September 15, 2019
Evening Service

Our text for this message begins with the disciples asking Jesus about which of the commandments is the greatest.

Matthew 22:36  "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 

Matthew 22:37  Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 

Matthew 22:38  This is the first and great commandment. 

Matthew 22:39  And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

Matthew 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." 

Recently, several of our messages have mentioned how important it is to love our neighbors as ourselves. If all of the law can be summed up in two commandments, it shows us Christians the relevance at which Jesus holds our showing love to all as near the top of things we are commanded to do. When we hear this commandment, the natural question following the command is, “Who is our Neighbor?” Jesus was asked by a lawyer about how to inherit eternal life? Jesus in turn asked the lawyer what was written in the law? Then the lawyer recited the first two commandments and Jesus told him he had answered rightly, do this and you will live. But the lawyer wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus the question, ”Who is my neighbor?” Then Jesus with his infinite wisdom answered this lawyer with a parable known to us as the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Luke 10:30  Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 

Luke 10:31  Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 

Luke 10:32  Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 

Luke 10:33  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 

Luke 10:34  So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 

Luke 10:35  On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' 

Luke 10:36  So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" 

Luke 10:37  And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." 

This road from Jerusalem to Jericho was known to be a treacherous pathway. It had a reputation for muggings and crime and was called by many “The Way of Blood” because of the violence. It was set in mountain solitude, wild and dreary, and known by the listeners of Jesus for its obvious dangers. They were not surprised by Jesus choosing this road for the setting of his parable.  The story tells of two fellow men coming upon the man and passing on the other side of the road. Neither of these men offered any help or assistance to the injured man and they were thought to be of the same ethnic background. There may have been many reasons or excuses they used for doing this….it was too dangerous to stop, it may be a decoy to entrap them when they stop to help, his case is helpless, they don’t know first aid, he didn’t ask for help, they have to get home, and the list seems endless of why they did not help. The point here is that they did not help in any way, but proceeded on their way and left him unattended. But then, a Samaritan man on his journey came across this man in distress and had “compassion” on him. Now this would have really surprised the listeners of Jesus because the Jews and the Samaritans despised one another both racially and religiously. This was shocking to those listening because it once again showed the corruption of the religious leaders of the day. This Samaritan man however, sacrificed his safety to help a man in need. He did not wait for this man to ask for help and was compelled to help him out of love for his fellow man and neighbor. He also gave freely of his time and resources to assist this man without needing an agreement of what the man could do for him in exchange for his loving help! In addition to this, the man cared for his wounds and set the injured man on his own animal and took him to an inn, meaning he walked beside the man on his animal. When he arrived, the Bible said he gave the innkeeper two denarii to take care of this man until he returned. In those days, the two denarii were about enough money to provide for the man’s needs for about two to three weeks. If that was not enough love and kindness to show to his neighbor, he also told the innkeeper that if he spent more than the two denarii he would pay him back when he returned through the area.

So according to the thinking of the day, the priest and the Levite would have been neighbors to the wounded man on the road, but neither of them acted neighborly. Jesus asked the lawyer of the three men mentioned in the parable, which of them was the neighbor? The lawyer answered, the neighbor was he who showed mercy, he couldn’t even bring himself to call the neighborly man a Samaritan because of the hatred between their races. Jesus then directed him to go and do likewise and the man knew that he could no longer justify himself. He did not have this kind of love as part of his character, a love that would supersede what he wanted to think of as “neighbor.” These following words of action are for us as believers of Christ Jesus and His teachings.

Matthew 5:43  "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 

Matthew 5:44  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 

These two scriptures are pretty demanding when it comes to a human natural mind, almost impossible in fact if you are without Christ Jesus in your heart! Notice in these verses that Jesus does not tell us the opposite of what we have heard, rather than being opposing, it is in addition to what we have heard. Jesus tells us to love our neighbors and our enemies, because our enemies are our neighbors also.  If we are all created by our Lord and we truly are, this means all who live on this earth have the title of neighbor. This means the Chinese, Japanese, Russians, Whites, Blacks, Browns, Indians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, and all groups of people regardless of race, creed, occupation, or whatever group in which we can segregate people. A Christian is not to have hate and envy in his heart and must be able to forgive others as we have been forgiven. I am able to usually understand fairly easily why I am directed by my Lord to do these things because I deserve death and He chose to love and forgive me for all my iniquity. He instructs us to love our neighbors because He first loved us!

John 15:13  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. 

This action my fellow Christians is what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did for us at Calvary. Our Lord allowed himself to be crucified for our transgressions and our iniquities. Jesus took our sin upon Him in our place and Jesus was saddened badly on the cross when God our Father had to look away from Him because of my sins that Jesus carried for me on that cross! I believe the words of that song that says while He was on the cross, I was on His mind! I love my Lord and Savior and I do not deserve anything other than death because of my wickedness within me, but I thank my Lord that I can put on His righteousness and be clothed with the integrity of my Savior and my Father in Heaven will accept me because of His Son spilling His blood for the sins of the world and personally for me to be saved.

 

Lord, we ask you for your Help and Spirit to live a life pleasing to You and to give us the humility to love those all around us regardless of our own weaknesses!