Who is God? [8/17/25]

August 17, 2025

Luke 10:25-37

“Who is God?”

Let’s begin with a little background. Who is a Samaritan?

In Jesus’ day, Jews shunned Samaritans. They practiced an impure, half-pagan religion. You can best sum up their relationship by saying Jews and Samaritans enjoyed an adversarial history. This plays out in John 8:48:

The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

What do you hear in that? Right…Jesus’ opponents were rudely suggesting that he was a half-breed, born of an unfaithful mother.

The animosity between Jew and Samaritan was generations in the making. Who was wrong? Who was right? Who started it? Who cares? They didn’t like each other. At one point, Samaritans scattered human bones on the temple grounds during Passover, thus desecrating it. That will add fuel to 

the fire.

Samaritans could not be a witness in a court because they were judged to be liars. They were lumped together with all other untrustworthy people. Their daughters were said to be unclean because it was believed they menstruated from birth. It was said, “He that eats the bread of the Samaritans is like one who eats the flesh of swine.” And the public latrines of the Samaritans were off-limits because they were said to bury their miscarriages there.

Horrible things were said back-and-forth between the two groups.

With that background in mind, here’s today’s passage:

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And 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.” And he said to him, “You 

have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Let’s start with three housekeeping items.

First, it’s misnaming to call this “The Parable of the Good Samaritan.” That’s not the point. The main point is, “Who is God?”

Second, there’s a lovely rhetorical device used in the heart of the parable. We see it in the appearance of the priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan. With the priest and the Levite, the structure is:

• COME…ACT…GO. COME…ACT…GO. {They act preserving their self-interest.}

It changes with the Samaritan:

• COME…ACT…ACT.

Third, there’s our calling the Samaritan good. Jesus does not. Luke does not. As we read in Mark 10:17-18:

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”

• Video Clip

Does the Samaritan do something good because he’s good? Does doing 

something good make the Samaritan good? Not according to Scripture. As we’ve already said, the parable isn’t really about a Good Samaritan. It’s about the nature of God and our salvation.

Let’s tackle the easy stuff first:

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Two things going on here. First, the lawyer is showing deference to Jesus. Teachers sat, and students stood, as a courtesy to the teacher. But notice how the lawyer’s intentions are less than sincere. As Luke tells us, he is putting Jesus to a test. As has happened before, Jesus is asked about eternal life and how to earn it. That’s a question and conversation that’s as old as time itself.

Next comes a great example of Jesus’ teaching method:

He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

Jesus avoids giving a direct answer. How are you going to learn if you’re not participating in figuring it out? Like the old rabbinic cliché:

• “Why does a rabbi answer a question with a question?”

• “Why shouldn’t a Rabbi answer a question with a question?”

Jesus is getting sharp with the lawyer. As some people say, Jesus is throwing elbows. In the end, Jesus is pushing back…what do you think?

As Jesus presses, the man answers:

“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.”

Here’s where things get interesting. Notice the text reads neighbor, not fellow human being. Remember, the first five of the Ten Commandments are about loving God. The second half of the Ten Commandments are about loving others. The lawyer appears to limit the scope of his love to his neighbor.

The point within the point comes next:

And he said to him, “You 

have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

If you’re like me, perhaps your brain is running ahead of itself. Salvation is through Christ and Christ alone. It cannot be earned. You cannot work for 

it. “Do this, and you will live?” The man knows the law. Leviticus 18:5 says, “You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.” Paul emphasizes this in Galatians 5:12, where he writes, “But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them.’”

In other words, Jesus is telling the lawyer that if this is how he thinks eternal life is earned, then he knows what he has to do. Notice Jesus doesn’t say you are currently doing this, 100% of the time, so of course you’ll live eternally. Notice Jesus doesn’t say, “You’re right. Eternal life is earned.” Verse 29, in all its brevity, is meant to sting. It seems Jesus is saying, “I’m not sure this means what you think it means.” If he thinks he’s fulfilling all of God’s commandments, then he doesn’t have a clue about the depth of his own sin.

Here's the first thing you might want to write down:

“HAVING THE RIGHT ANSWERS DOES NOT MEAN ONE KNOWS 

GOD.”

• Fred Craddock

We then immediately learn he feels the sting from Jesus:

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

We’re now getting the full measure of the man. He wants to present himself to others as a guy who’s doing a good job of earning eternal life. He wants Jesus to affirm he’s loving all the right people. He doesn’t think about his sin or how he’s loving God or how he’s loving all people. {By the way, can we love all people perfectly all the time? If that’s the way to eternal life, can we do it?} The lawyer can only think about his spin on who a neighbor is versus what Jesus might be thinking. What about the kind of neighbor he is? What about the deeper issue…the condition of his heart? Is he right with God?

Make no mistake. All he wants is for Jesus to tell him he is on the right track. Forget about needing to get himself right with God. He thinks he’s already there. And oh, by the way, he says, let’s just verify who my neighbor is. Here’s why. He expects Jesus to say, “Your neighbor is your relative, your friend, your co-worker, etc.” “Your neighbor is the people you like and the people who like you.” Then, he can proudly announce, “Hey, I’ve done that for as long as I can remember!” Then Jesus will be expected to praise him for how well he’s earned his eternal life.

But here’s the deeper, more insidious nature of the man’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” He wants to know how and where he can draw the line. And there it is. Deep down inside, he knows he’s not perfect. He knows he’s not such a great guy. There are things about him that are keeping him from loving others. He doesn’t want that to mess with his eternal life. So he wants assurance from Jesus that he’s loving enough people enough of the time in enough of the right ways.

The lawyer wants Jesus to unstuck him. He thinks he can earn eternal life. He thinks he’s a good enough guy. But is he absolutely certain? Do lost people know they’re lost? Do doomed people know they’re doomed? He thinks he can earn eternal life. And Jesus cannot leave him standing there. Jesus compassionately engages the man in order to give him a more 

powerful insight.

That’s where the parable comes in. Jesus uses it to crush the man’s self- 

righteousness. It becomes a wake-up call that he is damned and doomed. Jesus tells it to shatter his pride. Jesus tells it to crush his fake spirituality. Here’s another thing you might want to write down:

THIS PARABLE IS A CRUSHING, UNFORGETTABLE WORK OF CONVICTION.

On the surface, the story of the left-for-dead traveler seems like a story about kindness. I remember, as a kid, seeing motorhomes and campers with “Good Sam” stickers on them, meaning you could count on them if you ran into trouble. Very virtuous. So let’s look at verse thirty. Jesus wants to lead him to the truth which will secure his eternal destiny. How is Jesus going to get him to see that he is lost? He needs to see how lost he is before he can be saved. Amen?

Here's how the parable begins:

Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, 

and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

We’ll pick up there next week. Until then, here’s an affirmation from 

Charles Spurgeon that shows us where Jesus is leading:

“IT IS A MERCY THAT OUR SALVATION DOES NOT DEPEND ON OURSELVES, FOR THEN IT WOULD BE A POOR, UNCERTAIN THING. BUT IT DEPENDS UPON THE GRACE OF GOD, AND THEREFORE IT IS FIRM AND SURE.”

And the saved people of God say:

SOLI DEO GLORIA…

To the Glory of God Alone