JESUS IS THE GOOD SAMARITAN

[Jo Ash]

 

Luke 10:25-35

I have listened to many teachings based on this parable – the Good Samaritan, they are always wonderful. It is often preached as a sermon for introspection and admonition to show compassion and kindness to needy persons. But this is just one way of looking at it, it also reveals that Jesus is that Good Samaritan.

Throughout the parable Jesus Christ was indirectly revealing who and what he is to us – the Good Shepherd and the Good Samaritan. In the parable, this traveler was backsliding; he was leaving Jerusalem for the city of Jericho.

Now, Jerusalem is known and also called the “City of Peace” why Jericho is the “City of palms” (2 Chronicles 28:15). So he was traveling from his place of peace to a place of worldly pleasures – he was backsliding. And that gave the devil the opportunity to waylay, injure, strip and rob him.

The priest and the Levite, who passed him without rendering any help, represent the visible human authority saddled with the duty and office of bringing straying sheep back to the fold. They looked and passed the other way because his case was dire, they feared his case to be very severe and beyond their help.

Jesus Christ was indirectly telling that, when others and in particular those that should assist give up on anyone's case, and conclude on them, he’ll never just pass by. That he will willingly come by and give the required help needed. He will allow nothing deny him the opportunity to save anyone, not even His own journey.

When the devil waylays anyone, beat him up badly and strip him of everything, that fellow is finished. The devil isn’t a physical being, so Jesus Christ wasn’t talking of an actual highway robber, He was talking spiritually. When the devil waylays, it means he has attacked something important in the life of his victim - a fellow. When the devil beat-up a person, it means he has overcome (defeated) the fellow and seize that thing of importance in his life. When the devil strips a fellow, it means he has attacked, defeated and robbed the fellow of not just that thing of importance in his life but also of every other thing he holds dear in his life, including his destiny/future – and at that point everything seizes to work (family, friends, career, projects etc).

We all are travelers in this world, journeying to our Father’s house. And very often we leave our Jerusalem for Jericho, like this fellow in the parable; like the prodigal son. Unbeknownst, that the devil has been waiting for the opportunity to strike at us.

Jesus Christ knows we are weak and that we are likely to fall for the snares of the devil, so He often makes his journey along our way, ready to pick us up. Ready also to revive and replace all that the devil will strip from us. The priest and the Levite couldn’t and wouldn't have been able to replace the man’s destiny (clothes), only Jesus could. And He is always ready to do that again and again for anyone abandoned in that same condition today. He is the Good Samaritan.

 

 

[Walter and Deborah]

Amen, Jesus Christ is The Good Shepherd. 

 

John 10:11 ¹¹"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by Walter and Deborah
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