Learning from the Good Samaritan

Dannah Gresh: It’s normal for birds of a feather to flock together. Sadly, that often means we end up excluding people who are different from us. Amanda Kassian challenges us to reconsider.

Amanda Kassian: Who are those people in your life? Do you find that you are more prone to distance yourself from people of certain categories? To be a good neighbor we set aside prejudice, and we show compassion for others. We move towards them, not away from them. We resist hostility, and we extend mercy to those in need. 

Dannah: You’re listening to the Revive Our Hearts podcast for April 30, 2024. Our host is the author of Adorned, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

I hope you’ve taken advantage of the Revive Our Hearts Spring Sale. Today’s the last day of the sale, so be sure to check out the discounted resources for moms, dads, weddings, and grads. For more information, head to ReviveOurHearts.com. 

Nancy: It’s hard to believe today’s the last day of April. Here in the upper midwest United States, things are greening up, the weather is getting warmer, and you can actually see people out in their yards some. 

I think hospitality can be more difficult in the winter. It’s easy to get too closed-in, too comfortable. But in any season, practicing hospitality isn’t always convenient, is it? 

Yesterday on Revive Our Hearts, Amanda Kassian shared some of the obstacles we can face when it comes to opening up our hearts and our homes. If you missed it, you can catch up on the Revive Our Hearts app, or by visiting ReviveOurHearts.com. 

Amanda grew up in Texas and now lives with her hockey-playing husband and their children in Canada. She serves as the Founder and Director of Seen Ministry in Edmonton, Alberta. She’s organized and led Bible Studies in a variety of settings, including in her home. 

Her passion is for women to know the Word and for the Word to set them free. When she's is not spending time with her family, writing or leading Bible studies, Amanda enjoys coffee, visiting with close girlfriends, and a good pizza!

Today she’ll give us some principles from God’s Word, things you and I can apply in our quest for more God-honoring, gospel-centered hospitality. I hope you’ll pick up your Bible and listen. Here’s Amanda Kassian, speaking at a workshop at a recent True Woman conference.

Amanda: Today we’re going to look at a familiar story in the Bible, the parable of the Good Samaritan. This Bible story is very familiar to both believers and non-believers alike. Most know what it means when you call someone a good Samaritan. We even saw the Christmas box ministry through Samaritan’s Purse. It means that we are kind, we’re helpful, we’re merciful to those in need. 

It is a sincere compliment when somebody calls us a good Samaritan, it’s virtuous. 

People are acquainted with the story, but not so acquainted with the point of it. And that’s what we are going to talk about today.

Yes, this is a story about hospitality, love for our neighbors, but it is also a heart check for ourselves. The story answers our central question for the day. Any time I teach, I always say okay this is our central question. So, when you leave here, and somebody says, “Well, what did you learn?” Well, this is the central question, and we’re going to have points that follow it.

I’m a former English teacher and so I have a little bit of structure that go into my teachings. 

These are the main points: How can I open my heart and open my home for others? 

How can I open my heart and open my home for others? So, to be a neighbor as the Bible describes means that we love others as we love ourselves. A genuine continual practice of hospitality seeks to love all people, without restraint. We ask ourselves, How would I want to be loved? And we love like that.

So, the avenue in which we open our hearts and homes for others, means we, number one, we see a need and we meet a need. Number two is, we resist hostility, and we extend mercy. So, similar to what we just talked about, we resist what the culture is trying to impede on us in terms of excluding other people out of our lives, we resist that. We resist hostility, and we extend mercy.

Number 3, be willing to be inconvenienced. Number 4, be generous with our resources. 

So, before we look at the parable itself, I want to set the scene as to why Jesus told it in the first place. If you have a Bible with you, I want you to open to Luke chapter 10. We’re going to start in verse 25. So, Luke chapter 10:25, “A lawyer stood up . . .” A lawyer at this time is a little bit different than what a lawyer is today. It is a scribe, and they were known for their expertise in the Old Testament law. 

