The Good Samaritan

Calling the Kids Up

Actually, I would like to call the kids up. Can I get the kids to come up here? I am going to tell a story today, children and adults. We have our kids with us for the month of August because we’re giving our teachers an opportunity to just sit and receive. Do you know what Jesus said? Bring the children unto me. So today we’re calling all our kids up here to tell a story. Today’s story, we’ve been working through the parables. Do you guys know what a parable is? It’s a story that Jesus told to make a point. So I’m going to ask Amy to pass out the popcorn and tell you guys a story.

Reading the Parable

We’re looking at the story of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25. One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The man answered, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus told him, “Do this and you will live.” But the man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked, “Who is my neighbor?”

Who Is My Neighbor?

And Jesus replied with a story. A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho and was attacked by bandits, stripped, beaten, and left half dead beside the road. A priest came along, saw him, and crossed to the other side. A Levite did the same. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. He soothed his wounds with oil and wine, bandaged him, put him on his own donkey, and took him to an inn to care for him. The next day he gave the innkeeper two silver coins: “Take care of this man. If his bills run higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.” Jesus asked, “Which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked?” The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

Compassion That Moves

We talk about the Father’s heart here at The River, don’t we? I don’t think we’ll ever fully grasp the magnitude of the Father’s love for us until we’re actually in heaven with him. When we read this story through the lens of the Father’s heart, I think Jesus is doing more than showing us what a good neighbor looks like. He’s revealing what the Father is like. The priest and the Levite saw the wounded man, but passed by. The Samaritan also saw him, but he was moved with compassion. That distinction matters, because the Father doesn’t just notice our wounds and say “that person’s hurting.” He sees us with compassion, and that compassion leads him to action.

The Father’s Heart

Psalm 103:13 says, “The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.” The Father doesn’t ask how you got yourself into this or whether you deserve help. He sees a precious son or daughter who is hurting, and his compassion moves him toward us. The religious people crossed to the other side of the road, but the Samaritan moves toward the hurting. Often when we’re wounded or ashamed or spiritually broken, we imagine it’s on us to find our way back to God. This story tells it differently: the Father moves toward us in our brokenness. We see it in Luke 19:10, where Jesus came to seek and save the lost; in Luke 15, the parable of the lost sheep, where the shepherd goes out to find the one; and in Genesis 3:9, where sin entered the world and God showed up and said, “Where are you?” He is pursuing you. He doesn’t wait for the wounded to become presentable.

Love Crosses the Distance

Love crosses the distance. This is the heart we see through scripture: the Father running toward the prodigal, Jesus reaching out to touch the leper, Jesus eating with sinners, Jesus stopping for Bartimaeus. The Samaritan doesn’t just feel sorry for the man from a safe distance. He gets down into the mess. He touches the wounds, pours oil and wine on them, bandages him, covers his shame, lifts him up. The Father wants intimacy with you. His love is practical, tender, present, right now, not some far-off theory. Sometimes what people need most isn’t an explanation for why they’re wounded, but just the experience of being safely loved while they’re wounded.

Your Wounds Don’t Define You

Notice that Jesus doesn’t spend time telling us what the man did wrong. He doesn’t say he was foolish or careless or should have known better. He just says there was a man, he was attacked, he was hurting. That’s significant, because there are times we let our wounds become our identity. But God’s heart for you says the wound is something you’ve experienced, it’s not who you are. In Jeremiah 1:5, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born, I set you apart.” In Isaiah 49:1, “The Lord called me before birth. From within the womb, he called me by name.” Your wounds and the things that have happened to you do not identify you. There is an identity the Father put inside you before the world got a hold of you, and that is how the Father sees you, and who he’s calling you to be. He is speaking that out over you every day, all the time.

Extravagant, Generous Love

Notice the Samaritan doesn’t just bandage the man and leave. He takes him somewhere safe. He cares for him. He tells the innkeeper, “If the bill runs higher, I’ll cover it the next time I’m here.” That’s extravagant love. He doesn’t say “I’ve done enough.” He says, “Whatever this costs, I will take responsibility.” That’s how the Father cares for you, generously. His love doesn’t calculate how much of itself to give. It asks what does this person need, and responds generously.

The Samaritan Was an Outsider

Going back to the beginning: the man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked, “Who is my neighbor?” The religious expert is looking for a boundary, essentially saying, “Who am I responsible to love? Where’s the line I have to walk up to?” But Jesus doesn’t answer with a category or a boundary. He asks, “Which one of these acted like a neighbor?” He shifts the question from who qualifies for my love to what is love inviting me to do. It’s interesting that the Samaritan is an outsider, someone the Jewish man might have even considered an enemy, and yet it’s that person who demonstrates the Father’s kind of love. God’s love isn’t restricted to the boundaries we create in society. It crosses racial, social, religious, relational, and even enemy boundaries. And Jesus doesn’t tell us to simply admire that love. He says, “Go and do the same.” He’s calling us to become a revelation of the Father’s heart to someone else.

We Can’t Give What We Don’t Have

We are invited to know the Father’s love intimately and deeply as an actual experience, and out of that revelation, we’re called to give his love away. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.” We can’t give away what we don’t have. I didn’t give you guys any popcorn, so I can’t ask you to give me popcorn back, you don’t have it to give. It’s the same with the Father’s love. We can’t give what we haven’t received, and we can give what we have received. His love is freely available for us. He pursues you. He wants relationship and intimacy with you. He’s pouring out his love. Can we just receive it, like the kids received the popcorn today?

A Personal Testimony

I recently went to the A School in Calgary with the team. I’m an introvert, actually quite shy, and going to an event like that, mingling and interacting with people, would typically be something I’d avoid. I’m not very good at small talk. But over the last number of years, as I’ve received more and more of the Father’s love in my life, he has transformed me to the place where I actually get excited to meet people, to share and talk about the Father’s love and what he’s done in my life, and to hear what he’s done in others. I could see so clearly the distinction between who I used to be and who I’m becoming because of the Father’s love working in my life. And he wants that for all of you. Compassion becomes the natural response of a heart that intimately and deeply knows it’s loved. The more you experience the Father’s love, the more you will desperately want to give that love away. That’s who he is. He wants to give, he wants to reach out, he wants to love. He is love. So the more we receive love from him, the more we become like him, the more love we have to give away.

Altar Call & Prayer

Can I get you all to stand? I’m going to call on the lead team this morning, all the men, to come up here. I feel like if you’re wanting to experience more of the Father’s love in your life, if you just want to receive more of it, I’m going to ask you to come up and let one of these guys hug you and pray over you, just to give you more of the Father’s love. Father, thank you for speaking your love into our lives, for loving us so perfectly. Have your way in this place. Our hearts are open, we want to receive your love in an even greater way. For each and every heart that is open, would you place your hand on each person and let them know how loved they are. Amen. If that’s you, if you want someone to just share the love of the Father with you, come up, get a hug from these guys.