Sermon: Sunday, 13th September, 2026
Speaker: John Johnstone
Scripture: Luke 10:25-37
I like to be comfortable. I love my memory foam mattress topper. I almost always have some fresh coffee when I am doing my quiet time. I was not looking forward to flying to New Zealand, anticipating sitting in one seat for 14 hours; you can imagine I was overjoyed when I realised the plane was two thirds empty, got 4 seats to myself and lay down for a long sleep. However, I cannot read this parable and remain comfortable. In fact, properly understood, this famous passage can make us highly uncomfortable. But that in itself is a good thing. That is Jesus’ intention. It’s easy to gloss over this passage and say to ourselves: ‘Yes, we really ought to be nice and neighbourly to everyone who needs our help. We must be good Samaritans to those in need.’ We have heard this hundreds of times. But is that Jesus’ main message here? Is it just that we should buy the homeless man a sandwich or put extra tins of beans in the food bank? Are you sitting comfortably? Don’t!
To understand this parable properly, we should begin with verse 25 and not the parable itself.
‘On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
The context is really crucial. In this verse, we are introduced to an expert in the law. This does not mean a lawyer or advocate; rather, this man is an expert in God’s law. He is an expert in Biblical studies. He is a learned man. He might be knowledgeable, but does he know himself and does he know God? Does he truly follow the Lord? All too often the so-called wise and learned are blind to things of God. I think this man falls into this category and that’s why he is introduced to us following Jesus’ statement in verse 21.
‘At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.’ (Luke 10:21)
The expert in the law asks Jesus 2 questions.
1. A question that sounds spiritual
The first question is this: ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Now, don’t get me wrong, this is not just a good question but a fantastic one. I wish I were asked that question more. I rarely am. The question is asking, how can I be sure than I will get to Heaven? There is no more important question to ask than that.
It reminds me of the Philippian jailer in who cries out to Paul and Silas: ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ (Acts 16 v30) It reminds me of Christian in Pilgrim in Pilgrim’s progress, who meets Evangelist and wants to know how to get to the Celestial City. This is a question I want us all to think about often. What is the way of eternal life? He is asking a serious question. So much of our time can be taken up with trivia like the new bendy iPhone and what they can do or our favourite TV show or our favourite team or shopping for things we don’t really need. In a sense, this is the best of all questions to ask. 10/10 to the expert in the law!
So, why is our first heading ‘A question that sounds spiritual’. Because, I am not sure that he is asking this question out of desperate need, like the Philippian jailer does. In fact, it says he wants to ‘test Jesus’ (verse 25). Is his question coming from his heart or is he trying to debate Jesus and show off his own knowledge and learning?
2. Jesus’ surprising answer
I would have expected Jesus to saying something like, ‘Believe in me and follow me to get to Heaven. After all, I am the way and the truth and the life. I am the way to Heaven’. But here, Jesus points the man to the Bible. What is written in the law (verse 26)? And the expert in the law answers really well, quoting from Deuteronomy and Leviticus.
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
‘Love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.’ (Leviticus 19:18)
Jesus acknowledged that the man was right. ‘You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied. ‘Do this and you will live.’ (Luke 10:28) Wait a minute! Why is Jesus pointing the man to the great laws of God? If we could be saved by keeping them, why did Jesus need to die on the cross? And what about the text in Galatians… ‘Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ…’ (Galatians 2:16)
When Jesus says, ‘Do this’, the tense is ‘keep on’ doing this, day by day. This is a hypothetical way to get to Heaven. The truth is, no one is able to love God with all their heart, soul and strength. Nor can any of us love our neighbour as we ought.
What should have been the response of the expert on the law? He ought to have said ‘Jesus, I cannot do this. If this is what is necessary, then I am lost’. The man could not even do this for one day. Nor can you. This is Jesus’ point. The law shows us our sin and our need.
This is very similar to Jesus’ interaction with the rich young ruler in Mark’s Gospel.
‘As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good – except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honour your father and mother.’
‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’ (Mark 10:17-20)
Why does Jesus point these men to the law? To show them their failure to keep the law. To show them their need of God’s forgiveness. ‘I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.’ (Romans 7:10-11)
3. A question revealing blindness
‘But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ (Luke 10:29) What do you think when you hear God’s standards are to love him with all our hearts and soul and strength and love our neighbour as ourselves? Do you feel comfortable and think, ‘Yes, I can do that’? I hope not. We are constantly battling our own selfishness and need God’s help to love in this way. It is beyond our natural ability. Our natural bent is to love ourselves.
The expert of the law wants to justify himself, perhaps trying to narrow the definition of who his neighbour is so that he can fool himself into thinking he can keep this law. The law should have brought him to cry out like the tax collector ‘Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.’ (Luke 18:13) Instead, he has this intellectual question ‘Jesus, I’m not quite sure who my neighbour is’.
4. A highly challenging answer
Jesus goes on to tell the parable, not directly answering the question ‘Who is my neighbour’ but more shifting the focus to ‘how can I behave as a neighbour to someone’? A man travelling the 18-mile road from Jerusalem to Judea is brutally attacked and left half-dead. He urgently needs help. Imagine it were you lying there. The first two people to come across him are deeply religious men, just like the expert of the law who asked the questions. They should have known better. They walk past the man without helping. They do not want to get involved. Why? Ultimately it is because they do not have the love and compassion in their hearts such men ought to have had. They are loveless. They care more about themselves and their own schedules than helping others. Both of these religious Jews fail the requirements of love. Perhaps they make their own excuses in their minds: ‘My father is unwell and I need to get home quickly; I’m too busy with God’s work to help this man; or what if I am attacked too?’
The priest and the Levite might know the Bible really well and they might perform all kinds of sacrifices and ceremonies, but their religion is dead and lifeless and we know this because they have no love in their hearts for their neighbours. I believe this parable is a mirror that Jesus holds up to the expert in the law. In effect, Jesus uses the parable to ask him, ‘Can you see what you are like’? It is a devastating parable. But this mirror is also held up to me and to you. Are we those consumed with ourselves and consistently walking by others who need help. Do we make our excuses?
Then comes the Samaritan. As most of us know, there was deep hatred between Jews and Samaritans. We see that in verse 37, when the expert in the law cannot even say the word ‘Samaritan’. The Samaritan has a heart of love and compassion. He gives of his time and money to help the man. No doubt, he was also busy and had his own life pressures but he does not hide behind them. He is inconvenienced but is happy to be in order to help. His love is sacrificial. It is costly. It is for an enemy.
This parable asks us all: ‘Who can love our neighbour in this way’? Yes, we find it easy to do things for ourselves and for members of our own families. But what of others. What of those in the church family? And what of our colleagues and neighbours? And what of our enemies? Is this a comfortable parable? I think not! Many times, I have walked past on the other side. Many times, I have made my excuses. Only Jesus has been like the good Samaritan in an ultimate sense.
How should we personally respond to this parable?
Application 1: I can only behave like the Samaritan if Jesus gives me a new heart and a new nature. Except for God’s grace, including his forgiveness and then his empowering us, we just cannot do it.
If you are not yet a true follower of Jesus, perhaps this parable will help you to see your need of Jesus. Perhaps now you realise how often you pass by those in need and how focused you are on self. Perhaps the Spirit will convict you of this sin and lead you to repent and pray to God for mercy and forgiveness. I hope that will be the case. Before you can love like this you need to be converted by God. You need a new heart.
Application 2: If you are a true follower of Jesus, then Jesus has already given you a new heart. When we were dead in our sins and unable to help ourselves (like the man in the story) Jesus came along and healed our wounds, paid the price for our sins and loved us sacrificially. We, in turn, must do this to others.
‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’ The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’ (Luke 10:36-37)
In our church, do you notice when people are not here? Will you get in touch with them to see if they are ok? Will you get your hands dirty to help and encourage? If you know someone is struggling with a situation, will you help, even when you have your own family and work pressures? Or will you walk by on the other side? Will you say, ‘Someone else can deal with this.’
Someone is lonely or grieving or troubled. You see it. You know it. Will you cynically say to yourself, ‘No one was there for me in my struggles.’ or will your heart of love cause you to sacrifice your precious time and money and resource and be inconvenienced. What a challenge!