The Good Samaritan Lifting the Injured Man Onto His Donkeyby daniegus
10:33Luke 10:33
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
A despised Samaritan traveling the dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho came to where a man stripped, wounded and left half dead by thieves lay, and on seeing him was moved with pity. He did not pass by like the priest and Levite but went to him, covered, bound and treated his wounds with his own clothing, oil and wine, carried him on his own beast to an inn, nursed him and paid for his continued care. A neighbor is therefore not defined by nation, creed, class or color but is the one who shows mercy, and anyone in need who requires sympathy and help is the neighbor to be loved as self. The Samaritan pictures Jesus himself, who left glory, came to humanity robbed and ruined by Satan and left to perish, healed, covered and provided for them at his own cost even unto death. This compassion is the second great principle of the law, true religion and the condition of eternal life, for loving God is shown by deeds of mercy to fellow men and to see need and withhold help is to break the commandments.
Parable Setting and Story
Jesus told this to answer the lawyer's question Who is my neighbor about what to do to inherit eternal life, after the lawyer had rightly answered that the law requires loving God with all heart and soul and strength and mind and loving neighbor as self, and Jesus had said this do and thou shalt live. The answer was given without controversy as a case explaining who is a neighbor, outlining the whole duty of man and upholding all the law and the prophets. The story records an incident that had lately taken place and was familiar to and known by many present who heard Christ tell it, presented as parable but as a true event that actually took place.
A man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among thieves who stripped him, wounded him, and left him half dead on that same dangerous road. A priest and a Levite each came that way, came and saw him, looked, and passed by on the other side, the priest giving only a sigh of pity and wishing he had not seen the wounded man. Jesus set forth the Samaritan's conduct as different from theirs and contrary to the lawyer's ideas that forms and ceremonies were all the law required.
A certain Samaritan as he journeyed on the same road came where the wounded man was, and when he saw him he had compassion on him. He did this though Samaritans were despised, hated, cursed and excommunicated by the Jews and made a byword, and though the sufferer was a Jew, and his pity and love showed a heart that could feel for suffering humanity and nobility of soul to show mercy to one whom he knew not. His love was of the right quality, flowing out in disinterested benevolence, treating the wounded stranger as he himself would desire to be treated were he placed in similar circumstances, and proving worth before God is not determined by nation or religious profession but by the spirit shown in compassionate action.
His compassion meant going to him instead of passing by, covering his nakedness with his own clothing, and binding up his wounds pouring in oil and wine carried for his own comfort to heal and refresh him. He stayed in a dangerous place where robbers might return, set him on his own beast and walked slowly and evenly to keep from jarring him and increasing his pain, brought him to a comfortable inn, nursed him through the night with careful watching, and cared for him in the morning until he was improved. On the morrow he paid two pence to the host with charge to take care of him and promise to repay whatever more was spent on his return, making provision for his wants and continued care at his own expense.
He that showed this mercy was neighbor to him that fell among thieves, and Jesus commands Go, and do thou likewise, making the Samaritan's compassion the pattern of loving neighbor as self. That showing of mercy is the mark of being neighbor, in contrast to the priest and Levite who refused the work because they did not want the trouble, though the duty was no more agreeable to the Samaritan than to them. When followed, this brings peace and happiness and joy into the home and the church.
Who Counts as Neighbor
A neighbor is not a title of nation or religious profession but the one who shows mercy and practical care to someone in need. When the Samaritan saw the wounded man he felt compassion and was moved to go to him, approach him, and do the practical work of care that the priest and the Levite had refused. His compassion in contrast to their passing by makes him the neighbor, even across the hostility between Samaritans and Jews.
A neighbor is anyone who needs sympathy and help, without distinction of race, color, class, caste, nationality, boundaries, social rank, or church or faith to which one belongs. The Samaritan's care shows that love of neighbor and obedience to God's law extend to strangers and are shown through merciful action, not merely professions of piety. Our neighbor is the person who most needs charity and help, whatever class or background, and when their needs are learned they are to be relieved as far as possible, with physical necessity and suffering met first to open the way to the heart for spiritual good. Everyone who claims to be a child of God and everyone whose name is upon the church book must represent the mercy, compassion, and tenderness of Christ in this same way with no thought of race, color, or class distinction.
