Commentaries:
Jesus Christ's response to the Pharisee's question shows that He divided the Ten Commandments into two sections or tables. He covers the first four by saying, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment" (verses 37-38). This supersedes all other commandments; none is greater. The second, covering the last six, is similar to it. "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (verse 39).
God also arranged each section to begin with the most important command. He placed first the commandment, which, if kept, will ensure the greatest benefit to our lives, both physically and spiritually. On the other hand, if we break this commandment, it will cause the most damage to our worship of God or to the community by virtually ensuring that we will break others. In the first table of the law, this commandment is, "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:2). In the second, it is the fifth commandment: "Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you" (verse 12).
Just as the first commandment governs our relationship with God, the fifth commandment is first among those that govern our relationships with men. When we keep it or break it, it affects those relationships. Not only is it chief in this section, it also acts as a bridge between the two tables of the law. When we keep the fifth commandment properly, it leads us to revere and obey God Himself.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Fifth Commandment (1997)
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a story of selflessness in preparation for the future. In it, Jesus shows how the last six of God's commandments—expressing love and fulfilling our obligation to our fellow man—are put into action. The Good Samaritan was traveling somewhere and doing something, yet he took time out of his busy life to assist someone whom he had probably never met before and may never see again.
The victim was most likely a Jew, and the Jews and the Samaritans were notorious for their hatred for each other. Despite the hurt man being an enemy, the Samaritan expressed the Golden Rule, doing unto others as he would have others do unto him (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31). And he did it with compassion. The Greek used in Luke 10:33 indicates "his heart went out to him." He immediately opened his first-century first-aid kit and shared his supplies with the injured man—in fact, the parable says that the man had been left half-dead (Luke 10:30).
But the very act of offering assistance put the Samaritan in danger. The seventeen-mile route from Jerusalem to Jericho was rugged and rife with robbers. Working in groups, these highwaymen inflicted excessive and even gratuitous bodily harm as they deprived their victims of their possessions. They could easily have returned to the scene of their crime. Even today, particularly in Chicago with its high crime rate, paramedics trying to save lives end up fighting to stay alive themselves. Whether it be by the injured parties, distraught family members, assaults by angry mobs, or just criminal behavior, things can quickly turn dangerous for caregivers.
Not done yet, the Samaritan put the injured man on his own animal and brought him to an inn. Doing this not only required more of his time and labor, but also put them at greater potential danger. But despite exposing them to more bandits prowling the road to Jericho, the noble Samaritan did not forsake the injured man.
Finally, after all of this sacrifice, he provided generously for the injured man's recovery. Matthew 20:2 states that a denarius is equivalent to a day's wage for a worker. The Samaritan gave the innkeeper two denarii, or two day's wages. For a full-time worker, it was a third of what he made in a week! And he pledged to give the innkeeper even more, if needed.
The Samaritan's compassionate intervention provided the wounded man with a future and a hope, paving the way for him to "pay it forward" and treat someone else in a similar manner. He is an example of someone "in lowliness of mind . . . esteem[ing] others better than himself" and looking out "for the interests of others" (Philippians 2:3-4).
God's way of giving is our only example of true altruism, and while we will never attain to such a perfect standard, He exhorts us to develop this characteristic by being gracious, generous, and lending to the needy without regret. When we practice being altruistic, we learn, in a small way, to be like both the Father and the Son. Of the Father, John 3:16 reads, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." The Son likewise "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). They are our finest examples, setting the standard for Christian conduct.
Our calling is not really about us. We have been given a job to do, which Jesus summarizes in John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." The apostle later writes, "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (I John 3:16). We have been called to a life of godly love seen in sacrificial giving.
In business, they speak of a much different "golden rule," called WIIFY, or "What Is in It For You?" So what is in it for us? Recall that Jesus gave the Parable of the Good Samaritan in response to a lawyer's question about inheriting eternal life. Eternal life is the life that God lives, both in quality and duration, and He is graciously and generously providing us with both the opportunity and the means to share in His glory.
To have eternal life, we must live as God does, the way of giving, which is the epitome of altruism. That perfect, selfless way of life is our goal, which God exhorts us to practice now. As Paul writes in II Corinthians 9:6-7:
But this I say, He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
John Reiss
Altruism
What is the love that we are to have and show fellow man (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 5:43; 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31: Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8)? The Greek word for "love" in this command is agapao (Strong's #25), "to have a warm regard for and interest in another, cherish, have affection for." This seems like a rather general definition of any kind of love, but Jesus elevates it to an unconditional love, a heartfelt response to do good for another as the occasion requires, no matter who the other is, whether family, friend, enemy, or person on the street.
