THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN -part 1
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
Luke 10:25-37 deals with the account of the Good Samaritan, a parable told by Jesus to the lawyers of His time concerning a legal question in the Mosaic Law. The man wanted a response to how to obtain fullness in life complete, and perfect. This where Jesus gave a law that encompassed all the other laws of Moses...to love God completely and to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
This answer caught the attention of the lawyer who then asked a genuine question of Jesus " Who then is my neighbor?" To understand this parable we have to break this down a bit into pieces. Jesus depicts a man traveling down a road from Jerusalem to Jericho. It is important first to understand the meanings of these two cities; Jerusalem meaning the "Vision of peace" and Jericho was known as " The city of curse" Joshua 6:26. The road from these two cities was filled with all kinds of dangers, but there was one rocky and dangerous gorge which was known for being haunted by marauding robbers and was considered unsafe for travelers. Priests and Levites were left alone because of their religious callings. Josephus tells us that at about the same time Jesus was telling this parable that Herod had dismissed 40,000 workmen from the temple and they were a part of those who had turned to robbery in this part of the road.
It was along this thief infested road that Jesus sets the parable of the traveler walking probably as a business man from one city to another. He had likely been watched for some time for the right time to attack and rob him. He probably carried money with him as well as goods that could be sold or used up by the thieves. This will give us a little better understanding of why Jesus used this analogy, and created this story...everyone once again would have been well aware of the truth of it.
The traveler was robbed and stripped of all he had plus badly beaten and left very likely mostly dead. The next word Jesus used is "by chance" or coincidence, that the priest, and the Levite came that way because they knew they were safe, they came that way in a certain order in the parable that Jesus told. 1. There are many good opportunities given to us to do good. The Priest was probably coming home from his duties at the Temple; his position was as a consecrated man of God in the eyes of the world around him. Surely he would be the one to stop and help this man, and yet Jesus indicates that this priest had left God back at the temple in the same ways that many of us leave God back at the church when we leave a worship service. To give you a better idea of what Jesus was saying there were at that time some 12,000 Priest's living in Jericho at the time, and Jesus was making a pint that the great majority of them were indeed leaving God at the Temple when ever they walked out into the world. Today we can easily see the comparison for ourselves as Christians who make a claim to be something that most are not really true to.
I would like to continue with these thoughts on the next blog with the Levite, the Samaritan, and the rest of the parable...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
Luke 10:25-37 deals with the account of the Good Samaritan, a parable told by Jesus to the lawyers of His time concerning a legal question in the Mosaic Law. The man wanted a response to how to obtain fullness in life complete, and perfect. This where Jesus gave a law that encompassed all the other laws of Moses...to love God completely and to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
This answer caught the attention of the lawyer who then asked a genuine question of Jesus " Who then is my neighbor?" To understand this parable we have to break this down a bit into pieces. Jesus depicts a man traveling down a road from Jerusalem to Jericho. It is important first to understand the meanings of these two cities; Jerusalem meaning the "Vision of peace" and Jericho was known as " The city of curse" Joshua 6:26. The road from these two cities was filled with all kinds of dangers, but there was one rocky and dangerous gorge which was known for being haunted by marauding robbers and was considered unsafe for travelers. Priests and Levites were left alone because of their religious callings. Josephus tells us that at about the same time Jesus was telling this parable that Herod had dismissed 40,000 workmen from the temple and they were a part of those who had turned to robbery in this part of the road.
It was along this thief infested road that Jesus sets the parable of the traveler walking probably as a business man from one city to another. He had likely been watched for some time for the right time to attack and rob him. He probably carried money with him as well as goods that could be sold or used up by the thieves. This will give us a little better understanding of why Jesus used this analogy, and created this story...everyone once again would have been well aware of the truth of it.
The traveler was robbed and stripped of all he had plus badly beaten and left very likely mostly dead. The next word Jesus used is "by chance" or coincidence, that the priest, and the Levite came that way because they knew they were safe, they came that way in a certain order in the parable that Jesus told. 1. There are many good opportunities given to us to do good. The Priest was probably coming home from his duties at the Temple; his position was as a consecrated man of God in the eyes of the world around him. Surely he would be the one to stop and help this man, and yet Jesus indicates that this priest had left God back at the temple in the same ways that many of us leave God back at the church when we leave a worship service. To give you a better idea of what Jesus was saying there were at that time some 12,000 Priest's living in Jericho at the time, and Jesus was making a pint that the great majority of them were indeed leaving God at the Temple when ever they walked out into the world. Today we can easily see the comparison for ourselves as Christians who make a claim to be something that most are not really true to.
I would like to continue with these thoughts on the next blog with the Levite, the Samaritan, and the rest of the parable...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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