Every Person
Luke 10:25-37

Good morning. I hope your week went well. My brother, Mom, and I are going to Chicago in a few weeks' time. My brother and I are going to go check out the Comic-Con they have up there. There's cool stuff you can see and do, so we like to go to those. We've gone to one in Pittsburgh and one in Cleveland. We thought we might as well go to Chicago. Mom and Dad are tagging along. They'll be checking out the city while we're there.

One thing I always notice, and I think most people notice when you're in big cities like that, is there's a lot of homelessness. There's a lot of poverty. In a place like that, there are a lot of people. You see people living in the tallest buildings you may ever see. Rich, poor, people just making it, people doing well, everyone alike. You pass by a lot of people every day who, honestly, I'm not sure will make it to the end of that day.

That somewhat brings me to today's lesson. We will be in Luke 10:25-37 for this lesson. If you recognize that, it is the parable of the Good Samaritan. I will start with verses 25 through 27. “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.”

The lawyer here is referencing Moses' words in Deuteronomy 6:5-6. These are the Lord's commandments to us not just to love our God, but to love our neighbors as well. These are the cornerstones of being saved and the essence of being a follower of Christ. To love your neighbor as you love yourself.

What does this look like? There are plenty of examples in the Bible. Many times Jesus attended to the poor and the weak. In Mark 12:28-31 it says, “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer. He asked of all the commandments, which is the most important? The most important one, answered Jesus, is this, hear O Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. And with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this love your neighbor as yourself. There is no command greater than these two.”

These commands are repeated many times throughout the Bible. Constantly, you hear them throughout the entire thing because they are important. That is because we need to understand them, and we need to know them. To make sure that we hear this, and we notice, it's repeated.

Moving on through verses 28 through 29, it says, “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? The lawyer asked, Who is my neighbor?”

A reasonable question, but one he surely knows the answer to. It is my belief that he just does not want to admit that his neighbor is everyone. He wants it to be only the people he believes it should be. Really, he is asking, who must I treat neighborly? Am I allowed to choose? Can I pick and choose the people I treat like neighbors? Or must I treat everyone like a neighbor even if he does not want to?

In Romans 12.20, we are told, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

In other words, we are meant to treat our enemy like a neighbor because that sounds neighborly, right? Feed him, give him something to drink. If we are to treat our enemies neighborly, then as Christians, we ought to treat everybody as neighbors? If we are supposed to treat the people who are against us, then we should treat everyone that way.

In verses 30-32, it says, “A priest happened to be going down the same road. And when he saw the man, he passed by the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.”

Notice who passed over the man here. Notice who they were. It was a priest and a Levite—the spiritual leaders of the day, the people who had authority and power. These are people who were respected. Notice, they just walked by. They saw the man and did nothing. They were not without reason, of course. They could have assumed that it was a ploy. It was a robber trying to get them in close to take their things, or that there were other people waiting for someone to just come by and help and lead people into a trap. That’s not a bad assumption, but as leaders of their people, as spiritual leaders and representatives of God, They should have known, and done better.

As the lawyer earlier mentioned, you must love your neighbor as yourself. The men here did not even have the decency to ask the man if he was okay, nor to show him the love and compassion of actually taking care of him. It seems like, they didn't even spare him a second glance.

In 1 John 4:20, it says, “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen.”
Christ is calling these people out here, not only for not being neighborly, but for not loving God himself. If you truly loved your brother or neighbor, then you would help them in their time of need. Here though, they just pass on. They do nothing. These religious leaders, according to Christ, and what we are told, they do not know God. If they did love their neighbor, they would know God. Here, they clearly do not.

Continuing verses 33-35, it says, “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 into an inn, and took care of them. 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.”

This Samaritan showed this man kindness. It is interesting that Jesus chose to use a Samaritan as the person to show the man kindness. As many know, Samaritans were not looked at kindly at this time. They were a lower class citizen. They were seen as inferior. They were racially mixed people and were looked down upon because of this by society at the time. Jesus uses one here to emphasize that everyone is our neighbor.
Because if a Samaritan man is showing kindness to the man, then so should the Jews of the time as well. If the Samaritan can know God, then so can everyone else. Christ seems to like to use Samaritans in the Bible.

We have him using one in His experience with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. It makes sense though they were looked down on, as I said, during that time. Christ would go out of his way to show that his gift is meant for everyone. You do not need to be of this heritage or this people to be saved or to have salvation. Only you must go through Him. It is a gift anyone can accept, and I think that's why he used the Samaritan man here to emphasize that, and to show that anyone can know God, not just this person or that person.

In Galatians 3:13-14, it says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.” Christ's gift is for all, for everyone who surrenders themselves unto him. Not just for the Jews, not just for this people, not just for the people living in this nation or that nation or by these parents or that parent, but by everyone who comes to him.

In verses 36-37, it says, “which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? The expert in the law replied, the one who had mercy on him. Jesus told him, go ahead and do likewise.”

Notice how the lawyer didn't say the Samaritan. He actively goes out of his way to not mention his heritage and instead calls him the one who had mercy. This goes to show the prejudice towards the Samaritans at the time. Even with Jesus in front of him giving him examples of a man acting neighborly. He refused to even call him a Samaritan as he was, as Jesus called him. This could be a stretch, but I think this just shows the own arrogance and ignorance in the lawyer himself.

I ask you when you go out into the world do not be like the priest or the Levite. Be like the Samaritan. Be a neighbor to all. Feed the hungry and take care of the sick. First, if we love God, we must love our neighbors as well.

In Mark 12:30-31, it says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength, and with all your soul. Second is this, love your neighbor as yourself.  There are no commandments greater than these.”
Christ loved us more than we can ever imagine. It is our job as Christians to replicate that love. I'm not saying when you go to Cleveland or Chicago to grab every homeless person off the street and build a house for them, but if you see a person, who for some reason got stabbed or shot, take care of them. Call 911. Get the paramedics, and until you are sure they are safe and in better hands than yours, stay with them. If you have a dollar to spare for someone who looks like they might need food, spare them a dollar. If someone looks like they need someone to talk to for a second, maybe sit down and talk. Act neighborly with the people you see. Act neighborly with those around you, not just in the big cities, not just in the extreme circumstances, but every day.

I'll never forget, there was one day I was working at Giorgio's. I was delivering food. It was the last delivery of the night. It was like 10:30. And this man opens the door. I slightly see in his apartment, and it's just a mess in there. The guy was probably a hoarder. It was in the small apartment complex. He just starts talking, and he's talking and talking. Mom's back at the shop. I'm thinking Mom's probably fine. I'll just let this guy talk because it seemed like he hadn't talked to anyone in a while. I leave there 30 minutes later after he was done talking about race cars and this and that. That's acting neighborly. The man wanted someone to talk to. He was obviously lonely.

You can find these situations anywhere. I ask you, if you wish to serve the Lord, act neighborly as the Samaritan man did. Treat not only your physical neighbors, but everyone you come across on as a neighbor. Christ loved all of us more than we could ever imagine, and it is our duty as Christians to try and replicate that love.

If you've not come to Him, if you have not been baptized for the remission of your sins, if you have not confessed to the world that you believe Christ is the Lord and Savior, I ask, be baptized and repent.

Thank you. Please stand up and sing number 596.