Luke 10

25 Then an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. He said, “Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”

26 Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you understand from it?”

27 The man answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ Also, ‘Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.’”

28 Jesus said, “Your answer is right. Do this and you will have eternal life.”

29 But the man wanted to show that the way he was living was right. So he said to Jesus, “But who is my neighbor?”

30 To answer this question, Jesus said, “A man was going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. Some robbers surrounded him, tore off his clothes, and beat him. Then they left him lying there on the ground almost dead.

31 “It happened that a Jewish priest was going down that road. When he saw the man, he did not stop to help him. He walked away.

32 Next, a Levite came near. He saw the hurt man, but he went around him. He would not stop to help him either. He just walked away.

33 “Then a Samaritan man traveled down that road. He came to the place where the hurt man was lying. He saw the man and felt very sorry for him.

34 The Samaritan went to him and poured olive oil and wine on his wounds. Then he covered the man’s wounds with cloth. The Samaritan had a donkey. He put the hurt man on his donkey, and he took him to an inn. There he cared for him.

35 The next day, the Samaritan took out two silver coins and gave them to the man who worked at the inn. He said, ‘Take care of this hurt man. If you spend more money on him, I will pay it back to you when I come again.’”

36 Then Jesus said, “Which one of these three men do you think was really a neighbor to the man who was hurt by the robbers?”

37 The teacher of the law answered, “The one who helped him.” Jesus said, “Then you go and do the same.”

The Road

What are the most dangerous (damaging) roads that you have travelled in your life?

The Response

You can no more pray effectively and hate your neighbor than you can walk north and south at the same time.

You may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say that you did not know.

— William Wilberforce

“The first question the priest and Levite asked was, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’”

The Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”

The Reasons

The Good Samaritan Experiment

A. You have plenty of time, and you are early.

B. You are on-time, but you should head over now so as not to be late.

C. You are running late, and you really need to go.

The Good Samaritan Experiment

63% of participants in the “you are early” category stopped to help the stranger.

45% of participants in the “you are on-time” category stopped to help the stranger.

10% of participants in the “you are late” high hurry category stopped to help the stranger.

Hurry overrides our moral values.

Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.

We are so busy chasing the extraordinary that we forget to notice the ordinary.

The key to success is not in doing more, but in doing what matters most.

If the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy.

— Corrie ten Boom

What are my reasons for not stopping?

Christ’s love is a costly, serving, healing love that reaches into the deepest wounds and darkest places.

— Tim Keller

The Robbers — What’s yours is mine.

The Priest/Levite — I’ll keep mine.

The Samaritan — What’s mine is yours.

Author John Maxwell

Matthew 9:36 — When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

1 John 3:18 — Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Ephesians 4:32 — Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

God help me to SEE, STOP, and SERVE the people in my path this week.