Luke 10
23 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: 24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
There is no name of wealth that surpasses the richness of being a Christian – a follower of Jesus Christ. Nothing can compare with being a Christian. It is just a pity that many so-called Christians do not recognise their exalted position and treat it as common, as belonging to any faith, such as being a Hindu or a Muslim.
Jesus privately said to His disciples, “blessed are the ears that hear what you hear and the eyes that see what you see”. No wealth or treasure can compare to the richness of knowing Jesus.
You may have wealth, farms, honour and praise, but if you haven’t seen Jesus you are lost. That is why Paul said that he counted everything else as dung compared to knowing Jesus Christ.
The question this expert of the law asked Jesus might seem very honourable to someone without discernment, but he only wanted to trick Jesus into saying something wrong so that he could have something against Him. Many people speak pious words, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Those without discernment will be deceived by their smooth speech.
Jesus however, discerned that this man was not genuinely asking the question to get to heaven, but with ulterior motives. Jesus therefore avoided his trap and pointed the question straight back at him so that he answered his own question, “the greatest command is to love the Lord your God with all your mind, soul and strength”. If this expert of the law was honest with himself he would have asked Jesus for help to obey the command. In stead he sidestepped the question and justified himself by asking who his neighbour was.
Jesus still stretched out his hand to the man by explaining to him by way of the parable of the Samaritan. In this parable Jesus Himself represents the Samaritan that passed by and helped the man in need. He is the true Samaritan that passed by us when we wallowed in our own blood (Ez 16:6). We were so defiled that even our righteousness was as filthy rags. He washed and cleansed us from our filth and dressed us in His righteousness.
Just think of how sin and satan destroyed your life. Time and again you have vowed not to go back to certain sins and yet before you knew it you were back again wallowing in the mud. Satan is a murderer from the beginning and he robbed you of everything you had. Yet Jesus passed you by in your destroyed state, saw you in your sin and said to you “live” and saved you.
We could not help ourselves when Jesus saved us. Only He, the true Samaritan, could save us and He did. He washed us clean from our own blood, and dressed us in His righteousness as we confessed our sins.
The inn represents the church of Christ where He puts you to be nursed back to life, and He will supply all your needs. Come to Him today and He will heal you once more.