This includes every soul wounded and bruised by the adversary, every one who is the property of God, every stranger in distress, and families and souls lying nearest at hand. The wounded man stands for all the needy and unfortunate brought under notice as subjects of interest, sympathy and charity, no matter who they are, whether their need is physical or spiritual, including a wounded soul straying from Christ. Jesus holds up such a wounded and dying stranger as a neighbor and a brother in suffering whose need should move the heart to pity, and compassion toward him is the law brought into practical life. Belief of the truth takes away selfish, narrow worldliness and makes the world the field of labor, where believers must be laborers together with God in words and actions to see the needy and help lift them up.
Need alone moves compassion without stopping to consider whether the man is pleasant or disagreeable, Jew or Gentile, courteous, agreeable, converted, able to repay, or whether helping risks oneself or whether he would have treated the helper kindly. As soon as the suffering need of a human being wounded, bruised, naked, needy and suffering is seen before him, he has pity, and that need is enough to move him to help. This duty and privilege is to be done quickly, seeing necessities and acting as God's helping hand in relieving suffering humanity, without inquiring whether those in need believe the same doctrines or hold the same religious belief.
The Southern field, Black and white people in ignorance and need, neglected cities like Nashville, New York and California, and the cities of the Southern field left in darkness are the neighbor lying close at hand to be helped. The colored people of the Southern States lie close at hand in ignorance and need since emancipation, like the wounded traveler left without help, and to do only a fingertip or a hundredth part of the work required is to pass by on the other side with indifference and cruel neglect like the priest and Levite. Having compassion means decided, earnest efforts far beyond what has been put forth so far, to warn the indifferent, educate the ignorant, minister to needy souls, help them gain spiritual freedom, and repair the harm done. It requires binding about supposed necessities, staying the hand from selfish outlay that would invest thousands in adding to already large facilities, buildings and presses while the sister enterprise at Nashville lacks foundation and running order, and sending larger gifts of the Lord's money to establish His work in the destitute portion, because leaving those unentered fields in unsightly barrenness is unfaithfulness by those who have had great light.
What Compassion Means and Does
Compassion begins the moment suffering need is seen, for the Samaritan beholds a human being wounded, bruised, naked, needy and suffering lying before him and as soon as he sees him is moved with pity and tender feeling from a kind and loving heart. Unlike the priest and Levite who see yet pass by, he does not withhold response but becomes neighbor by answering need with compassion that gives practical, continuing help including care and provision for expenses. That pity crosses social and religious division, showing tender care to discouraged and oppressed people and proving genuine conversion and harmony with God in spirit and works.
Real love is never mere feeling, weeping, idle curiosity, sighing pity, or wishing not to have seen, but going to the sufferer instead of passing by on the other side. It approaches, stops, gets down from the beast, treats wounds, carries the man, watches carefully over him on the way to an inn, and takes responsibility for his care. By this mercy toward a Jew despite hostility between their peoples, the verse shows that loving neighbor means noticing need and kindly doing what one can give even when inconvenient or costly, fulfilling duty to fellow man and living by the golden rule through a transformed life that shares the divine nature.
It acts at once with gentleness, kindness and disinterested benevolence at personal cost and risk in a dangerous place where robbers may return. It covers nakedness with its own clothing and uses oil and wine carried for its own comfort to heal and refresh wounds, pouring in oil to restore rather than vitriol to dishearten. It lifts the man onto its own animal and walks slowly and evenly to avoid jarring him and increasing pain, brings him to a comfortable inn, nurses him through the night with careful watching, waits until morning improvement, pays money for care and promises to repay any extra cost on return. Such conduct, though no more agreeable than it was to the others and though despised by the self-righteous, shows true conversion and harmony with God, valuing others as God does and seeking the lost from love of the true Shepherd with self-denying, self-sacrificing effort. Refusing sympathy and cooperation except for wages, closing the heart to simple requests, and sending only cast-off clothing while knowing necessities in a poverty-stricken field is passing by on the other side and lacks the bowels of mercy required; keeping the verse means giving money, sympathy, cooperation and direct help to the hardest fields so the poor are helped to help themselves with kind, courteous hearts not blind and deaf and dumb to need.
