Luke 10:25-37
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You
shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was
going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who
stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” (ESV)
I'm sure you have heard this Bible story before, but instead of focusing on the fact that anyone in need is your neighbor, I want to focus on the kindness that was shown by the Samaritan, which is our next fruit of the Spirit.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (or patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."(Galatians 5:22-23, NKJV, parenthesis and emphasis mine)
In this story, we have a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho on a road that was often traveled. Before he reached his destination, he was attacked by robbers and left for dead. The robbers took all that he had, including his clothes and beat him to the point where he could not leave on his own. They were brutal! As he was lying on the side of the road, in pain and agony, a priest walks by, but instead of helping this fellow Jew, he goes out of his way to walk past on the other side of the road. Then a Levite, who would have been in the priestly family, but not actually a priest, walked by. He also did what the priest did; he went out of his way to walk by on the other side of the road. Both of these men were Jews, just like the traveler, but neither was willing to help him. Then a Samaritan walked by. We know that the Samaritans were often hated by the Jews, because they were not full-blooded Jews, but were of both Jewish and Gentile decent. Here was a man who had no reason to think that this man would have done the same for him, yet he had compassion on the traveler. He kindly treated the man's wounds, put the man on his own donkey, which meant he walked the rest of the way himself, and paid for him to stay at an inn and be cared for once they reached the city! I can only say that this is a true picture of the kindness that God wants us to show to others.
Ephesians 4:32 says, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
When was the last time you went out of your way to help someone who was in need of some kindness? It is almost never convenient for us to do an act of kindness, but we are still command to do so. God is kind to us in many ways every day. He gives us peace, hope, comfort, joy, and on and on; He guides us to walk in His ways; He is always there to listen to us when we pray; and He protects us from Satan. Why are we not more kind to those around us by doing what we can to treat them the way God treats us? Let's try together this week to be more kind in our dealing with others.
