I am as appalled as Jesus Christ was when He has posed this question (Luke 10: 25-26) and the following dialogue ensued. Together with our Lord Jesus Christ, I will like to share it all over again.
Many are busy charging or exploiting the flock of Jesus Christ decorating and building houses and places purported to be our meeting and worship centres when many of us have stagnated in our spiritual growth with our physical and financial strength going down rapidly. Yet no one cares as people with ill-gotten wealth keep showing off with their wealth bringing and making others feels they not listen to by God.
We jump senselessly at election results forgetting the millions who will continue to live in poverty and deprivation and sadly giving in our blessings for the few thieves who will continue to plunge your countries irrespective of whichever parties is in power. It is only a turn taking games to enrich themselves at the expenses of the masses. It is time you mature and learn the art to let the game favour you the masses. The few educated people you and your country starved to educate have turned around to pay you back with such blatant exploitation.
Jesus Christ has never been happy with the manner the world and even His Church is exploiting and cheating to death the ordinary person. I am afraid the parties have nothing new to offer you but to clean your act and help yourselves and turn to Jesus Christ Himself (HIMSELF YES) for peace.
Luke 10: 25-29; One of the smart and greedy people wanting to trick Jesus Christ asked Him v.25 what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Even when Jesus Christ have answered him v. 26 with a counter question he answered v.27 Jesus said you have answered correctly so therefore go and care for the people you have misled and cheated v.28. Huugh!! the trickster still had something under his sleeves just as your leaders both politicians and church owners do, he came up even with what to him was a smart answer but to Jesus Christ and me a very daft question v.29 who is my neighbour? Well, this set out the parameter for my teaching today.
Luke 10: 30 -37; Jesus Christ saw an opportunity rather than to help him and many of us by teaching him and us in details His preferred “WAY”. This is one of the parables narrated only by Luke (God does not only love the miserable but also the educated and rich by the right means). This message conveys the principle of high morality in the Saviour’s full salvation. (It does serve also the world very well I should think and know that for them who have lived by the wisdom of God have always benefited other people even unrelated to them). The Saviour intended the “certain man” to be a figure of the self-justified lawyer or man (v.29) as a sinner (of course you and me see that picture or portrayal in us including your exploiters especially, for they are the ones guilty of stealing from what could have cared for the whole countries they represent shamefully. And of course, some of the ministers of Jesus Christ can’t be left out of this shame.) who had fallen from the foundation of peace (Jerusalem) to the condition of curse (Jericho).
The indication of Jerusalem and Jericho v.30 indicating our fall from the city of the foundation of peace to the city of the condition of the curse. Jerusalem I repeat is the foundation of peace (Heb. 7:2); with Jericho was the city of the curse (Josh. 6:26; 1 Kings 16:34). Signifying the legalistic teachers of the Judaic law (John 10:1), sadly we are very familiar with those building empires and institutions for themselves whilst always condemning us for doing the same thing as them, who used the law (1 Corinthians 15: 56) to rub law keepers such as the self-justified lawyer. Verse 30; continues to shine the light on the stripping caused by the Judaistic teachers who are no different from the owner churches miss-use of the law. Laid blows upon, signifying the killing by the law (Rom. 7:9 -10); in the dead condition signifying the Judaistic, and the church ownership pranksters leaving many of us in a dead condition (Rom. 10:11,13).
Those who should have cared for Gods’ people (v.31) passed by in the image of the priest(OT) by teaching them the law of God (Deut.33:10; 2 Chron. 15:3) was going down on the same street or road and was thus unable to render any help to the beaten man. Sometimes thinking about going to those already in synagogue do you ever doing the same when you meet such a situation? These ones are saved and safely do you get that about the missing one sheep parable also told by Jesus Christ.
And (v. 32) it says likewise a “Levite” placed by God during the journey to the promised land who is One of those who helped God’s people in their worship to God (Num. 1:50; 3: -7; 8:19) was going down on the same place, and he too was unable to render any help to the dying one. It also happens these days in Churches looking on whilst people in their midst suffer yet go out in the public to offer charity to the public for publicity sake. Many run to churches and leave their families unattended to yet run aloof I will call it, thinking they are serving God no never. God is best served through His Children, “because; you, did not do this for these He said”.
