As I sat on the couch one particular evening preparing my Bible lesson for the kids, it hit me. I wasn’t really expecting it. It seemed rather simple: The parable of the Good Samaritan. I have heard it probably a dozen times over my life; whether it was in sermons, Bible studies, or personal devo time, I was pretty familiar with the story. So this teaching should come pretty naturally, right? Wrong.
As I began to read through the passage, the words began to jump off the page. New revelation into the passage came to me through what could only be the Holy Spirit. I quickly realized that while I might have been looking for a basic lesson for a group of ten year olds, God was about to reveal this passage on a much deeper level.
It all starts in the very first verse. We see the expert in the law ask Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
You see, his question is already flawed. He asks, “What must I do?” As if he can do anything. That is simply not the case. The truth is only way to eternal life is through Christ. Romans 10:9 tells us “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” There is absolutely nothing that we can do to get salvation.
Still, like any good and patient teacher, Jesus meets the man at his level. Jesus asks him, “Well, you’re an expert in the Law. What does it say?”
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself,” the man replies.
Then Jesus comes in with his first right hook: “You are correct. Do this and you will live.” Essentially, we see Jesus saying, “Do you want to know what you must do to inherit eternal life? Be perfect. Uphold the entirety of the Law and live a life of no sin. Then you will inherit eternal life.”
That’s a little hard to swallow. Jesus doesn’t hold back. But that’s the truth. If we want to earn our way to heaven, we must be perfect. Because even one sin makes us fall short (Romans 3:23). The reality is: none of us measure up to God’s glorious standard.
Jesus isn’t finished. Let’s get back to the story at hand. It is interesting that the text says the expert “wanted to justify himself.” It is as if he is saying to himself, “Surely Jesus can’t be saying I need to follow these commands all the time. Certainly, there is a loophole somewhere.”
Sorry, buddy. There are no loopholes. If you want to earn your own salvation, you must uphold the Law. There is no other way around it.
Luckily there is another way. An easier way. A better way!
A large portion of His ministry was devoted to showing people how they don’t measure up. How they need a Savior. They need Him. We see this in this passage. We aren’t capable of loving our neighbor to the extent that God expects. The Jews despised the Samaritans, and yet they need to love them as a neighbor? How can they do that? The truth is: by themselves, they can’t.
The point of this passage is to show us the same thing. On our own, we can’t. We are incapable of maintaining the standard that God expects. We will never be able to do enough good things to get to heaven. We need another way. We need Jesus.
Many times when this parable is taught in Sunday Schools and sermons, the main message is this: Jesus calls us to be the Good Samaritan – to love those we don’t get along with. While I believe that is true, I believe there is a much deeper meaning in the passage. One that often gets missed when we hear this story.
Here’s the truth: Jesus is our Good Samaritan.
He is the one who bandages our wounds. He is the one who puts us on his donkey. He is the one who takes us to the inn. And He is the one who tells the innkeeper He’ll cover all our debts.
In the same way, He is the one who willingly gave up His life for us. He is the one loves us even though time and time again we walk away from Him. And He is the one who chooses us in the midst of our wickedness.
His undeserved death brought us life. His resurrection brings us a relationship with the Father.
He was, is, and always will be, the definition of love.
“While we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him by the death of his Son” – Romans 5:10