Such compassionate service has heavenly approval, for angels were beside the Samaritan as he helped and all heaven looked on the scene. Angels and Christ stand and work with those who serve others as the Restorer, accompanying all who minister to others instead of passing by. Our own experience of weakness and of receiving comfort from God should therefore move us to sympathize, help and comfort others who suffer.
Plainly revealed duty to help a neighbor in need when seen must not be evaded through excessive caution, but met with practical compassionate care in contrast to the priest and Levite passing by.
Christ Seen in Samaritan
The Samaritan pictures Jesus himself and his mission, and those who with him do good imitate his example. Unlike the priest and Levite who passed by, he saw the injured man and responded with compassion, illustrating the love for neighbor that the law requires as tender kindness toward people in need. Though despised, he acted as Jesus would have acted and fulfilled the command to love neighbor as self, and is shown more righteous than those who despised him. He represents Christ, who came in humility to serve and bring divine love to humanity, humbling himself from his position in heaven to take humanity and the role of a servant. For humanity's sake he lived in poverty and self-denial and became poor so that others might become rich.
The man robbed and wounded and left to die is humanity deceived, bruised, robbed, ruined and left to perish by Satan. He is the sinner and the lost human race left destitute, helpless and unable to save itself. The lesson therefore allows no sense of superiority, contempt or indifference toward others, for sinful people can obey God's law as the standard only through the merit and grace of Christ who died for their salvation.
The Samaritan's compassion is Christ's compassion toward the helpless human condition. He left his glory, his heavenly home and royal courts, laid aside royal robe and kingly crown, clothed divinity with humanity that humanity might touch humanity, and stooped from highest command in the heavenly courts to become a servant. He came to the rescue, found people ready to die and dying, undertook their case and took it as his own, and did not pass by. He healed their wounds, carefully dressed them, covered the soul with his robe of righteousness, opened a refuge of safety, and made complete provision for their needs at his own charges, paying expenses and promising to repay further cost. He lived a life of poverty and self-denial so that through his poverty the poor might be made rich, died to redeem them, even to save his enemies, and prayed for his murderers. Looking at his life and Spirit and work gives light by which to view one's own life and work and to see how far short of keeping God's commandments and loving neighbor as self people come. All heaven looked on the Samaritan's care as a picture of this compassion set against the neglect and false reasoning of the priest and Levite who saw the wounded and bruised man by the roadside and passed by on the other side. Their indifference rebukes all who should help first yet show the same indifference, and every church member is to follow the Samaritan example as a laborer together with God in self-denying, self-sacrificing, consecrated service to save souls perishing in sin, accepting inconvenience to meet human need and cheerfully sacrificing for the privilege of following the Master.
God's providence brings sufferers into contact with those who might minister to them, constantly weaving the web of human events and guiding and placing the suffering where one with sympathy and compassion will give attention to needs. Like the compassionate Samaritan, Jesus does not pass by a wounded person in need of sympathy but draws near to those who are bruised and distressed and responds with faithful care. He commended this mercy despite the hostility between Samaritans and Jews, and the lesson helped prepare his disciples to show love to Samaritans and carry the gospel to them.
Law True Religion Eternal Life
The verse holds the second great principle of God's law, on which the last six commandments hang, while supreme love to God shown in the first four bears fruit in impartial love to fellow men shown in the last six, lived out as deeds of mercy, with love to mankind as the fruit of love to God. It was given in answer to the lawyer's question Who is my neighbor, after he had rightly said eternal life comes by loving God with all heart and soul and strength and mind and loving neighbor as self. The story records an incident that had lately taken place in which a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among thieves who stripped him and left him half dead, and a priest and a Levite saw him and passed by on the other side. The Samaritan's compassion when he saw him is true neighborliness, showing mercy in action by going to him and binding up his wounds pouring in oil and wine and setting him on his own beast and bringing him to an inn and taking care of him and paying two pence with promise to repay more. Christ's closing decision that the neighbor was he that showed mercy, with the command Go and do likewise, makes the Samaritan's compassion the pattern of loving neighbor as self, which together with supreme love to God outlines the whole duty of man and upholds all the law and the prophets, bringing peace and happiness and joy into the home and the church when followed. His care for a stranger in spite of hostility between Samaritans and Jews showed genuine conversion and harmony with God, and exposed the failure of self-love to fulfill that law.
