This is
a story you’ve all heard before.
It is the parable of the Good Samaritan.
It is the Golden Rule put into action- do unto
others as you would have them do unto you.
However, I believe that this can be applied to
more than simply doing good towards others as I will
illustrate later on.
But first allow me to give you the story and the
details most of you have probably heard before.
Luke
10:25 begins saying that “On one occasion an expert in
the law stood up to test Jesus.
‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal
life?’” This man wasn’t genuinely searching for a way to heaven, he
was simply trying to trap Jesus like so many of the
experts in the law tried to do throughout Jesus’
ministry.
This expert in the law thought that he understood the
law so well that he was certain to trick Jesus into
saying something that obviously went against what all
good Jews would believe.
We also run into people like this in our own lives.
There will be people that will ask questions that
they don’t really want an answer for but simply wish to
trip us up.
Jesus was ready however.
“What
is written in the Law?” he replied.
“How do you read it?”
Jesus answered the expert in the law’s question
with another question.
Certainly Jesus could have told the man exactly
what he must do to inherit eternal life.
However, in asking another question, he made the
man come to the right answer on his own.
This way the expert could not say that Jesus had
told him something foolish but in fact, the man had
reached the conclusion on his own with Jesus to help
him.
“He
answered: ‘”Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength and
with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as your
self.”’
‘You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied. ‘Do this and you will live.’”
The
expert in the law understood exactly what the law said
and what God expected of him.
Jesus said that he answered correctly and by
doing what the man had just stated he would live.
“But he
wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who
is my neighbor?’”
The conclusion the expert in the law should have reached
was that in fact he couldn’t uphold the very things he
had just stated would allow him to inherit eternal life.
Instead he looked for a loophole in the system
the way the Pharisees found loopholes in their own laws.
One
such law involves travel on the Sabbath.
According to the laws that Jewish leaders had set up and
not God, Jews could only walk a certain distance on the
Sabbath before it was considered work.
But it wasn’t considered work if they walked a
certain distance and then ate a “meal” after that
distance.
So some smart Jewish leaders figured out that if they
had to walk a distance on the Sabbath, they would go
ahead the day before and hide food along the pathway
they intended to take.
They next day when they were walking, when they had
reached the distance they were allowed to travel in one
day, they also reached the food that they had hidden the
day before.
There they stopped for a “meal” and then continued
walking to the next place where he had hidden food the
day before.
This
was just one of the many ways that the Jewish leaders
had devised to get around their own laws.
The expert in the law was probably looking for the same
type of loophole in what Jesus said was the way to
inherit eternal life.
He thought he’d find such a loophole but asking who was
his neighbor.
“In
reply Jesus said: ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem
to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away,
leaving him half dead.’”
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was
treacherous.
It was also a difficult road to travel because it
dropped 3000 feet in 17 miles.
Robbers were known for being on this road and
this scene of being robber and beaten up is something
that the expert in the law was probably familiar with.
“’A
priest happened to be going down the same road, and when
he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him,
passed by on the other side.’”
We probably immediately think that this is a
horrible thing to do.
But I believe that we can actually relate pretty
well. How
many times have we been walking in the mall when we see
someone handing out flyers for some new product or
someone who is doing demonstrations of a new product.
We find ourselves moving towards the outside
wall, hoping to get out of distance of the person
handing out flyers because we don’t want to be caught by
a salesman.
The
priest and the Levite would have found this man to be a
considerable inconvenience.
There’s the obvious fact that the man needed help
which would have taken at least their time from them.
But there is also the fact that this man was most likely
bleeding and for all they knew, could have been dead.
To help this man out would have meant touching
blood or possibly a dead body. If the priest or Levite did that, then they would have been
considered unclean.
“’But a
Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and
when he saw him, took pity on him.
He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil
and wine.
Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an
inn and took care of him.
The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them
the innkeeper.
“Look after him,” he said, “and when I return, I will
reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.”’”
The
first thing we see about the Samaritan is that he did
exactly the opposite of what the priest and the Levite
did.
Instead he went to the wounded man.
Then he proceeded to bandage the man’s wounds,
pour oil and wine on them, and take the man into town on
his donkey.
He took him to an inn and took care of him.
When he left the next day he paid the innkeeper
to take care of the wounded man and if the innkeeper
needed more money, he’d pay him the next time he came
back. The two silver coins the man paid was about two days’ wages,
so it wasn’t just couple of coins.
