GO AND DO LIKEWISE
LUKE 10:36-37 NKJV
36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"
37 And he said, "He who showed mercy on him."
Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
The lawyers, those steeped in Jewish religious laws, and scribes were always taking Jesus on. They constantly tried to catch Him in His words. They were not successful.
In our verses today, a lawyer was testing Jesus. He asked Jesus about eternal life. Keep in mind this was before the cross. Jesus asked the lawyer a question about what was written in God's law and how this lawyer interpreted the scriptures.
The lawyer answered correctly about loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. But he pushed back on Jesus as to who was his neighbor.
Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan. We know that story about the man who was beaten and robbed by thieves and left on the road. Two religious leaders, a priest, and a Levite, passed the man by and offered no help. But a Samaritan stopped and took care of the man.
We casually use the term good Samaritan, but this meant something very different to Jewish people. The Samaritans and Jews had a centuries-long dislike for each other. If you were Jewish and were called a Samaritan, those were demeaning fighting words.
Jesus conveyed the radical thought that doing good and showing mercy to those you come across was obeying the law of loving your neighbor as yourself.
When Jesus asked the lawyer who was a neighbor to the victim of thieves, the lawyer would not even say the Samaritan. His answer was the one who showed mercy. Jesus told him to go and do likewise. And question time was over.
APPLICATION:
We know today that our salvation is based on the finished work of Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection. But that does not eliminate the principle of loving God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. And loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Don't get caught up in the technicality of who exactly is your neighbor. Anyone who is in your path that could use the mercy of God is a great place to start.
PRAYER:
Lord, show me who I can show mercy to. You have been very merciful with me, and I can do likewise.