Today, I thought that coming to the Lord's table, it would be good to look at Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, and we will be considering this well-known account of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan, we're going to be reading at verse 25 to the end of the chapter today. Beginning at verse 25, this is the word of the Lord. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, What's written in the law? How do you read it? 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. And he said to him, You've answered correctly. Do this and you will live. But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when you come back. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? He said, the one who showed him mercy. Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise. Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. She went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me. But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. There will end the reading of God's word. Well, one of the things that I like to do when we have the privilege of coming to the table of the Lord is to come back to some of the more familiar passages of Jesus that we assume that we have a good understanding of and to look at them afresh because I confess that I often come back to passages like the Good Samaritan and think that I know all that I need to know about this great passage, that I have understood it. Even as a pastor, I think there are times I'm amazed and realize how the Lord keeps us so humble to recognize the treasures of his word and the things that we learn. It's, we're always growing and something always is coming out that we never fully grasped. But as, truth be told, as I get older, I often see, as I look at these kind of passage, how much I've missed in the teachings of Jesus. If I asked you today the simple question, what do you think the parable of the Good Samaritan is all about? I'm sure all of you would say, and correctly so, all of you would say it's about loving your neighbor, isn't it? Loving your neighbor. And that what Jesus is driving us here and pressing us with is how to be a better neighbor and how to love the way that we should love and that we should set ourselves to do this. Isn't that the basic meaning of this parable? See, it's easy to surface read this and miss it. And that's my question. Are we understanding Jesus? Or are we a lot like this lawyer who stood right next to him who thought he understood Jesus and thought he understood the law? Are we understanding what Jesus' message is to us? Are we listening to Jesus? And that's what I hope to challenge us with by the time we're done as we come to the table this morning to look here at this test that Jesus is put under and then the challenge that Jesus gives and the question that he leaves everyone with to have us think about the true meaning of this little parable that we have heard all of our lives. Well, the passage is fascinating. the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan. And anyone who studies this thinks that this parable, again, is all about meeting the needs of people in the kingdom of God. And I would suggest that that is an implication of this parable, but it's secondary to what Jesus is challenging and doing in this particular passage with this lawyer and with all of those who have gathered around to listen. The context here is crucial. Verse 25 says, notice it, So carefully, behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? This man is not sincere. This man is trying to put Jesus to the test. In fact, you'll notice there that it says in verse 29, he wants to justify himself. You never want to do that with Jesus. Did you know that? You never want to try to justify yourself before Jesus. Bad choice. Bad choice. So he tests Jesus, we're told. And we've come across this before. It's remarkable that it's the same question of the rich young ruler. Man comes respectfully to Jesus, and he comes running up to Jesus, And he comes and he says, good teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Two verbs. Just tell me what to do. Now, I always think it's important to note that he didn't, none of these, each of these two guys did not ask for salvation, did they? They asked for heaven. They asked for life. It's a different question. When you get people coming to Jesus for salvation, Son of David, have mercy on me, blind bar to Emmaus. Jesus' approach is radically different. Or when you look in Acts, what must we do to be saved? Believe and you will be saved and be baptized. Good teacher, I want eternal life. Jesus is masterful here. Well, what's written in the law? How do you read it? He divides the question. Essentially, what Jesus is doing here is making something clear. What is written in the law, how do you read it? The lawyer responds brilliantly. This guy knew the scriptures. This guy knew the law. He quotes the great Shema. And he says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus hears this, and he says, you got it right. Do that, and you'll live. Do that, and you will live. Now, this was an important history in Israel. When Israel heard the law, originally, back in Exodus chapter 19, they said, we will do all the words of the law. That's what they said they would do. And we didn't even get off the mountain before the whole thing was broken. But you'll remember in Leviticus 18, you shall observe my judgments and keep my ordinances to walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. I am the Lord. Jesus is standing there. Here is the Lord. Remember, they had tallied up 613 commandments from the Torah, and they had memorized these commandments, and what they would do, what an exciting thing, you know, sit around and discuss all these 613 commandments. and they would debate about these things, and they would argue about these things. Which are the heavy