Lessons from the Parable of the Good Samaritan
By Warner Richardson
Christians are called to Love – Love other believers, Love our neighbors, Love our enemies, and most importantly, Love God. Love is one of the central themes in the Bible. In Mark 12:29-31 Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is, and He replies: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The Good Samaritan, James Tissot (1836-1902)
One of my favorite passages concerning Love is Luke 10:25-37. In this passage Jesus is teaching in the Temple when a lawyer stands up and tests him by asking, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answers the question by asking, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”
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 [Jesus] said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.’
“But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’”
To answer that question Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. In the story a man is traveling when robbers attack him. He is beaten and left for dead by the side of the road. As he lies there, first a priest and then a Levite see him. But instead of helping, they pass by on the other side of the road.
Then a Samaritan comes along. The Samaritans were hated and despised by the Jews, but when the Samaritan saw him, “he felt compassion, and he came to him and bandaged up his wounds… and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him and whatever more you spend when I return I will repay you.’”
After telling this story, Jesus asked the lawyer, “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?”
And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.”
Then Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”
This story shows us that Love is made up of two parts: a feeling or emotion and an action. The Samaritan first felt compassion for the man, and then he went and helped him. Without both of these he would not have been showing Love.
So then, how do we Love God with all our Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength? Psalm 42 shows us the first part. In verses 1-3 the writer says, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for you O God. My Soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” This passage pictures the desire and longing we should have for God. 
Psalm 37:4 tells us to “Delight yourself in the Lord; And he will give you the desires of your heart.” The interesting thing about this command is that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, then HE will be the desire of our heart. If we delight ourselves in him, he will give us himself.
The second part of our Love for God is the action. When the Samaritan saw the man attacked by robbers, he immediately felt compassion. As a result of that compassion, he “bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.”
James 2:15 & 16 say, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” The feeling of compassion or love alone is useless. We are commanded to Love the Lord with all our Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength. Our whole beings must be tied up not only in the feeling of Love for God but also in our physical service for him.
No part of your life can be excluded from serving God if you truly obey the command to “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.”
When the lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbor was, he probably hoped Jesus would name a certain group of people that he needed to Love. The Jews considered themselves as slightly above the rest of the world. So perhaps he was thinking that, as long as he had not done wrong to another Jew, he had fulfilled that command. We will never know for certain what he was thinking this side of heaven, but it’s interesting that, instead of naming a certain group of people for the man to Love, Jesus tells a story about a man who went out of his way to help someone else in need and then commands the Lawyer, “Go and do the same.”
This is a correct picture of true Love for God and for others. Everything in your life should be there for the purpose of serving God. Instead of waiting for God to bring neighbors into your life for you to help, you should be directing your efforts towards making your own neighbors.