and instead adopt the attitude of the Good Samaritan. While adoption of this attitude may result is
us being despised as do-gooders by legalists, better to be despised by them
then rebuked as were those in Luke 11:37-53.
However, let us not move to the extreme of antinomianism by fearing
retribution for condemning sin. Instead,
let us point sinners to Christ through compassion and strive to live lives in
obedience to God’s Word and encourage others to do the same.
1. Brindle, Wayne A. THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY. Faculty.gordon.edu.
[Online] Grace Theological Journal, 1984. [Cited: July 16, 2017.]
https://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/ntesources/ntarticles/gtj-nt/brindle-samaritans-gtj.htm.
2. Bible.org.
Hatred Between Jews and Samaritans. bible.org. [Online] Bible.org.
[Cited: July 16, 2017.] https://bible.org/illustration/hatred-between-jews-and-samaritans.
3. Theopedia.
Antinomianism. www.theopedia.com. [Online] Theopedia.com. [Cited: July
16, 2017.] https://www.theopedia.com/antinomianism.
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