Verses 25-27 A man who was an expert in the law stood up in the crowd to test Jesus by asking how anyone can inherit eternal life. Now “being saved” or salvation is done by believing in Jesus. Faith alone will get us into the kingdom of God. (Ephesians 2:8-9) But inheriting the rewards and quality of the inner and external life that comes from following God, things like peace, comfort, rest, now these things are beyond just entering into the kingdom and receiving eternal life. These are our inheritance. So Jesus asks this man what he knows about the law. The law was written in the Old Testament many years before. The man quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. These are the two great commands given to God’s children. (Matthew 22:34-40) What it means to love God is to passionately pursue His glory. We see Him as perfect and excellent and find our value only through God’s eyes. We devote our sincere, fervent attention to Him and please/delight ourselves in Him out of genuine interest and gratitude. It’s a holy love that brings Him all of us, including our service and praise. To love our neighbors is to compassionately seek their well-being. We must do all we can to heal and not hinder or hurt. Just as we would wish it to be done to us. And just as we would treat ourselves.
Verses 28-29 This lawyer doesn’t want to be informed. He wants to justify his actions. So he says he has no objective way of determining whom he should be loving toward. He comes in with his pride with the intent to excuse any bad behavior. His assumption is that some are undeserving of his love, so he wants to know how Jesus would define his neighbor. The Jewish teachers taught that “everyone except Gentiles” was a neighbor when it came to this law. For Jews, only those of their own nation and religion were neighbors.
Verses 30-32 Here’s another parable from Jesus to teach who our neighbors are. In this story, the man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho was on a dangerous journey of 17 miles with a 3,000-foot drop in elevation. He was robbed, stripped, beaten, and left for dead. A priest and a Levite both walk by the crime scene. Now a priest typically is in charge of interpreting the law and officiating in the temple. The Levites (this is the tribe that priests come from) assist the priests in their duties. Maybe these men finished their work in Jerusalem and were hurrying home. Or maybe they were on their way to work in Jerusalem and didn’t want to be late. Or, perhaps they thought touching the bloody man would contaminate them. They may have figured if they had stopped they could be robbed themselves. Whatever the reason, these religious figures considered kind and caring by the public actually crossed to the other side of the road and walked on by. Their hearts were hardened to help one of their own people in any way.
Many religious people today hold their religion close but ignore those suffering around them. We have a world full of hurting people in need of compassion, not just a good talk and some prayer. Many ministry opportunities happen in unplanned moments like this.
Verses 33-35 Then a Samaritan stranger, someone from a nationality most despised by the Jews, stops. The Samaritan had compassion for this Jewish man, without any consideration for what country he was from. The Samaritan was not afraid to get close and console the Jewish man. He bound up the wounds, poured wine on the sores to wash them, and dabbed oil to heal them. The Samaritan did all he could to help ease the pain, putting the wounded man on a donkey to carry him to an inn. The Samaritan got the man a bed and food and left money for an additional night’s stay.
The Samaritan understood that his own business that day did not take precedence over God’s business. Kindness and generosity were more important than differing nations, religions, professions, or even opinions. This story also displays our relationship with Jesus. We are the distressed traveler in the story. Satan robbed us, beat us, and left us for dead in our wounds with sin. Those of the law could not relieve the amount of pain we were in. They passed by. But Jesus is the Good Samaritan in this story who stopped with compassion. He binds up our bleeding wounds, pours his blood over us, and takes on all our debt and expenses. The Church Jesus built is a place of receiving love and life. Like the Samaritan, like Jesus, we are called to have compassion.
Verses 36-37 “Who is my neighbor,” the lawyer asks. Jesus turns the lawyer’s question around and asks, “what kind of neighbor are you?” The lawyer claims he’s the Samaritan in the story so Jesus says “good, go do it then.” Our neighbors are anyone we see in need. We are called to have mercy and fill or meet legitimate needs when we have the capacity to do so. Love is an action. Our devotion to God must be seen. To experience the life, blessings, and rewards that God offers, we are called to love others as a reflection of our love for God.
