March 8 | Luke 10:25-42
- David Thompson
- Mar 8
- 3 min read
DAILY READING
REFLECTION
The Good Samaritan
by David Thompson
The passage opens with Jesus teaching, when a teacher of the law came up to him and asked an insincere question. “What do I need to do to be saved?” Likely he had heard about Jesus and wanted to trap him into saying something that would rile up the entire Pharisee audience. Jesus was too smart for him and asked a question instead of answering. Jesus asked, “What is written in the law?” and “How do you read it?” This smug teacher of the law could not outsmart Jesus and he answered what we might call a “Sunday School” answer. He said, “Love the Lord your God with all you with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength and with your entire mind.” And like that answer he also stated, “And love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus commended him on his answer. Jesus told him he had answered well. At this the teacher of the law asked a final question. “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus again didn’t answer but told the story of The Good Samaritan. I imagine this Pharisee (teacher of the law) went away confused wondering how he messed up his well planned scheme.
We all know that story of the Good Samaritan. A man had been beaten and robbed and was lying in the road. Three individuals passed by. The first two were Jewish religious men and they passed by without helping due to being unclean if they touched the beaten man. The third man, a hated Samaritan, stopped and helped him and even took him to an inn and paid for his recovery.
It reminds me of a story of a college religion professor who had been teaching the parable of the Good Shepherd in his advanced religion class. He decided to see if he could reenact this story for his students. He gave an assignment of a six page paper on the story to his students. He then set up an older man to sit on a bench in direct line via sidewalks to the religion building. He had the man dress shabbily and had him have a cane. The cane was laying next to the bench and the old man feigned being in great ankle pain. He reminded the students that the paper was very important for their grade and that it was due at 4 o’clock sharp on the day of the setup. He told the students that he would be in meetings until 3:45; but that the papers needed to be turned in by 4:00 sharp or they wouldn’t be accepted. With all ready, he waited for the appointed time. Many of the students walked right passed the old man. Some stopped to find out what was wrong and that he needed to be taken to the health office way out of the way. Many of them either made an excuse or walked away, or promised to come back when the paper was submitted, but a few actually did what the man needed right then. What a surprise the students had the next class time. The class met to find the old man sitting in the front row of the lecture hall. The professor explained his rouse and all had a good laugh and a great discussion.
Matthew 25 has the story of the lambs and goats. The lambs did things to help strangers. They were separated from the goats that did nothing. Another scripture to contemplate is Hebrews 13:2, where we are told about entertaining angels unaware. We all need to think about these two scriptures and take heed. We will answer for what we did and didn’t do in life.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, we can learn so much from your Word. Help us to be aware of the needs of our neighbors and help us be a sheep in your Matthew story. We love you. Amen!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DAVE THOMPSON
I am the administrator of the Daily Worship Blog. My wife, Carla, and I have been attending UALC for seven years at the 9 o'clock service at Mill Run. We have two children, Catherine and Aaron. I have been a Christian for 53 years and am thankful that my Savior has given me two spiritual gifts that have carried me both spiritually and vocationally all my life: they are teaching and administration. I look forward to spending many years here at UALC to serve my Lord and Savior.
Comentários