So lawyers, like the religious scribes and the Pharisees were part of the religious establishment at the time. They were big influencers in the Old Testament law. “A lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’” (v. 25).

Some commentaries would say that the motive of the lawyer was hostile. We know that from the Bible, the religious establishment was always testing Jesus. They were always questioning Him, wondering why He was doing certain things. 

His motive for asking this question did not come from a genuine pure place. It was hostile. His aim was to put Jesus to the test in hopes of embarrassment, in hopes to trap Jesus, so that they could condemn Him or execute Him. 

He asks an important question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And this is an important question. This the most important question any person could ever ask. But the question itself sheds light on the spiritual heart posture of the lawyer. He was assuming that one must do something, that we have a way to earn our salvation, to inherit the kingdom of God. And that salvation was up to us, we can earn it. 

Here Jesus doesn’t explain salvation. He doesn’t say, “No, no, no. This is what you have to do.” He chooses a different method. First, He responds using the Socratic method, which is answering a question with a question. He says, “Well, what is written in the law?” How do you read it? 

And the lawyer is like. “Well, this is my expertise. I know what is written in the law.” And the lawyer says, “‘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’” (vv. 27–28).

“Do this” is a present imperative, meaning a continual commitment required of Christians. Do this. Love God and love others and you will live. Live, meaning have abundance, flourish, have salvation. 

Now, the conversation should be over, right? The lawyer answered the question correctly, but he continues to push Jesus and further justify himself. So in verse 29 he says, “But the lawyer, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’”

And it is important to know that the lawyer is approaching this question with a self-righteous motive, because to him, he loves others well. He loves everybody, the Jews, who are like him, well. 

He thinks he loves God, and loves others perfectly, the way God requires him to. He loved people who were like him. And Jesus responds with a story, that’s essential to our teaching today. Am I a neighbor in the sense that Jesus describes in this story?

Jesus’ response is truly evangelistic in nature. It reveals our own depravity, while at the same time, revealing our desperate need for God. 

And He starts in verse 30. He says, “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, I want to explain this imagery to you, the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, okay? It was a dangerous road. Jerusalem is up on a mountain; Jericho is down here. So, in order to get through and down to Jericho, its about seventeen miles and 3,000 feet down. It was a dangerous road to travel because it was easy for robbers to hide behind rocks and cliffs on this steep winding path.

We don’t know much about this man that was attacked. He wasn’t just robbed, he was beaten, stripped of his clothing, and left half dead. They took everything. He may just be in his underwear; he may be naked. 

Obviously, this man is in a desperate situation. He cannot help himself at this point. He needs someone to help him. 

Verses 31–32, “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.”

Many priests had their residencies in Jericho, so they would travel this road and would return from Jerusalem when it was to officiate there. So, they would live in Jericho, but their time of work was in Jerusalem. They navigated this road often. 

And so, I bet this lawyer as he’s listening to this story, when he hears the priest and the Levite enter in, and they’re part of the religious establishment, he’s like, “Okay, I know what they’re going to do, they’re going to help this man.” But once he heard that the priest saw this man in desperate need, and I want to draw attention to that word “he saw him” it’s not like he wasn’t aware of the desperation. He saw that this man needed help. He probably assumed that the priest would help and save the day, further inflating and justifying his self-righteousness.

But what does the priest do? The original Greek uses the word, ante for passing by. Meaning he went against, completely on the other side of this man. He has complete disregard for someone in critical condition. 

And what does the Levite do? He came to the place and saw him. He not only just saw him from a distance, but he came up to the man, analyzed the situation, and then passed him by. Again, somebody who is part of the religious establishment sees and passes by. 

And this leads to my first point of our central question: how can I open my heart and open my home for others? How can I open my heart and open my home for others? We see a need; we meet a need. We see a need; we meet a need. 

I think it is easy to read this story and think we would be nothing like the lawyer, the priest, or the Levite. We read and we’re like, “Yeah, we wouldn’t do that.” But the reality is that this happens all of the time. I do it. You do it. We all do this. 