Martha and Mary
Verses 38-39 Martha and Mary were good friends with Jesus. They are recorded in other stories, like in John 11:1-44 when Jesus raises their brother Lazarus from the dead. Martha invites Jesus to the house in Bethany for dinner. While Martha is preparing the meal, Mary is in sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to what He said. She loved Jesus and wanted to hear everything He had to say. Every time we read of Mary, she is sitting at Jesus’ feet (John 11:32; 12:3).
Verse 40 Martha was distracted with all the tasks for preparing this meal. Much less than what she was preparing would have been fine, but Martha gets so caught up in what she thinks they need at the table. Often our worldly motives, ideas, and busyness can hinder us from serving and being with Jesus. And when these worldly ideas and pursuits exceed reasonable limits, they can create a wedge of anger and bitterness in our family relationships. Martha was going beyond what was needed to feed everyone to serve her own desires for the meal.
At one point in the midst of preparing, Martha notices she is the only one working. Martha storms out of the kitchen, completely ignoring her sister out of frustration, and says to Jesus, “don’t you care that my sister has left me to work alone on this meal? Tell her to help me.” I can see this scene so clearly in my mind. It’s so familiar in our family. The environment shifts from a welcoming dinner to a blame game of who isn’t helping enough. When we’re trapped in a mindset of worldliness, it’s easy to justify the abundance of tasks and to judge others for not helping us pursue the abundance. We might condemn those who are not helping us reach our goals. Our selfish side wants everyone to care about the things we care about. This is a groundless fight Martha is having here.
What’s interesting about this story though is that Martha is inadvertently saying, Jesus, if you weren’t talking right now, I would have some help. If you really cared, Jesus, you would stop talking and do things my way. Martha had become so focused on what she wanted to do for Jesus, so distracted with all of her tasks, that she became frustrated with Jesus getting in the way of the plan.
It’s so easy to get distracted with our own plans for serving and ministry that we miss Jesus right there in the middle redirecting our focus. When our service to God affects our relationship with Him, when our doing gets in the way of our being with Him and our fellowship with other believers, then it’s a problem.
Verses 41-42 Martha fully expects Jesus to justify her and agree that she is correct in her frustration, but Jesus tells Martha that she’s upset about many things and overly concerned about the meal. None of those are as important as his presence there with them. Jesus wasn’t saying that there was no work to be done. He was saying that when the work damages the relationship we have with Jesus, and with others, we need to reassess the amount of work we’ve taken on and the motivation for the work. Relationships always matter more than our to-do’s. This is a struggle for many Christians and a good lesson to live content with what we have. Martha’s heart was hurried and divided between what she wanted to do and what she needed to do. Everything has its season and place. Perhaps if Martha had done these things before Jesus arrived, it would have been a better time. But now He was here.
What is best for us is whatever is best for our souls. Is our reputation more important than the condition of our hearts?
Nothing can separate us from Jesus unless we make the choice. Mary wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to be in Jesus’ presence and listen to Him. Jesus wants us to serve Him but not at the expense of our relationship with Him. If we’re doing more for God than being still with Him, if we’re working more and praying less, we may need to reassess our spiritual life.
Prayer: Jesus, You are worthy of all our affection and attention. You are our commitment in this life. You are our highest aim. It brings us great joy to sit at Your feet, Jesus, at the start of each day. Jesus, help us not miss you here in the midst of our busyness. Help us to align our priorities according to Your priorities. Help us to slow down, to unrush our hearts, to calm the hurry in our to-do’s so that we can spend time in Your Word and presence, even when it intervenes with our fleshly desires to get other things done. Help us to see you here with us, calling us to contentment even when the checkmarks are missing from our lists. Our priorities get out of place when we forget Your kingdom agenda. Sometimes our wounds get in the way of doing the right thing. Help us heal, Jesus. Help us realign our lives with Your Word. Help us to help others along the way who are wounded from sin and Satan’s attempt to steal their joy. Help us to slow down and see the neighbor in need of help. Help us to keep Your business, Jesus, above our own business in the day. Give us the eyes to see others and the heart to stop. Help us, Holy Spirit, to live from a generous perspective, a life that is generously provided for and more than willing to give back or pay it forward. In Jesus’ name, Amen.