Luke 10:25-3725And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. 28And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? 30And 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. 36Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? 37And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. (Luke 10:25‑37).
WHAT a picture does the parable of the good Samaritan present of the gracious way of the Son of God with poor sinners! His love in the gospel is perfect.
It is perfect, as the expression of the divine love; but in its varied multiform beauty and perfection, we may treat and regard it as the pattern or model of love of one’s neighbor also. The good Samaritan loved the poor way-laid man as Himself. He spent on him His sympathies and His property―the treasures of His heart and of His hand. He rendered him all kinds of service. As it were, He changed places or conditions with him. And all this was an unwearied unrepentant love; for He provided for the future, as well as for the present. He did as much for him, one may say, as He could have done for Himself.
He enlisted others to bestow their care and their substance on him, but all this, not at their cost, but at His.
What was wanting, beloved? Nothing. The necessity, deep as it was, had it been His own could not have been more thoroughly met and answered.
The parable, however, suggests another thought.
There are two ways in which I, a poor sinner, may have to do with this good Samaritan. I may be a debtor to Him, or an imitator of Him.
The lawyer who came with his question to Christ never thought of assuming the first of these attitudes. His thoughts were entirely on the law, and what he himself could do. The Saviour, in answer to that, can suggest nothing less than perfection, or the imitation of Himself. Had he approached the Lord with a broken heart, he would have been otherwise answered―in some way that would have preached to him the grace, and not the example of the good Samaritan.
But let us, beloved, take our place with the poor way-laid traveler, before we ever think of taking our place with his generous Benefactor. We will be debtors to Jesus, before we think of becoming imitators of Jesus.
And, sure I am, the more simply by faith we assume the first of these relationships to Him, the more really, and largely, and graciously, shall we act in the power of the second. It is only by the constraining’s of the love of Christ to ourselves, that we can act in concert or sympathy with that love to others.
The lawyer would have to find that he must become the way-laid man before he could become, in any true evangelic sense, the companion or imitator of the good Samaritan who befriended him.
And, it is strange in the ear of the moralist to say it, but so it is, the blessed God is more honored by my consenting to be a debtor to Him, than by all my efforts to be an imitator of Him. And that imitation at best, will ever be found, and confessed to be, but partial.
May we all know, more richly than we do, the precious power and presence of the Spirit, to give Jesus and Heaven more authority with our hearts!