The response of the priest and the Levite are inhumane, but it’s not unnatural. 

Earlier, I mentioned the hindrances to our hospitality in our homes. Oftentimes, we are too busy or too self-absorbed, and too influenced by culture to even notice the needs right in front of our faces. 

Even more so, and I am not down playing this response, okay, I am not downplaying. But oftentimes, our only response to the needs before us is, "I will pray for you." Loving our neighbor and extending hospitality means more than seeing a need and passing it by. 

I have led women’s Bible studies in my home for years. I was actually trying to think of how long it’s been. It’s almost been over twenty years. And for a particular season of my life, I was called to minister to single women in their twenties and thirties. I had them in and out of home for about four-and-a-half years.

One of the women I mentored was Filipino. She struggled to provide for herself, and she was also trying to provide for family who still lived in the Philippines. As I am listening to her share her struggle, the Holy Spirit prompted me to invite her to live with us. We had the space, we had an extra room. I brought the idea to my husband, and without hesitation he said, “Absolutely.” 

And so, she lived with us, rent free, in our basement for about eight months. My daughters loved seeing her off to work. They loved welcoming her home. They loved seeing her at church. She was a part of our family. 

She was able to save money and get her feet back on the ground, and she was a gift to us. And now, I get to be her spiritual godmother to her baby girl. 

But I often think, what if I never asked her? What if I just allowed her to struggle in her pain? What if I left it at, I will pray for you? I’m not downplaying that God can’t do things through prayer, He can. But what is on the side of our obedience? Is a transformed life on the other side of our “yes” to do something extraordinary?

How can I open my heart and home for others? We see a need, and we meet a need. 

Let’s continue in the story, verse 33 says, “But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him . . . ” He saw him, and what was his response? He had compassion. He saw him, and he had compassion. 

I want to tell you a little bit about Samaritans. This is biblical racism, okay? It’s not an old thing, this is biblical racism. Jews despised Samaritans. The people of Samaria were of mixed Israelite and foreign descent. So, the Jewish people did not accept them as part of their Jewish community. 

The Samaritans were despised and hated for ethnic and religious reasons. So, at this point in the story, Jesus introduces a hated person who sees a man in distress, moves towards the man in distress without any hindrance or reproach. The Samaritan resisted hostility and extended mercy. 

How can I open my heart and open my home for others? We resist hostility and extend mercy. Culture tells us to despise the other. There are people not welcome in our spaces due to differences in ethnicity, political stance, sexual orientation, medical choices, religious beliefs, and so on. 

Who are those people in your life? Do you find that you are more prone to distance yourself from people of certain categories? To be a good neighbor we set aside prejudice, and we show compassion for others. We move towards them, not away from them. We resist hostility and we extend mercy to those in need. 

Verses 34–35, “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.’”

How can I open my heart and open my home? Point number three, I must be willing to be inconvenienced. He came to the man, and this is a stark contrast to the response of the priest and the Levite. He came to the man and bandaged up his wounds. He may have had to use some of his own clothes to nurse the wounds of this bleeding man. Then he took oil and wine, which most people carried at that time for meals. They would use oil and wine for all of their meals, and he poured it on him.

The word is “poured.” He didn’t say sprinkled or dripped. Poured, meaning it was a lavish, generous amount. Giving up his own for the sake of somebody else. Then he lifts the man and puts him on his own animal. He could have used this animal to walk himself, but he put him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn. 

Now, this man was walking somewhere. Nobody just walks this dangerous road for no reason. He probably had somewhere to be, something to do. The Samaritan halted his own agenda to serve the needs of a stranger. 

This fall is particularly busy for me in terms of ministry commitments and engagements, all of which I am very grateful for. But that doesn’t mean the needs of other people come to a standstill in my life. Just recently, even as I preparing for this conference, a tragedy happened with one of my really close girlfriends and her family. 