commandments, and which are the light commandments, and which are the ones that we really need to give attention to? And one of the things they would do is try to form a single principle from which the entire Torah was derived, a summarizing principle. And from that, for instance, was the famous statement made by Rabbi Shammai to Hillel, teach me the whole Torah while I'm standing on one leg. That's just something I'm not too interested in. Hillel replied, do not do to your neighbor what is hateful to you. Listen to this. This is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary. Huh. Interesting. Jesus acknowledges the correct answer of the lawyer. Verse 29. First of all, the commandments, the foremost and the greatest. Hear, O Israel, the Lord, the Lord our God is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and your neighbor is yourself. There's no other commandments greater than these. Do that, and you'll live. it's the highest duty God has to sign to you. Love him. Love your neighbor. It's not a joke. He's serious about that. When Jesus was speaking on the Sermon on the Mount, he said, you be perfect because my heavenly father is perfect. Do we hear the law? You who are listening to the law, there's a command, right? A summary of the law. But Paul would say in Romans 2.13, For it's not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. Huh. Are you doing this? How have we done with this? If you do not love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and you don't love your neighbor as yourself, you will not live. Translate. You will not make it to glory. You will go to a place where the worm dies not called eternal hellfire. What was the mentality of the man? Well, I think he thought he did it. Did he do it? That's the question. So what does Jesus do? He tells a parable. Notice what he begins with. A man was, verse 30, going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him, departed and leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. Wow, this is quite a story. This is quite a sad story. A man is traveling and a bunch of thugs jump him. And they beat him into a pulp. And they leave him by dead on the side of the road. They rob him and they steal from him. And he's just a bloody pulp laying there. Can't get up. And this first guy comes by, says Jesus. He was a priest. This is the guy who should care the most. This is the guy who helps the broken. And he looks over at the other side of the road and says, I want nothing to do with that. There he goes. Puts it right out of his mind. The holy man. Too busy with life to help somebody dying. Huh. Too busy with life to help somebody dying. Then a Levite comes. These are remarkable situations because you would think this is one of their own. He would help. He would love. He does the same thing. The surprise of the parable comes with who came to rescue this man who'd been beaten by thugs. And Jesus drops the bomb in verse 33. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him, and he bound up his wounds, and he poured oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal. and he brought him to an inn and took care of him, and the next day he took out two denarii and gave it to the innkeeper saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I'll repay when I come back for him. Whoa. This guy loved this man so much that he would actually come back for him. This guy was beaten on the side of the road and left for dead. that's remarkable. Jews hated Samaritans. And it was reciprocated. And this foreigner seized the Jew. And in his heart, he welled up with what? Compassion on this broken man. You can picture him walking up, looking at him. The guy's just laying there bleeding to death, groaning. And he starts rinsing him and washing him. And he gets him up on his donkey. He makes sure when he leaves him in the end that the guy's bandaged up, and he's warm, and he's in a bed, and he's well fed. And I'm coming back for this guy. I want you to notice Jesus' question in verse 36. I've missed this my whole life, beloved. Look at his question. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? Which one? I think we would read this and say, The point Jesus is making here is that the neighbor is the one who was beaten and left half dead on the road. And if we're going to be followers of Jesus, then we need to go love neighbors that way. Right? Is that how we've understood it? The neighbors are the hurting. The neighbors are the broken. The neighbors are the suffering. Yeah, that's true. But what does Jesus ask? Which one proved to be the neighbor? And the lawyer stands back and he says, well, the one who showed mercy. Who was that? The neighbor of the parable is the good Samaritan who loved. Now they hated Samaritans. And do you know what they were running around saying about Jesus? Did you know this? I'll quote it, John 8. The Jews answered him, Jesus, are we not right in saying you are a Samaritan and have a demon? They're running around calling him a Samaritan, hating him. You got a demon, Jesus. Do you get the parable yet? Do you understand the parable yet? Jesus is the good Samaritan that they have mocked him trying to justify themselves with. He's the neighbor. He came here, and what did he do? He loved us. And he saw us dead on the side of the road. And he came and he picked us up. And he bandaged us. And he helped us. And he didn't pass by like everyone else passed us by. He was the only one who cared. He was the only one who loved. Now do you see the great omission in the lawyer's question? What's the great omission in the lawyer's question? well when he answered he goes right to the summary of the law and he goes to the second commandment the greatest commandment you shall love your neighbor as yourself huh great omission is what you shall love the lord your god why did he bypass the first great commandment that's a huge omission was there