When I Return

When we read very familiar verses of Scripture its very easy to simply take them for granted because we know them so well. But as I was reading the parable of the Good Samaritan today, I noticed something that really stood out to me that I’d never really picked up on before.

I’m sure you are familiar with the story. Jesus is being ‘tested’ by an expert in the law (Luke 10:25). And during their exchange the so-called ‘expert’ asked Jesus: “who is my neighbour?” In reply Jesus tells the wonderful parable we know as the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-35).

To anyone of the time, to hear such a title for the story would have raised questions. To a Jew of Jesus’ day, a good Samaritan was an oxymoron! Every Jew knew the Samaritans weren’t good. So, to make a Samaritan the hero of the story had massive shock value. This would have been further exacerbated by the anti-heroes of the story being a priest and a Levite who both come across a man badly beaten and, instead of helping the man, they pass by. It is the Samaritan who sees the same man, but instead of passing by, he has pity on the man. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him (Luke 10:34).

When Jesus later asked the expert in the law which of the three, the priest, the Levite or the Samaritan, had been a neighbour to the man (Luke 10:36), the expert in the law replied, probably very much against his better judgement, that the neighbour had been the one who had had mercy on him (notice he couldn’t quite bring himself to name him!) Jesus then instructs the expert of the law to go and do likewise (Luke 10:37).

Interestingly, we read that, as people were trying to work out who Jesus was, one of the insults thrown at him was that he was in fact a Samaritan (John 8:48). In fact, Jesus was accused of being a Samaritan and of being demon-possessed. And whilst Jesus refuted their claim that He was demon-possessed, He didn’t respond to their accusation of Him being a Samaritan. Indeed, He did a wonderful work of restoration in the life of a Samaritan woman (John 4).

Which leads me to the thing I noticed about the parable today that I had never thought of before. Who is the One who comes to bind up the broken and the despised, the ones that others walk by? Who is the One who comes on a donkey to offer Himself as the remedy for our afflictions? Who is the One who pays for our restoration out of His own resources?

In the parable, the Good Samaritan leaves the man with the Innkeeper to recover and pays him two silver coins to cover his expenses. But then he says: “and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have” (Luke 10:35). Whether there is any hint in the story that the Good Samaritan points to Jesus, one thing is for sure, one day Jesus will return again and any suffering we have endured in the service of His kingdom will be well and truly recompensed (James 1:12) and (1 Thessalonians 2:19).

But just as Jesus instructed the expert in the law, our calling, as followers of Jesus, is to act as the Good Samaritan did for any that we encounter in our path today, and to bless any that we come across today who need our help. For, surely, they are our neighbour, whoever they may be.