#DailyDevotion You Love The LORD By Loving Your Neighbor
Luke 10:29-37 29But he wanted to justify himself. So he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30In reply, Jesus said: “A man going from Jerusalem down to Jericho fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, struck him blow after blow, and went away leaving him half dead. 31“Just at that time a priest happened to go along that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32So did also a Levite who came to the place: he looked at him and passed by on the other side. 33“Then a Samaritan, as he was traveling, came near him, and when he saw him, he felt sorry for him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. “Take care of him,’ he said, “and anything else you spend on him I’ll repay you when I come back.’ 36“Which of those three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who had fallen into the hands of the robbers?” 37“The one who was kind enough to help him,” he said. “Go and do as he did,” Jesus told him.
Anytime we are trying to justify ourselves we are most likely wrong. The lawyer who answered Jesus so correctly about what the Law said to do to inherit eternal life now recognizes he has fallen short of “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Realizing this, he asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” What most people seem to fail to realize is that if you are failing number 2 “love your neighbor” you are most definitely failing “love the LORD your God.” This is because your neighbor is made in the image and likeness of God. John says in 1 John 4, “20If anyone says, I love God,’ but hates his brother, he’s a liar. If anyone doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, he can’t love God Whom he hasn’t seen.”
So Jesus tells him the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Old Testament lesson from 2 Chron. 28:8ff is at least informational here if not pertinent. Now the Jews hate the Samaritans and the Samaritans the Jews. It actually goes back a little later to Ezra 4, the Samaritans wanted to help in rebuilding the Temple but the Jews refused because they were of mixed race, some may not have even been part Israelite. Well, they parted ways there never to worship together again. So Jesus making the hero of the story a Samaritan certainly raised hairs on the Jews’ heads.
Well we know the story. The priest and the Levite who should have helped the mad half dead did not, whether from fear of being ritually unclean (because of blood or touching a dead person) or fear of an ambush, we don’t know, but it wasn’t out of love for the man. The Samaritan though takes care of the guy, bandages him up, clothes him, puts him on his donkey and takes him to Jericho, paying the innkeeper to take care of him and promises to repay anything else he owes concerning the man’s recovery. This mirrors what the Samaritans did to the captive Jews in 2 Chr. 28, where the leaders of Ephraim clothed the Jewish women and children, fed and watered them, put the exhausted on donkeys and brought them to Jericho. Well Jesus turns the question around, “Who was the neighbor to the man?” Well the one who helped him (notice he couldn’t even say the Samaritan). Well you do likewise. You be a neighbor to those you see in need. Jesus saw you in need of salvation and provided everything for you to be saved. You then provided material goods to those in need of material things. By doing the latter, you show you believe the former.
Heavenly Father, give us your Spirit so we may show our love for you by loving our neighbor as ourselves. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.