Well from the least expected corner (v.33) (which is what your teachers have made you believe came the Samaritan. No, rather the Samaritan signifies the Man – Saviour, Jesus who apparently was a layman of low esteem or estate and valued in your circles. Such is what we still understand and take the Samaritan as low and mean (John. 8:48; 4:9) by the self-exalted, self-appointed in your churches, self-justified Pharisees, including the one to whom speaking here in (vv.25,29). Such a Man-Saviour (are you one of Him), in His lost seeking and sinner- saving ministry (do you have such a ministry that is one of my ministries)? Came down (19:10) to the place where the wounded victim of the Judaistic and modern day church robbers lay in the miserable and dying condition (I do tell you many are in such state in the much-publicized owner churches).
When the Man-Saviour saw him, He was moved with compassion (which is why I am also moved with compassion and asking you to leave or free before you are dead and go to Christ Jesus the Man Saviour and have a personal relationship with Him Stop putting your spiritual future into the hands of such persons other than Jesus Christ. It is never too late) in His humanity and with His divinity and rendered him tender healing and saving care (Does your church gives you tender spiritual healing based on Jesus Christ coupled with individual and cooperate savings care or you are just one of the numbers branded around by these so-called persons of God?), fully meeting his urgent needs (vv. 34-35). Many of think we satisfy God when we neglect first our families the nucleus of the church and get busy traveling the world under the guise of world evangelism, no, there are many everywhere you go doing these things in quiet, not with soundbites.
Let me tell you in vv. 34 -35 all the aspects of the good Samaritan’s care for the dying portray the Man-Saviour in His merciful, tender, and bountiful care, in His humanity with His divinity, for a sinner is condemned under the law. Showing to the utmost High standard of morality in His saving grace: (1) He bound up his wound (don’t quell with the use of the gender article his for the robber it applies to every one of us in such situation) -healing him; (2) He poured oil and wine in his wounds – giving him the Holy Spirit and divine life (Matt. 9:17; John 2:9). (Come running, therefore, to Jesus Christ for His Divine Life and His Holy Spirit). (3) He placed him on His own beast (a donkey) – carrying him by the lowly means in a lowly way (Zech. 9:9;( I bet many of you will today distaste your elders and deacons coming to churches after running around evangelizing with the won souls in normal cars; but rather will have preferred them in some Jaguar, Mercedes Benz 4X4, Bentley or helicopters or planes you name it). (4) He brought him to an inn – bringing him to the church (is your church an inn enough to accept those condemned and robbed and beating by the religion and the fast making things you don’t even have a name for);
(5) He took care of him – taking care of him through the church; (6) He paid the inn for him -blessing the church on his behalf (Dear church owners the church and the blessings that come into it is not only for you,it’s also for the members spiritual and physical needs please, oh please, please); (7) He said that He would repay at His return whatever the inn spent – declaring that whatever the church spends in this age on one who is saved by the Lord will be repaid at the Saviour’s coming back( Come on, where does Malachi fits so much here, and what did Paul do with the Philippian church collecting offerings for use by the Jerusalem brothers who needed them most. We could make savings on the churches opulent living and apply living on our reasonable most lives to save the many churches facing persecutions around the world. Rather than using your show off media assets to hi-light the problems; don’t say, Lord, we didn’t know?).
V.35; The denarius was the chief silver coin of the Romans; it was considered good pay for a day’s labour disciples (Matt. 20:2).
As always (And usually we have such cheats or some of the owner churches finding scriptures to justify their shameful acts strongly advocating and justifying their actions) the self-justified one or lawyer thought that he could love another as his neighbour (v.29), not knowing, under the blindness of self-justification, that he himself needed a neighbour (please owner churches you need Jesus Christ as your neighbour now), the Man-Saviour, to love and Jesus Christ who loved you first and continues to love you and will accept you if you will repent, burn your pride and come with the whole congregation back to His fold or flock.
V. 37; Or, the one who dealt mercifully with him. The self-justified one was helped to know that he needed a loving neighbour (such as the good Samaritan, who was a figure of the Man-Saviour, this teaching and explanation has eluded many of you I guess?) to love him, not a neighbour for him to love. Our Saviour intended to unveil as I am doing exactly that for Him Jesus Christ to him and much more even as at today through this story or parable as Luke first reported in the Gospels.
(2) that the Man -Saviour was the One who would love him and render him full salvation not some pastor or founder-owner of a church all these do and should do is to send all congregants to the Lord Jesus Christ as I am doing today.