A man who chooses the Jesus script is…
A man who stops to help someone who can’t return the favor.
Luke was a Gentile follower of Jesus. He was a physician and a close companion of the apostle Paul. He conducted careful research to compile his account of the life of Jesus. In his Gospel, Luke recorded the following exchange between Jesus and an expert in the law.
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
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 yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 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. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he 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, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
—Luke 10:25–37
As he often did, Jesus told a story to make his point unmistakable and unforgettable. He set his story on a road from Jerusalem to Jericho. These cities were about 20 miles apart and the terrain between them was mountainous, steep, and sometimes narrow. A man journeying on the road was attacked by robbers, beaten, and left for dead.
Having set the stage, Jesus continued by saying that both a priest and a Levite saw the injured man, looked away, and kept on walking. These were religious leaders and experts in the law, and they turned their heads. That could have been slightly offensive to a fellow expert in the law, but Jesus was just getting started. A Samaritan man saw the man and had pity on him. He cared for his immediate needs and then placed the injured man on his own donkey, led him to the closest inn, and took care of him. He paused his own agenda to care for someone he didn’t even know. The next day, the Samaritan had to leave but made arrangements for the innkeeper to care for the man.
To fully comprehend the picture Jesus was painting with his story, we must first understand how Jews viewed Samaritans. Although they had a shared history, Jewish people considered Samaritans unclean pagans who had intermarried with foreigners and worshiped idols. To say they were despised would be putting it lightly. Then, Jesus made a Samaritan the hero of his story—told to a Jewish audience! Jesus drove home the point of his story with one final question: Which of these three men was a neighbor to the injured man?
What else could the expert in the law say but acknowledge that it was the Samaritan who acted like a neighbor? Jesus’s four-word conclusion put a period on the powerful exchange: Go and do likewise.
Loving our neighbor as we love ourselves is what a man who follows the Jesus script does. It’s stopping or pausing our agenda to help someone who can't return the favor. It’s helping someone else even if you know they wouldn't return the favor if the roles were reversed. It’s helping someone else not based on whether they deserve it. It’s setting aside our busyness and plans to actually see the needs around us.
Is there a person or a group of people that you have a hard time serving? Do you ever hesitate to offer a hand to someone you judge as reaping the consequences of their own actions? Are you so focused on where you’re going that you don’t see the needs of those around you? Who is your neighbor? Are you loving them as you love yourself? Taking the time to carefully consider these questions may indicate some work you need to do on you. What would it look like if men who weren’t just believers in Jesus but followers of him sought to put this way of living into practice. Imagine if that was part of the script that fathers handed to their sons and modeled for their daughters. What an impact that would make!