It would have been enough keep the wounded man in
the inn for up to two months.
“’Which
of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man
who fell into the hands of the robbers?’
The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had
mercy on him.’
Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”
The
basic meaning of this story isn’t difficult to discern.
We are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Everyone is our neighbor and therefore we are to
love one another, even sacrificially in the way that the
Good Samaritan did, giving up his time, money, and
energy.
We
encounter people who have been beaten up, robbed, and
left by the roadside for dead practically every day of
our lives.
These are people who the devil has grabbed a hold
of and robbed the joy of life and sometimes even the
will to live from them.
He has beaten them up with abuse, uncaring
families, and unfaithful friends.
And he has stripped them of their dignity,
leaving them naked in their sins.
These
people left by the roadside robbed and beaten are the
non-Christians.
People who may have heard the gospel before,
maybe not.
We too often see these people- robbed, beaten, bleeding,
and dying lying by the roadside in our lives.
And we do the same as the priest and the Levite
do, we walk to the other side of the road to avoid them.
These
people are not necessarily strangers that we avoid and
walk away from.
These are people who we work with, friends, and
even family members.
We hear stories about broken families, rebellious
children, and miserable jobs.
We hear how miserable people are or sometimes we
hear stories covering up the emptiness of people’s
lives.
And
still we walk by, letting these beaten up people lie
along the road when we are in fact the only ones who can
help them.
Others may have tried to help them, giving them
drugs, sex, or money but it doesn’t heal their wounds.
We hold the only bandage that will keep them from
bleeding to death but we keep it to ourselves and walk
to the other side of the road for whatever reason.
There
are three parts to witnessing as I see it- your life,
your prayers, and your actions.
While each of these are important in witnessing
and any can be effective in bringing a person to Christ,
they also build on one another.
The
first step in witnessing and possibly the easiest to do
living your life.
That is, living your life as a Christian.
Christian literally means little Christ.
When you take the name of Christian upon yourself
and others know that you are a Christian, you not only
represent yourself before others, but you represent
Christ.
Much can be said about living a Christ like life but
there is little time to discuss it.
When
others look at your life, they should see that there is
something different about you than there is in the rest
of the world that is not Christian.
There should be something to distinguish between the
wounded man lying by the road and the man who is trying
to help man.
This all comes down to how you live your life.
Ask
yourself, do people know I’m a Christian without me
needing to tell them?
Do they see it in how I act?
More importantly, do non-Christians see that
there is something in your life that they want or even
need?
Living
a Christian life in public isn’t as easy as it used to
be.
Some people are rude and will walk over anyone
who nice.
Others mock Christianity as a crutch for those who are
weak. Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura said this about Christians
publicly.
Nevertheless, living a Christ like life will show others
that Christianity is not the same as other religions. Not that we may feel that we have our life altogether, quite
possibly we really don’t, but others will see the
difference in our lives.
As the
family continues to deteriorate, people are just now
turning to Christians for help with their children or
spouse.
If you live your life as Christ would have you,
people will come to you and want to know where your joy
comes from.
Then you tell them it comes from knowing Christ.
The
second part of witnessing many wouldn’t include but I
feel it is a very necessary part.
That is the power of prayer.
This isn’t simply offering up a short one time
prayer, not that there isn’t power behind that as well,
but it is the persistence of prayer. That’s why I said that living your life as Christ would might
be the easiest step.
Many
people have difficulty in continued prayer for someone
or something.
They often give up after a few weeks or maybe
months when they see that God has not answered their
prayer yet.
It is the persistent prayer that is sometimes needed to
reach lost ones. I heard of a story of a woman who
prayed for her son’s salvation for over 60 years and her
prayer was finally answered shortly before her death.
It is
through prayer that we may reach the seemingly most
unreachable people.
Only when we ask God to step in and melt hard
hearts will witnessing be effective in many cases.
Even when a person may already be receptive to
the gospel, prayer will never hurt in witnessing.
There is power behind prayer and more power than
we can possibly imagine when we pray, believing that God
will answer.
A group
of ten men had a regular Bible study in which they met.
One night they were told to each come up with
five people they knew that they wished but would never
expect to become a Christian.
The next week they came back, each with their
five names.
They compiled the names into a list of 50 and gave the
list to each member.
