LUKE 10:30-3530And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. (Luke 10:30‑35).
“A certain man ‘went down’ from Jerusalem to Jericho.” The road descends from Jerusalem, that is true, but may we not take this fact of nature as a striking illustration of the “downward” path of every sinner until, converted to God, he turns away from the goal of destruction? On Jerusalem the place of blessing, the City of the great King, where Jehovah dwelt between the cherubim this man had turned his back, and he “went down” to Jericho, the city of the curse.
“And fell among thieves.” So did his first parent, Adam, when he turned his back on his Creator and His word, and began the fatal descent of disobedience and death.
“Who stripped him of his raiment.” And was not Adam “stripped”? Hear his piteous confession: “I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked.” Robbed of innocency, robbed of ability to commune with his God stripped naked.
“And wounded him, and departed, leaving him half-dead.” Oh, the wounds that sin have made!: “A wounded spirit who can bear”? “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” and Adam died morally and spiritually, and from that moment was a dying man physically.
“And by chance there came down a certain priest that way” the custodian and exponent of the law.
“And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.” He could not help. Had there been ability in the wounded man to get up and do what he was told, the priest might have helped him. But the man was helpless. The Law says, “This do and thou shalt live.” “The man that doeth them shall live in them.” But the man needed life. “Had there been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law”: but that “the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” There is no ability in the sinner to answer to the requirements of the law, as there was no ability in the helpless man to carry out any instructions the priest might have given.
“And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.” He showed more interest, perhaps, than the priest, but he was equally powerless to help. He had to do with the temple ritual, but ordinances are as impotent as commandments to save a sinner. “He that is of works of law is under a curse”!
“But a certain Samaritan.” Oh, the grace of that name! He Who uttered it was drawing His own portrait, for none else could it be. But shortly before, as recorded in the preceding chapter, He had sent messengers to a village of the Samaritans and “they did not receive Him.” Would we, if so treated, adopt the name of those who slighted us? But such is the way of His grace! “A certain Samaritan, as he journeyed”— “God over all, blessed forever;” who subsisting “in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:6-86Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:6‑8)). Such was His journey down seven steps of ever increasing humiliation from the highest place of blessedness to the place of the curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.”
It was by no “chance” He came; He “journeyed” thither He “came into the world to save sinners.” His very presence here told how “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” And he “came where he was” to the wounded and half-dead by the road side. And where we were, in death and judgment, under the wrath of God, the Christ of God descended, taking the sinner’s place in death and bearing the sinner’s doom.
“And when he saw him, he had compassion” a word often used of the Lord Jesus in the Gospels. “He had compassion” on the leper, and touched him. None else dared but must contract the defilement; but He, the Undefiled and Undefilable One dispelled the leprosy and banished it by that touch. He “had compassion on the multitude,” and would not send them away fasting. He “had compassion” on the widow of Nain, as He met her about to consign her sole support and comfort to the tomb; He was always having compassion, or pity.
“And went to him, and bound up his wounds.” He came to do it to “heal the brokenhearted” to forgive, pardon, justify.
“Pouring in oil and wine.” Oil is acknowledged type of the Holy Spirit, and wine of joy. Little joy had the wounded man known since he began that downward journey! It was “poured” in now, with the power of the Holy Spirit.
“And set him on his own beast” the motive power which brought Him hither was that which should carry the wounded man.
“And brought him to an inn” the place of rest, succor, and refreshment for the wayfarer journeying home. Picture of the assembly the church, to which every wounded sinner who has been met by the Good Samaritan is brought.
“And took care of him.” Not left at his own charges, even there. “He careth for you.” “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
“And when he departed” ah, He is gone! But “If I go... I will come again,” He said. “He took out two pence, and gave them to the host,” to him who controlled the inn. The office of the Holy Spirit is to rule in the assembly, “dividing to every man severally as He will.”
“Saying, Take care of him.” “We have an Advocate, or Paraclete, with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous” One Who has right and ability to undertake everything for those committed to His care; and also, “I will give you another Comforter (Paraclete, is the word), that He may abide with you forever”; “Jesus Christ the Righteous” “taking care” up there; the Holy Spirit “taking care” down here.
“And whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.” The Host takes care by means of His servants, but the Absent One is coming again, and His word is, “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me to give to every man according as his work shall be” (Rev. 22:1212And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelation 22:12)).