I was in the midst of prepping this talk as well as prepping for a conference I am hosting in Canada, while also caring for my family, which is my number one priority. I didn’t have a lot of margin; I didn’t have a lot of time to spare. But the needs were great. I remember the Holy Spirit reassuring me that He will provide for the time that was lost if I helped these people in need. He will multiply my time, my focus, my energy, to prepare for today. 

And so, I did. I prepped meals. I sat in the presence of others who cried and wept, and took time to be with this family as they worked through immense shock and grief. 

Additionally, I have had people call or text at the drop of a dime that they needed something and stayed in my home, talking through things till late in the night. We have always said that our home is an open door and all are welcome in it. My husband always jokes, “You’re welcome anytime, almost anytime, if you know what I mean.” I’m like, “Please don’t say that.” 

A neighbor is willing to be inconvenienced, and sometimes that means sacrificing our time, our resources, and our agenda for the sake of someone else. 

This leads to our last point. How can I open my heart and open my home for others? I am generous with my resources.

The Samaritan lavishly, not sparingly, poured out his own oil and wine to bandage a man in need. Additionally, he lifted him up on his own animal and then he brings him to an inn. He not only just took him to an inn, but he stayed with him. He provided food, cleansed the wounds, made him comfortable, and cared for this man through the night. How do I know that he stayed through the night? Because the next line says, “On the next day . . .”

On the next day, and it doesn’t stop there. He takes out two denarii, which is equal to a day’s wage. A nightly cost for a room in an inn at that time was 1/32 of a denarius. The Samaritan paid for this man to stay for two months.

He paid for this man to stay two months, and it doesn’t even stop there. He says, “Hey, I’ve got to go” to then innkeeper “but if you use all of this that I’ve given you, I will pay you back for anything that you spend on this man to care for him.” Basically, he was risking extortion. 

The Samaritan was lavishly generous with his resources and his time all for the sake of a stranger in need. 

I remember a girlfriend of mine feeling insecure about putting the pretty plates out before she invited new guests into her home. She said, I don’t know. I don’t want to look like I am doing the most or doing too much.” And I said, “Do the most. Do the most. Be generous with your resources, to make others feel welcome. Wouldn’t you want that? Don’t you want to be loved like that?” People go above and beyond for you.

That’s not to say that you need to go and buy all of the new things. I am not saying that you do it with a heart motive of “I need to impress people,” because that is wrong. But you’re generous with what you have. You offer that with a heart posture of genuine care for other people. 

And finally, Jesus says, “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (v. 36). And the lawyer said, he couldn’t even say the Samaritan, he says, “‘The one who showed him mercy.’ And Jesus said, “‘Go and do likewise.’”

This is a neighbor. This is a neighbor who loves someone as himself. If you were the man in need, wouldn’t you want to be cared for in this manner? Someone bringing out the pretty plates. Someone going above and beyond the requirement of care. Of course you would! 

When we care for ourselves, we make sure we get the best attention. The products with the best reviews. I don’t know about you, but before I purchase anything on Amazon, I am looking at, I need the ratings to be five stars. The vacuum needs to be able to do this. The best ingredients, the best doctors, the best resources. We do lavish things for ourselves. 

This story is a story of lavish, limitless, love for an enemy. For an enemy. Let me ask you, do you love this lavishly for everyone, you see in need?

It’s not just prepping a meal, it’s not just sending money overseas, it’s not just a monthly transaction, these are all good things. But remember, the lawyer asked, “How do I inherit eternal life?” We love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength, and we love our neighbor as ourselves, all the time. 

And you’re thinking, that’s impossible. Because it is. The law summarized shows that we can’t do it. Without Christ, we cannot accomplish this act of lavish, extravagant love, perfectly, we can’t. 

We who were once far off, strangers and enemies of God, and needing grace and mercy, we are justified by faith alone, by His grace alone, through the blood of Christ alone. 

Which of these three proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? The one who showed him mercy. Go and do likewise. 

We practice hospitality because Christ has been hospitable to us. Once enemies far from God, outcasts of the kingdom in desperate need, needing our wounds to be bandaged, He took us in. 

