Good Samaritan and the Communion Supper
Holy Communion- “ The Good Samaritan” Luke 10: 25-37
The story of the good Samaritan has captivated people for years. It is even coined in our language, someone who stops and helps a stranger in need is “ a good Samaritan.” First we find that Jesus despite the lawyer’s test correctly answers that the law in the Old Testament was absolutely correct. Deuteronomy 6:5 “ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “ Leviticus 19:18-“ you shall love your neighbor as yourself…” I pause there for just a minute. So the law is correct. We have the Gospel people of God in the Old Testament. It is there. We are told our duty there to God to love Him with all our hearts , souls and minds and our neighbors as ourselves. Some people leave out the Old Testament in their reading and thinking but Jesus did not. He revered the Law and the Prophets knowing they were the words of God and eternal life. So we should not neglect the Old Testament in our reading, prayerful meditation and application. It is the very Word of God without error and profitable for doctrine, reproof and instruction in righteousness. How is the reading of the Bible going in our lives?
That answer was a bit biting for the lawyer ( by the way, not a secular lawyer but one who specialized in the study of the law of God) . Vs 29, “ But he , ‘ desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘ And who is my neighbor?’” It is a pointed story. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho runs down in a deep descent for 3,000 feet & 17 miles ---a good place to be robbed. The priest could not touch him according to the law, Lev. 21:1 without being defiled ceremonially. “ And the LORD said to Moses, ‘ Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: No one shall make himself unclean ….” He did not help. He went to the other side of the road. Ceremonial purity was the issue of the day for the Levite as well. He did a drive by.
Then the punch line. A Samaritan does all the loving things. He binds up the wounds, takes care of his motel bill for almost two months, and offers to come back and settle up and outstanding debts. The end of the matter is, “ You go, and do likewise.” (v. 37) We can have all the theology and the right worship but without love which is the summary of the law we are nothing. ( I Corinthians 13:3)
The last thing is that some of the early church writers saw this parable as an illustration of Jesus . He is the Good Samaritan. He heals us and binds up our wounds when all others cannot . Only His blood can make us clean. Ambrose said,”…here the Samaritan is going down. Who is he except he who descended from heaven, who also ascended to heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven? When he sees him half-dead him whom none could cure before, like her with an issue of blood who had spent all her inheritance on physicians, he came near him. He became a neighbor by acceptance of our common feeling and kin by the gift of mercy.”
How appropriate a point for Holy Communion. Here we see Jesus in His sacrifice for us who do not deserve it and are like the one robbed on the road left for half dead. It is not just a ceremony with signs. Faithful receivers have the spiritual food of the body and blood of Jesus. Grace is multiplied and we grow in faith through these real blessings. Thank God He was our Good Samaritan who stopped to give us eternal life .
The story of the good Samaritan has captivated people for years. It is even coined in our language, someone who stops and helps a stranger in need is “ a good Samaritan.” First we find that Jesus despite the lawyer’s test correctly answers that the law in the Old Testament was absolutely correct. Deuteronomy 6:5 “ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. “ Leviticus 19:18-“ you shall love your neighbor as yourself…” I pause there for just a minute. So the law is correct. We have the Gospel people of God in the Old Testament. It is there. We are told our duty there to God to love Him with all our hearts , souls and minds and our neighbors as ourselves. Some people leave out the Old Testament in their reading and thinking but Jesus did not. He revered the Law and the Prophets knowing they were the words of God and eternal life. So we should not neglect the Old Testament in our reading, prayerful meditation and application. It is the very Word of God without error and profitable for doctrine, reproof and instruction in righteousness. How is the reading of the Bible going in our lives?
That answer was a bit biting for the lawyer ( by the way, not a secular lawyer but one who specialized in the study of the law of God) . Vs 29, “ But he , ‘ desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘ And who is my neighbor?’” It is a pointed story. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho runs down in a deep descent for 3,000 feet & 17 miles ---a good place to be robbed. The priest could not touch him according to the law, Lev. 21:1 without being defiled ceremonially. “ And the LORD said to Moses, ‘ Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: No one shall make himself unclean ….” He did not help. He went to the other side of the road. Ceremonial purity was the issue of the day for the Levite as well. He did a drive by.
Then the punch line. A Samaritan does all the loving things. He binds up the wounds, takes care of his motel bill for almost two months, and offers to come back and settle up and outstanding debts. The end of the matter is, “ You go, and do likewise.” (v. 37) We can have all the theology and the right worship but without love which is the summary of the law we are nothing. ( I Corinthians 13:3)
The last thing is that some of the early church writers saw this parable as an illustration of Jesus . He is the Good Samaritan. He heals us and binds up our wounds when all others cannot . Only His blood can make us clean. Ambrose said,”…here the Samaritan is going down. Who is he except he who descended from heaven, who also ascended to heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven? When he sees him half-dead him whom none could cure before, like her with an issue of blood who had spent all her inheritance on physicians, he came near him. He became a neighbor by acceptance of our common feeling and kin by the gift of mercy.”
How appropriate a point for Holy Communion. Here we see Jesus in His sacrifice for us who do not deserve it and are like the one robbed on the road left for half dead. It is not just a ceremony with signs. Faithful receivers have the spiritual food of the body and blood of Jesus. Grace is multiplied and we grow in faith through these real blessings. Thank God He was our Good Samaritan who stopped to give us eternal life .
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