They were asked to pray for each person on the list by
name, every day for a month.
At the end of the month 30 of those 50 people
these men wanted to see saved but thought would never
happen had been!
God answers prayer, don’t forget it!
The
third part of witnessing is definitely the most
difficult.
It requires putting your neck out and possibly
facing rejection.
It requires your action.
As effective as prayer is, sometimes we have to
be the ones to reach out to other people and not just
pray that someone else will. How foolish would it have been if the Good Samaritan had
walked past the man who was robbed and said, I’ll pray
for you that someone will come along and help!
Action
needs to back up the way we live and the way we pray.
This leaves us very vulnerable to people.
It may mean that we should ask a friend, a
neighbor, or coworker to come to church with us.
This obviously means that they could say no and
say that they do not want to have anything to do with
Christianity.
Our
action could place tension in a relationship.
It could even mean the loss of a friend.
Action can mean that we spend time and energy
talking with a person about Christ and nothing ever
happens because the person still doesn’t see their need
for Christ as their savior.
Every
time we reach out to another person, we place ourselves
at risk for rejection.
Like the Good Samaritan, helping this robbed,
dying person will likely cost us something.
But this is better than the alternative.
What happens if we don’t reach out to that person
and instead act as the priest and the Levite did?
Will someone else come along?
Maybe, maybe not? I have a powerful poem that I found on the internet that
illustrates what happens when we fear the consequences
of witnessing more than we fear that person going to
hell.
My friend, I stand in judgment now,
And feel that you're to blame somehow.
On Earth I walked with you day by day,
And never did you point the way.
You knew the Lord in truth and glory,
But never did you tell the story.
My knowledge then was very dim;
You could have led me safe to Him.
Though we lived together here on Earth
You never told me of the second birth
And now I stand this day condemned,
Because you failed to mention Him.
You taught me many things that's true;
I called you "friend" and trusted you.
But I learn now that it's too late,
And you could have kept me from this fate.
We walked by day and talked by night,
And yet you showed me not the light.
You let me live, and love, and die,
You knew I'd never live on high.
Yes, I called you "friend" in life,
And trusted you through joy and strife,
And, yet, on coming to this dreadful end
I cannot, now, call you "my friend."
Witnessing is not a call for those who are gifted
evangelists.
Witnessing is something that we are all called to
do. It is
not something that only people who are good at it are to
do. I am
not good at speaking out to other people and inviting
people to church.
But I know that there are times when just living a
Christian life and praying for someone doesn’t bring
results.
Sometimes God calls for our action.
We must not sit idly by while our friends,
coworkers, and family members go to hell.
Now
discernment must be used in this matter.
I understand this. Sometimes, we may speak to a person and they want to hear
nothing about Jesus.
In some cases, we can do nothing more for their
heart has been hardened; we are not responsible for
their choices.
Other times we must continue to pray that God will
soften that person’s heart so that an opportunity will
arise for us to speak to them.
I have
friends that mock Christianity and do not understand it.
They do not want to understand it either.
While I still pray that God will soften their
hearts that I or another person will be able to lead
them to Christ, I know the decision is not mine to make. I have spoken to them about Christianity and if they do not
go to heaven, it will not be because they didn’t know
about it.
The
church needs to rise up as witnesses to a lost and dying
world.
We as a congregation need to reach out to those
around us who do not know Christ. It is time to stop acting like priests and Levites and
walking away from those who have been left by the
roadside robbed, bleeding, naked, and half dead.
We have
no right to not tell others about Christ, to not invite
others to church, and to succumb to fear of what may
inconvenience us.
There is a world out there that is going to hell
and we want to sit around unable to live godly lives,
unable to pray, and unable to tell others about Christ
because we worry about what others may think or say.
Have we
not been given a higher calling than to simply keep the
joy Christ has given us to ourselves?
It is time for us to start leading godly lives that show
to others that the Christian life is something that they
themselves want.
It is time for us to get down on our knees and be
praying for our family and friends who do not know the
Lord.
Not just praying, but praying with the conviction
that God will answer our prayers, and beyond our
greatest expectations.
Finally we need to get out of the comfortable
bubble that we so often live in and realize that we are
called to action.
Sometimes we are the best ones for the job and simply
praying for someone doesn’t meet the need when they are
lying, bleeding in front of us.
As Jesus told the expert in the law, “Go and do
likewise.”
