What shall I do?

In the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) a lawyer asked Jesus a question to test him. "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" The question was presumptive in that he believed that by doing certain things, he can inherit eternal life. Jesus answers this question with a question. "What is written in the law and 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." Jesus advised him to just follow that. But the lawyer made the classic mistake of asking a follow up question, "who is my neighbor?". Then he got an answer he hadn’t bargained for, in the form of a story that would become the hallmark of the gospel through the centuries.

A poor traveller, probably a Jew had been robbed, beaten and left for dead on the street. A priest and a Levite saw him and passed by on the other side. A Samaritan man who saw him stopped and cared for him. The words 'good' and 'Samaritan' do not go together in the Jewish history because Jews and Samaritans were enemies. The hostility between Jews and Samaritans was hundreds of years old. Jesus brings out a Samaritan as the good neighbor knowing that his hearers would not want to identify an enemy as a caregiver to a Jew. Jesus also knew the lawyer's question was not direct. In reality, the lawyer was asking, "how much should I care; when and where can I stop?" The story illustrates that it is not “what you do” that gives you eternal life. It is about what you would want to become. Jesus was challenging him to become a good neighbor even to the extent of taking care of the enemies.

Christians are called to be the salt and the light of the world, meaning that 'to become' is more important than 'to do' and character is more important than class. Jesus was asking him to become a good neighbor by caring for his firends and also his enemies. We never hear if this poor victim recovers, but if we assume that if he did, one would presume that he would forever have changed his view of the Samaritans. For that matter, it would forever change his view of the world’s victims as well. There would be less callousness and less inclination to "pass by on the other side." If the story had gone on any longer, we can assume that this victim became a better neighbor to the rest of his world than he would have ever dreamed possible. He would remember more of the love of the nameless Samaritan than the cruelty of the robbers.

There was a boy who used to sell things house to house to support his studies and help his family. One day while on his selling route, he got hungry and knocked at the door of a house to ask for food. But when the door was opened, there was a beautiful young lady with a smiling face. Being shy to ask for food, he asked for a glass of water instead. The lady realized how bad he looked and knew that he was hungry and gave him a glass of milk. After he drank the milk, he wanted to pay for the milk and asked how much he owed her. She said her mother taught her not to take money for helping others. He said thanks and left. Years later, this lady was sick with a rare disease and was admitted to the local hospital. The doctors were not able to diagnose her disease and recommended that she be taken to a specialty hospital where there was a great doctor by the name of Dr Howard Kelly who specialized in rare diseases. When Dr Kelly came to check on her, he recognized the lady and told her about the story of the glass of milk. He assured her that he would do everything possible to save her life. After several days of hard work, Dr Kelly was able to determine the disease and she began to recover. The treatment was very expensive and the lady was very worried about the payment of the bill. Dr. Kelly asked the hospital to show him the bill before it was given to the lady. They gave him the bill and he wrote something on the bill and attached a check with it. When the bill came to the hands of the lady, she was shocked with unbelief. At the bottom of the check, there was a note that said “this bill is paid in full with one glass of milk”. When she looked at the check, it was for the full amount of the bill of $7200

Jesus is the 'Good Samaritan' who came down to this earth from heaven. He paid the ultimate price for the debts of the sins of a hurting world. He came to His own people, and they did not recognize Him. He was born in Bethlehem, and raised in Nazareth. They called him Jesus of Nazareth because "no good things come from Nazareth" (John 1:46). He was despised and rejected, and crucified to death. But He rose from the dead to live eternally. He walks by the streets and corners of our lives helping the poor and the suffering. The world may be too busy to help and the church may ignore us. But Jesus is never too busy. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). As disciples of Christ, we are called to love beyond barriers and care beyond limits. “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." (1 John 3:16-18).

Blessings