A People of Mercy
Scripture:
Luke 10:25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 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.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
Luke 10:29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Observation:
The seventy had just returned with great excitement about what they had been able to do in the name of the Lord. A lawyer then came up and tried to test Jesus, and it was obvious the man had studied the Torah well. The problem for this man was that he tried a little too hard to test Jesus. Evidently, in his own mind, he had an idea of who his neighbor might have been. He thought he wanted Jesus to provide clarity, and one can only assume that he was thinking of those neighbors who were quite like him. They were not hard to love.
Jesus then tells a story that must make this lawyer’s head spin. The hero of the story is a Samaritan — someone whom he may have hated. He would have probably related to the good Jews who passed by. Surely the man who was beaten and unclean could not be helped — for there was too much fear of contamination. At the end of the story, the man “gets” it — that a neighbor is one who shows mercy. We are to be a people of mercy.
Application:
Look around today and really soak in the scene around you. There are people in our cities and our communities who are being robbed, stripped, beaten and left for half dead. Maybe, like the lawyer, we don’t live in a neighborhood with much crime, and it’s easy for us to love our next-door suburban neighbors. I mean, c’mon, who wouldn’t love our neighbor, Mr. Bill! But that’s not what Jesus is asking us to do. Well, okay — we are supposed to love Mr. Bill and Rosemary, but we are also supposed to love those who are beaten and oppressed.
We may need to leave our comfort zone and go to another part of town to really love our neighbors. What a difference it would make in our world if we intentionally reached out to be a neighbor to those who are not like us. If Christians are not actively engaged in being instruments of healing and peace, God will use others — just like the Samaritan. God’s people are to be a people of mercy, loving those who may be difficult to love. This is how we become like Jesus in the world, bringing healing to those who are hurting.
Prayer:
Lord, help me to step out of my comfort zone with you. Amen.
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