THINK TOGETHER.
Do you remember the story of the Good Samaritan?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 10:25-29. 25And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27And he answered, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” 28And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 29But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
The story of the Good Samaritan is one of Jesus’ most famous stories. A Jewish man is attacked by robbers and left for dead on his way home from Jerusalem. A priest and a Levite come along, but instead of helping the poor man, they just keep walking. Then a Samaritan man passes by. Samaritans are the sworn enemies of the Jews. There’s no way this Samaritan will stop and help the dying man. But he does! He puts the dying man on his donkey, puts bandages on his wounds, and pays for his medicines and hotel stay. The Good Samaritan loved and cared for his enemy. It’s a great story.
Our scripture today tells us the conversation that Jesus had just before telling the Good Samaritan story. A lawyer (someone who knows the Bible very well) wants to know how to inherit eternal life. He is asking Jesus how to be saved and go to Heaven.
Jesus asks the man what the law (the Bible) says.
The man replies, Love God and love neighbor.
Jesus says, Yes, do that and you will live, you will have eternal life.
OK Stop.
Is that the right answer? We get to go to Heaven by trusting in Jesus, not by obeying the law. Can anyone really love God and love others perfectly? Of course not. So why did Jesus tell this man to obey the law in order to go to Heaven?
Because he knew that the man only wanted to justify himself (look at verse 29 again). Justify himself means that he wanted to prove how good he was. But if you think you can be good enough to get to Heaven then first Jesus has to show you that you can never be good enough. That’s why Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, to show us that we can never be as good as him. Why not? Because Jesus is the true Good Samaritan. He is the one who finds us helpless on the ground, picks us up, fixes our wounds, takes care of us, and pays for everything.
When we believe that Jesus has been so good to us, then we can start to be good to others too.
Because of Jesus we never have to save ourselves.
With Jesus we can be loving to others, not to be saved, but because we are already saved.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Watch the story of the Good Samaritan. There is a good video on YouTube produced by Saddleback Kids.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, thank you for being my Good Samaritan and helping me when I couldn’t help myself. Amen.
TLICfamily 