Prayer
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word. Then, before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Psalm 119:15-16
LORD, as I meditate on Your precepts
and consider Your ways,
may I find delight in Your decrees;
and never neglect to keep Your word.,
Amen.
Reading
Jesus told this parable because an expert in Jewish religious Law was trying to test His understanding of that Law. But Jesus turned the tables on him by telling a story that tested the teacher’s heart. And it will test our hearts too if we allow it to.
In the opening exchange, we discover that the expert actually already knew the answer to his question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He was clear that the Scriptures teach that to experience the abundance of eternal life, one needs to build the foundations of one’s life on loving God and loving one’s neighbours (v.27). In other words, a lifestyle of love for God and others leads to the fullness of life for which God created us.
The teacher’s follow-up question reveals that he had no trouble accepting that eternal life is founded on loving God with every fibre of one’s being (10:27) – that made perfect sense to him. But he seemed to have big reservations about just how widely to apply the definition of “neighbour“. That part made him nervous!
To be fair, that’s probably the part of our Christian discipleship that makes many of us the most nervous too; and we would love it if Jesus were to give a very narrow definition of the “neighbour” we are to love.
But Jesus’ parable in v.30-35 really tests our hearts, because it shows us that, in Jesus’ worldview, our neighbour is anyone we come across who has some sort of need to which we have the means to minister – regardless of whether we even know them or not.
The Samaritan in the parable saw the needs of the wounded traveller right in front of him; he recognised that he had the resources to minister to those needs; and that moved him to do something. Moved by kindness and compassion, he gave freely of his time, energy and material resources to care for this wounded stranger. And according to Jesus that compassionate, gracious, merciful behaviour is what made him a good and loving neighbour to the man.
Jesus’ word to those of us who wish to follow Him as His disciples is: “Go and do likewise.” (v.37) In other words, don’t go through life trying to avoid the genuine needs of others (i.e., “crossing the road”, like the priest and the Levite did). When you are confronted by someone who has needs which you honestly have the resources to minister to, do what you can (not what you can’t) to make their lives better. That’s neighbour-love. And that’s the Jesus-Way.
As Alexander Maclaren pointed out in his commentary: “The world would be a changed place if every Christian attended to the sorrows that are plain before him/her”.
So … let’s go change the world …
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn this declaration over and over in your mind. Keep it in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ:
- I will keep my eyes and my heart open to the needs of others.
- I will minister to them in compassion, mercy and grace to the best of my ability and resources.
Holy Spirit, please give me the wisdom and grace to walk in the Jesus-Way in this matter of neighbour-love. Amen.
Dave's Diary 
Leave a comment