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The parable of the Good Samaritan is familiar to many of us. We see in this parable that Jesus is challenged by the lawyers of the Hebrew law with the question, “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus responded with a parable. Luke 10:30-36 (NIV) “In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
What we see in this parable is that on the road of life anything can happen to us. We all start out with good intentions, we prepare ourselves for the journey of life: we study hard in school, we train ourselves for our jobs, we even prepare ourselves to be spouses, and parents. But somewhere along life’s journey, as one preacher put it, the “vicissitudes” of life happen to us. Or even as the songwriter David Byrne wrote “You may ask yourself, where is that large automobile”, or you may tell yourself, ‘this is not my beautiful house”
Even though we are familiar with this parable, we rarely look at the parable from the perspective of the man who had fallen among thieves. But if we look at this man, we can no doubt make some assumptions about this person, he was
probably just like us in many ways. He was taking this trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and doubtless he prepared himself for this journey. He had packed a suitcase, and went to the bank, and got some money to travel with, and even brought some snacks.
The man on the road had plans for the future. He had hopes for life’s journey. But something bad happened that left him by the side of the road. Sometimes events happen to us that change the trajectory of your lives, sometimes things happen that change our course and our heading. We can find ourselves in situations where we begin to question, “Where is the Hope?”
But God is always right on time, and the Samaritan became the instrument of hope for the man by the side of the road. In this parable, we see the man, we don’t know his name, but in the parable, we see that a Good Samaritan came by to pick him up, to bind up his wounds, and put him on his donkey. Writer and Blogger: Onyedikachukwu George Nnadozie writes: “We also know the story of the good Samaritan who of course represents Jesus” (https://georgennad.wordpress.com/2019/06/03/jesus-the-donkey-and-private-jet/)
Jesus became the Good Samaritan for us! He found us when we were at our worse, and He bound up our wounds, and He provided for us. Jesus identified with all of the things that go wrong in our lives. All of us. And Jesus also brought us a solution to all of the problems we now face. As the Apostle Paul wrote Romans 15:13 (NLT) I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The answer to hope’s questions are found in Jesus. He gave Himself on the cross to fulfill our hope. Are you willing to trust Him with everything you hope for?
We Love you
Pastors Willie and Rochelle McIntosh
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