Love in Action

You’ve heard the Good Samaritan story before, but have you really heard it?

We spend a focused quarter-hour in Luke 10:25–37 and let Jesus press on the question we all try to escape: who counts as my neighbor, and what does love require when it costs me something?

We read the passage, then walk through the people on the Jericho road: the wounded man, the priest, the Levite, the Samaritan, and the innkeeper. Along the way, we talk about compassion, mercy, and why “good” religious instincts can still end up on the far side of the road.

The Samaritan’s care is practical and detailed.  Bandaging wounds using oil and wine, providing a ride, paying for recovery, and promising to cover the rest. That’s real love, love your neighbor as yourself expressed through action.

Then we explore a deeper gospel thread: the wounded traveler is a picture of our helplessness, the limits of law and self-justification, and Jesus as the one who comes close, heals, carries, and pays the price.

If the parable is not only a moral lesson but also a window into salvation, it changes why we serve and how we see the people we’re tempted to ignore.

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After you listen, let me know - what’s a “other side of the road” moment you want to change this week?

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Luke 10:25-37  -  King James Version
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.

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2 Kings 17:24  -  King James Version
24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.

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Deuteronomy 6:5  -  King James Version
5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

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Leviticus 19:18  -  King James Version
18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.

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Transcript

Welcome And Purpose Of The Podcast

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to the Christ Quarter Podcast. Thank you for taking a quarter of an hour out of this day to enjoy the presence of Christ and the words of Christ. Today, let's read a section of Scripture, discuss what it means, and also how it applies to our lives. I hope that God will speak to you through my words and more importantly, through his scriptures, and will bring you closer to Him. I am blessed and thankful to have this time to speak with you, and I thank you so much for being with me here today. The Christquarter is available on Amazon Music. Just ask your smart speaker or app to play the Christ Quarter Podcast. I'm also available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.

Luke 10 Reading In Two Translations

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Today's scripture selection is Luke chapter ten verses twenty five through thirty seven. The King James Version reads as follows And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law, how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour is thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right, this do and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? 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. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at that place came and looked on him and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 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. 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. Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do thou likewise. Then I V says it this way. On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. Teacher, he said, What must I do to inherit eternal life? What is written in the law? he replied, How do you read it? He answered, 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 love your neighbor as yourself. You have answered correctly, Jesus replied, Do this and you will live. But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor? In reply, Jesus said, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan as he travelled, came where the man was, and when he saw him he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two dinari and gave them to the innkeeper. Look after him, he said, and when I return I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have. Which of these three do you think was a neighbor 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.

Opening Prayer For Understanding

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the freedom and ability to discuss your word and enjoy your presence. Help us to understand your word and your will for our daily lives more fully. We ask that you bless this discussion of your word, that it will speak to someone who needs to hear from you. We ask that you use these words to bring someone closer to you, and that you will touch their hearts to love others through action in your name. That each of us will do something to show love to their neighbor, in action as well as in word. That each of us will do our best to represent you to the world. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Breaking Down The Roadside Story

SPEAKER_00 4:46

The verses for today are foundational. Pretty much everyone knows the story of the Good Samaritan. All the supposedly good people walked by this person in need, but the Good Samaritan stopped and helped him out. But do we ever really hear this story anymore? Have we heard it so many times that we no longer get the message? Have we heard it so many times that we no longer hear what Jesus was saying here? Today on the Christ Quarter, we're going to look at this story in a little more detail and hopefully make it fresh again. Let's get right to it. So why is this story about the Good Samaritan foundational? Well, for one thing, it's not just about the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan is the character we tend to mention, but there are five main characters in our story today the man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, the priest, the Levite, the Good Samaritan, and the innkeeper. There's also Jesus and the Jewish scholar who was questioning him, but more about them later. Our story today is a parable which means that it is meant to make something complicated easier to understand. It can also make something that we don't like and that we want to avoid or reinterpret harder to get around. Today's parable is more long than you can't get around this type, although there is a deeper message here that I will mention in a few minutes. So our story. Priests were descendants of Levi and Aaron and served as God's representatives to the people. As a representative of God to the people, this priest is really supposed to help this man. And if there were witnesses watching his behavior, perhaps he would have done his duty and helped the man. But since in my opinion, no one is around to witness his negligence, he quickly moves to the other side of the road and ignores the dying man. The second person we see is the Levite. Levites were assistants to the priests, and this person seems to have learned from the priest well as he also moves to the other side of the road and moves along. The Levite does show some curiosity though. He goes over to the man and looks at him. He sees that the man is naked and in dire need of help, but he leaves and goes on his way anyway. The third person we see here is our good Samaritan. Now who were the Samaritans? Second Kings 17, verse 24 says that the king of Assyria brought people from different areas and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel. Some Israelites managed to stay in Samaria and intermarry with these people. These were the Samaritans, and they were despised by the Jews of that day. They also despised the Jews. Apparently, the Good Samaritan recognized that the dying man on the side of the road was a Jew, but rather than avoid the man, maybe even take the opportunity to further abuse him, the Good Samaritan had compassion on him and showed him mercy. More than that, he took action and helped the dying man, cleaning and dressing his wounds with wine and olive oil. The wine would have helped to clean the wounds, while the oil would have helped ease the man's pain. This alone would have been more than what would have been expected, but the Good Samaritan went even further and placed the man on his donkey and walked beside him to an inn and stayed with him, and presumably nursed him to health overnight. In the morning the Good Samaritan paid for the room with two pence. Two pence is estimated to have been enough to pay for not only the previous night, but also the next seven or eight weeks of room and board, giving the rob man plenty of time to recuperate and get himself back together again. Finally, the Good Samaritan left his tab open, telling the innkeeper that he would pay whatever was spent above and beyond the two pens when he returned. Now that's what I would call a good neighbor. Stay farm could learn something from him. He not only showed mercy and compassion on the wounded robbed man, but he took action to help the man and provide for his needs. He showed love through action. Jesus was providing this parable to the Jewish scholar who had correctly referred to Deuteronomy chapter six verse five, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy might. And Leviticus chapter nineteen verse eighteen, which says in part, to love thy neighbor as thyself. The Jewish scholar seemed to be trying to get out of having to love everyone by getting Jesus to define who his neighbor is. Any limiting definition of who your neighbor is can be used to define who your neighbor is not. But Jesus shows him through this parable that everyone is your neighbor.

The Deeper Meaning About Salvation

SPEAKER_00 9:33

In my opinion, there is a deeper additional meaning within our parable today. There are two other very important characters in the parable, hidden within the characters of the Good Samaritan and the robbed and wounded man on the side of the road. We are the man on the side of the road. We are dying in sin, naked in our shame, and unable to help ourselves. The priest represents Mosaic law, which cannot save us. The Levite represents the rabbinical law, which likewise cannot save us. We are unable to keep the law. The Good Samaritan represents Jesus, who shows mercy on us, on all of us. Jesus heals our wounds, eases our pains, and picks us up. He picks us up, re-establishes us, and walks with us. Jesus paid the price for us and promises to return again. In my opinion, the entirety of the Bible, from our fall in the garden to the law being shown is insufficient to save us, to Jesus showing up on our donkey and paying the ultimate price for all of us, to the way he promises to return once again. I believe that this simple parable is one of the most profound portions of Scripture in the Bible. It also shows, in my opinion, that Jesus is present in the entire Bible. You just have to look.

Final Takeaways And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_00 10:58

That concludes our scripture discussion for today. Thank you for spending this time with me talking about, learning about, and enjoying Christ. It is my hope that God has used my words to touch you today and has brought you closer to Him. Let us pray. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.