any thought any consideration to the command of love to love God and to love neighbor who is my neighbor he says the one who showed mercy your neighbor is the one who loved the broken and the beaten and the bad sinner and guess who he is that neighbor is God himself do you understand this he's the one that crawled down off the throne and came down to a whole world broken and dead in sin and who is that who did that for you you've missed everything you think this is about your performance and you're going to justify yourself before God and the applications of this is just going to be go love better? You think that's what this is about? You think that's what you need? You ought to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus says you're right. The true neighbor is the one who loved. Go do that and you'll live. I doubt many here would bring in a dirty prostitute, drugged, needled, stone-twisted sinner into your home. Would you? Guess what Jesus did? Brought you in. That's what you are. That's what I am. A lot of people miss what the Christian faith is about, beloved. The greatest commandment is love the Lord your God in response to the fact that the Lord your God has loved you and that he came to you and that in loving mercy he came and he rescued you off that road and he bandaged you and he picked you up and he gave you a place and he says, I'm coming back for you. That's how much I love you. I'm coming back. and what did we do to him? We won't go there, do we? Yeah, Peter did. You delivered, this Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. Guess what you all did? You crucified him, and you killed him by the hands of lawless men, and you left him dead on that cross. That's what you did. We took the Lord our God, and we beat him to death, and we threw him to the side of the road, and we murdered the just one, leaving him for dead, God's gift to the world, showing our human hearts are so sinful that the farthest thing from our hearts is to love God and to love our neighbor. And you see, it's only the love of God poured out into our hearts. When we understand the depth of that for us, that that's what we need. You know, I had to say that to all the young people this week. Sometimes I wonder, do we understand that we need this? That we're all, even if we've been raised in the church and we've had all this, that we are the ones dead on the side of the road and that we need grace. And that when we are confronted with the law, as that's read, and our selfishness and our sin, what we should see is what the law has exposed about us. And that the one who has been sent to us and who has come to bandage us and love us and pick us up off the side of the road is the one, the feet we need to sit at. See, I think that's why this little section follows. Martha's complaining about serving in this next section. You're not doing enough. You're not up serving. What does Jesus say? Martha, Martha, you're missing it. You're anxious and you're troubled about all these things. I want you to look at where Mary is. She's at my feet. You know what I'm doing for her? I'm bandaging her up. I'm loving her as she listens to my word, and I'm washing her, and I'm cleansing her. That's not going to be taken from her because I'm coming back. There's a reason Jesus says, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll bandage you up. I'll help you. When the love of God begins to fill us, Humble gratitude begins to overwhelm our hearts. And it pours out love from us to our neighbor. This is the only way we will ever get there. And that's what Jesus was saying when he said, Come in the last day, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, listen to this, you gave me food. I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. Whoa. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer and say, What are you talking about? When did we see you hungry and feed you? When did we see you on the side of the road? When did we see you a stranger and naked in clothed? When did we see you sick and in prison? The king will answer. Truly I say to you, as you did it to the one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. That only happens when you first have been picked up and bandaged and put into his house and saved by grace, then that love, which is sincere, begins to flow in gratitude for that salvation, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself. That's what Jesus is saying. Who came to show mercy? I did. And we know we're right with God when we're not trying to justify ourselves by thinking it's all about our good, moral, upright standing. But when we come in faith, believing, responding to his love for us with that kind of humility that recognizes that the Lord our God himself came to us. And that's the most remarkable love the world has ever seen. And when that love is poured out into my heart, then I'm going to start loving him and my neighbor. So as we come to the table today, this table is for who? Those who are needy. Those who need to be picked up. Those who need grace in their lives. Those who need forgiveness. Those who know that they're a mess. What this table's not who it's not for are guys like this who want to justify themselves before Jesus, thinking that they're keeping the law. This is why Jesus said, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I'm a physician to them. And may we all be by his grace, helped by his loving hand. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word today of mercy to us and grace and help. And I pray as we come to the table now, you'd give us confidence in your steadfast love, in your favor to us, and that you have sent the greatest gift in the world who your son who has loved us. May we respond in faith and then in humble gratitude by loving you and loving our neighbor. Thank you, oh Lord, for this deliverance. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.