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The Good Samaritan
Let me try to retell the story in a contextualized version:
Filipino traveling from Manila to Angeles. Robbed, beaten, stripped. Along comes a priest & pastor. Neither of them stopped to help thedire Filipino. Here I realized that religion will not save you!
Then comes a 60 year-old American with HIV Aids, with open sores around his mouth. And he takes pity on the Filipino man in the ditch and helps him.Which man do you relate to? – the American with AIDS or the Filipino in the ditch?
Jews had a very low view of Samaritans – unclean half-breeds, no better than a sick dog. Culturally a Samaritan would be the last one you would expect to stop for a Jew.
Actually if the man in the ditch had any energy left, he would have very likely told the Samaritan, “No! Don’t touch me! I can take care of myself…” The last thing he would want is to be touched by an unclean Samaritan.
Many times the offer will be made, but like a proud Jew in the ditch, they will refuse the help of a Samaritan who can save him.
God often works in unexpected ways through unlikely people.
It does not take long to realize that what the Lawyer was left with the realization that:
I am the hopeless Jew in the ditch! All my efforts to be good enough to inherit eternal life are like filthy rags! I will never be good enough!
I’m a hopeless case! Beaten almost to death, robbed, and stripped.
Unless Someone comes along to save me, I am done for!
Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus has come that we might have life and have it more abundantly!
This Lawyer’s only hope of inheriting eternal life is – faith in the this unlikely Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus who would die on a cross. Do you know that whoever dies on a cross is considered cursed? So how can a Savior come from cursed cross?
♥ You need Jesus, the Samaritan Savior indwelling and enabling you to love your neighbor as yourself.
Call to Action:
(1) Call out to Jesus today for salvation. He has waiting for you to admit that you are as helpless and hopeless as that man in the ditch. He has come by you and offered to help you, but you have been refusing His help. Today is your day! Call out to Him! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved!” (Acts 2:21)
(2) Call out to Jesus today for rest.“Come to Me all who are weary & burdened, and will give you rest…you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28-30)
Let Him pour the wine & the oil for cleansing & healing. Let Him bring you to a place of rest – to make you lie down in green pastures.
(3) Call out to Jesus today to commit yourself to serve and heed His calling.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field. Go, I am sending you…” (Luke 10:2-3)
Let me try to retell the story in a contextualized version:
Filipino traveling from Manila to Angeles. Robbed, beaten, stripped. Along comes a priest & pastor. Neither of them stopped to help thedire Filipino. Here I realized that religion will not save you!
Then comes a 60 year-old American with HIV Aids, with open sores around his mouth. And he takes pity on the Filipino man in the ditch and helps him.Which man do you relate to? – the American with AIDS or the Filipino in the ditch?
Jews had a very low view of Samaritans – unclean half-breeds, no better than a sick dog. Culturally a Samaritan would be the last one you would expect to stop for a Jew.
Actually if the man in the ditch had any energy left, he would have very likely told the Samaritan, “No! Don’t touch me! I can take care of myself…” The last thing he would want is to be touched by an unclean Samaritan.
Many times the offer will be made, but like a proud Jew in the ditch, they will refuse the help of a Samaritan who can save him.
God often works in unexpected ways through unlikely people.
It does not take long to realize that what the Lawyer was left with the realization that:
I am the hopeless Jew in the ditch! All my efforts to be good enough to inherit eternal life are like filthy rags! I will never be good enough!
I’m a hopeless case! Beaten almost to death, robbed, and stripped.
Unless Someone comes along to save me, I am done for!
Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus has come that we might have life and have it more abundantly!
This Lawyer’s only hope of inheriting eternal life is – faith in the this unlikely Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus who would die on a cross. Do you know that whoever dies on a cross is considered cursed? So how can a Savior come from cursed cross?
♥ You need Jesus, the Samaritan Savior indwelling and enabling you to love your neighbor as yourself.
Call to Action:
(1) Call out to Jesus today for salvation. He has waiting for you to admit that you are as helpless and hopeless as that man in the ditch. He has come by you and offered to help you, but you have been refusing His help. Today is your day! Call out to Him! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved!” (Acts 2:21)
(2) Call out to Jesus today for rest.“Come to Me all who are weary & burdened, and will give you rest…you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28-30)
Let Him pour the wine & the oil for cleansing & healing. Let Him bring you to a place of rest – to make you lie down in green pastures.
(3) Call out to Jesus today to commit yourself to serve and heed His calling.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field. Go, I am sending you…” (Luke 10:2-3)
About this Plan
New Year. A New Day. God created these transitions to remind us that He is the God of New Beginnings. If God can speak the world into existence, He can certainly speak into the darkness of your life, creating for you a n...
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We would like to thank Mr. Boris Joaquin, President and Chief Equipping Officer of Breakthrough Leadership Management Consultancy. He is a master trainer and top-ranked speaker for leadership programs and other soft skills in the Philippines. With his wife Michelle Joaquin, he contributed this reading plan. For more information, please visit: http://www.theprojectpurpose.com/