So, you see, the lawyer shouldn’t be asking, who is my neighbor? Like the lawyer, we should be examining our hearts and ask Him, “Am I a neighbor? Am I a neighbor?”

If you are attending this breakout session, my guess is that you want to grow in this spiritual discipline. Some of you may be exceptionally versed in showing hospitality to others. But as we look to this story in Scripture today, I hope that God’s Word humbles us, and reminds us that we can never love all people with absolute perfection. Only Jesus could accomplish that. 

And we need to be careful that we are not like the lawyer, where we allow our self-righteousness to get in the way and think that we are doing enough. 

 

Humility will remind us there is always room to grow, in the practice of hospitality. By serving others we serve Christ, and we promote the advancement of God’s truth. So, as we seek to open our hearts and open our homes to others, let us remember to be watchful. To see those needs in front of us, to see those opportunities, and share in these encounters with Christ. 

How can I open my heart and open my home for others? I see a need; I meet a need. I resist hostility, and I extend mercy. I’m willing to be inconvenienced, and I am generous with my resources.

Nancy: Amanda Kassian will be right back to pray. She’s been drawing applications for all of us from the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Gospel-centered hospitality is the focus of the newest Bible study from Revive Our Hearts. The title of that study is You’re Welcome Here: Embracing the Heart of Hospitality. I like that phrase, “the heart of hospitality,” because Christian hospitality starts in the heart, doesn’t it? 

You can work through the six sessions in this study on your own. That would be a rewarding experience, but I’d encourage you to gather a small group of friends together so you can practice hospitality with one another and have the joy of studying God’s Word together at the same time. 

Today’s the last day we’ll be talking about the Bible study You’re Welcome Here, so even if you are in another study and don't plan to do this right away, don’t let it slip off your radar. As a thank-you for a donation of any amount to Revive Our Hearts, we’ll send you a copy. And if you want more than one, you can always order more. To give and request your study, just head to ReviveOurHearts.com/hospitality. You’ll find other hospitality-related resources there, too. Again, that web address is ReviveOurHearts.com/hospitality. If you’d rather call, our number is 1-800-569-5959. 

Now, here’s how you can prepare for tomorrow’s Revive Our Hearts program. Read Acts chapters 6 and 7. See if you can pick out the character qualities that made Stephen an effective servant. Some time ago I was thinking about that passage. I started praying that God would make five characteristics I see in Stephen, true in me. I think you’ll want to pray for these qualities in yourself, too.

We’ll talk more about that tomorrow on Revive Our Hearts. I hope you’ll be back. Now, here’s Amanda Kassian to “pray us out.” 

Amanda: Lord, what a gift You are to us, to be an example of hospitality. In this parable of the good Samaritan, You show us that without You, apart from Christ we can do nothing. We need Your supernatural power to have patience, to have the agape love we need to extend to other people, including people that we struggle with. 

So, Lord, I just ask for every single woman in here that You stir and work. Holy Spirit, would You invite them to a new meaning of what it means to be a neighbor. What does it mean to invite people into their home? And would You just cover with conviction and rest in truth any fears we are harboring when it comes to hospitality? Maybe it’s perfection? There are women in here who are struggling with perfection, that you have to have everything perfect before you invite somebody into your home. Lord, would You address that in their heart today? 

Maybe it’s fear of the other. Would You help women to extend mercy and see people, to show compassion. And Lord, if we are struggling with our things, if we are struggling with idolization of things and money, would You help us to reprioritize our lives so that we can be generous, so that we can pour out lavishly to those around us. Because what we have been given is truly not even ours, it's yours. 

Help us steward the things You have given us, and that includes our finances, and that includes our homes, and the things in it. We thank You for being a God who rules heaven and earth. You have invited us into an eternal home with many rooms. Thank You for taking us in, once strangers, once far off, to be invited into Your home. We praise You for Your mercy and compassion on our lives. Lord, would You work in this space in here and as we go. We ask these things in Jesus’ name, amen. 

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