Showing this kind of love to our neighbor, then, goes far beyond wishing him well but extends to actively doing him good. It does not mean doing what will please him, but choosing to benefit him by showing him favor and goodwill. The outworking of this love may involve expressions of kindness or providence, or it could even be giving discipline and punishment. Its emphasis is on doing what is good for him, not on whether it will necessarily please him.
Then we must ask, "Who is my neighbor?" This question is asked of Jesus, and He replies with the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. The text tells us this expert in the law wished to justify himself, that is, show himself to be in the right on this matter and thus excuse his behavior. He had no argument regarding loving God, and as for loving his neighbor, he may have indeed been a good neighbor as instructed by the Pharisaical interpretation of the law.
Generally, that interpretation essentially boils down to "love your neighbor as long as they are not Gentiles." Some Pharisees carried this to extremes, turning it into hatred for any racial, ethnic, and religious group but their own. They despised Samaritans (thus Jesus' use of a good Samaritan in His parable) and called Gentiles "dogs" and probably other derogatory names.
We do the same today. We will love our neighbors as long as they are friends or coworkers or of the same race, ethnic group, or social status. We will love our neighbors if they follow our team, political views, or social causes. But that is not what God wants of us!
This can be seen in the parable. The story is of a Jew traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho on business, a journey of about fifteen miles. Robbers hold him up, beat him, and take everything he has, even his clothing, leaving him by the roadside half-dead and bleeding.
First, a man of his own nation, no less than a priest—a man who represents the love, compassion, tenderness, and kindness of God to the world—happens by. Of all people, one would think he would be the first to stop and help the battered traveler. Yet, he passes by on the other side, diverting his eyes, as if he never saw the man in need.
Then comes a Levite, one whose God-given task was to serve in the Temple. He not only sees the wounded man but also takes the time to walk over and examine him. But like the priest, he offers no help, scurrying to the opposite side of the road and continuing on his way.
Finally, a despised Samaritan happens by, and his heart goes out to the suffering man. Without thought for himself, he begins to clean him, pouring wine on the wounds to disinfect them and oil to promote healing. Then, putting him on his beast, he walks beside it until they arrive at an inn where the injured man could receive care and rest. He spares no expense and promises to repay the innkeeper for his troubles in helping the man get back on his feet.
Jesus ends the story by asking, "So which of these three was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" The lawyer, being an intelligent man, whose training had been the proverbial "straining out a gnat", now had to acknowledge the camel he had heretofore swallowed (Matthew 23:24). With a simple story, Jesus had given him a broad picture of the intent of this second great commandment. So the lawyer answers, "He who showed mercy on him."
It was the Samaritan, loathed by the Jews as heretics and religious frauds, who forgot all the antagonisms and abuses against him and showed mercy, kindness, and care—love—to the wounded Jew lying helpless by the side of the road. Only he displayed the love of neighbor that God expects of His people.
Jesus' instruction for the lawyer—and us today—is, "Go and do likewise."
Spiritually, this has been done for us. We, like this Jew in the ditch, were wounded unto death, left to waste away. The world passed us by, even those closest to us and those who claimed to be God's representatives, never giving us the help we needed. Then God, despised by this world, walked by and tended to us, paying for our care. He paid the ultimate price, giving His only begotten Son to save us and the whole world (John 3:16-17). We could say that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is the pouring of wine and oil to disinfect and heal those wounded by sin. It enables sinners from every stratum of society, upon belief and repentance, to be justified, to pursue sanctification, and ultimately, to be glorified.
So we see that God the Father and Jesus Christ are the perfect examples, the embodiments, of what it is to be a neighbor. The psalmist writes of God, "The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" (Psalm 147:2-3). Jesus' mission was not just to preach, but also "to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18). This is how They express Their love to us.
John O. Reid
You Shall Love Your Neighbor (Part Two)
The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) differs from most other parables in that it is so simple and concrete that a child can understand its basic point. However, it is also an insightful and memorable exposition of practical moral principles. That so many religious and secular people understand it shows the effectiveness of its simplicity and depth. Unlike other parables, each figure in the story does not necessarily represent a spiritual equivalent. The whole narrative describes working compassion as contrasted to selfishness, of hate compared with love.
In the parable's introduction (Luke 10:26), Jesus uses a technical term regularly used by the scribes or lawyers when consulting one another about a matter of the law: "What is your reading of it?" The lawyer gives the only right answer—the necessity of loving God and his neighbor (verse 27). He then asks the question—"Who is my neighbor?" (verse 29)—that prompts Jesus into giving His parable. The lawyer believes that no Gentile is his neighbor, although it seems he suspects they really are. This parable makes clear who is our neighbor and how we should respond to his needs.
Martin G. Collins
Parable of the Good Samaritan