Compassion for the needy when seen is a binding term of salvation and condition of inheriting eternal life, to be applied personally and calling for the whole person to be converted. Keeping the commandments about duty to neighbor in seeing, feeling and helping brings eternal life, including exercising sympathy and tenderness for the unfortunate and for motherless children in the home as duty to a neighbor, and God holds people accountable for neglect of it so that neglecting sympathy and tenderness results in loss of eternal life. The wounded man stands for all the needy and unfortunate brought under notice as subjects of interest, sympathy and charity, no matter who they are, and the Samaritan seeing him and having compassion is obedience to the second great commandment to love the neighbor as self. To neglect such cases or withhold pity because sufferers are not kith or kin breaks that commandment, and to offend in one point is to be guilty of all, leaving no assurance of eternal life. Those who will not open their hearts to the wants and sufferings of humanity will not open their hearts to the claims of God in the first four precepts, where idols take the heart and God does not reign supreme.
It does not point to wonderful higher education in sophistries and spiritualistic ideas, but gives the solid foundation for eternal life, a foundation Christ Himself created by giving His own life for the life of the world. To act as the Samaritan acted is to stay wide awake to see how to bless humanity and to work in Christ's lines with constantly improving efficiency, faithfully improving great light and great opportunities lest the judgment condemn the failure to use them. Neglecting to watch for opportunities and discern the necessities of fellow beings is sin in God's sight. True religion is not a matter of systems, creeds, rites, forms and ceremonies or mere profession of piety and loyalty, but is expressed in loving deeds seeking the greatest good of others and genuine goodness. Love to God and people is lived out through what a person does, not merely what he says, making him a doer of the law in spirit and works, though the duty is no more agreeable than it was to the priest and Levite.
The priest's and Levite's indifference, though they read the command to love the stranger, proves disobedience and commandment-breaking. The Samaritan's compassion, rather than his nation or religious profession, made him a neighbor in God's sight, for he did not merely observe religious forms but responded to a person in need with practical care. Outward observance without a heart that feels for suffering and without love is not true obedience. Their neglect in seeing the man but leaving him without help and making excuses for failing to care cannot be reconciled with loving one's neighbor as oneself. Neglecting people in need in contrast to helping the suffering is evil in God's sight.
Compassion for souls stands opposed to intemperance in drink and tobacco and every perverted appetite that enslaves men until they cannot break their bonds in their own strength. It exposes the condition of the world as before the flood and before the destruction of Sodom and as in Belshazzar's sacrilegious feast ending in being weighed in the balances and found wanting, showing the difference between obedience and disobedience to God's law for those who are transgressors of the law. It sets the value of the human soul in the light of the cross of Calvary, warns that each person has souls to save or souls to lose and is deciding eternal destiny, and calls for no more moments to be wasted but to flee to refuge and lay hold on eternal life. Freedom comes only when Christ is made the strength and protector so that consent is no longer given to the arch deceiver who must gain consent before men are compelled to sin. Keeping the verse is the faith that works by love, the natural fruit of the Holy Spirit's influence and Christ living within, overcoming selfishness through a transformed life sharing the divine nature and living by the golden rule.
God's power is shown through such compassion, and the Holy Spirit and angels work with people in ministering to those in need, for a tender, sensitive heart does not avoid responsibility or pass by a helpless person but responds with pity and care. It is the spirit all churches must represent toward those in need, stopping to help the wounded and bruised stranger left to die by the wayside, those who need the power of the divine Healer to cure their wounds, and the lost sheep for whom Satan has set his trap. To pass them by uncared for and unnoticed, as the priest and Levite did, and to go home caring nothing for them, proves lack of the divine nature and shows the attributes of the enemy of God. His compassionate act exemplifies the duty to show human kindness, mercy, and benevolence to those in need even when they belong to a despised group, and Christ approves this example for all to follow. The lesson applies that love to the use of property, for possessions are talents entrusted by God to be used wisely for good and for God's glory and eternal interests with sound judgment, not to gratify passion or become an idol.
Living Out Compassion Today
The wounded traveler by the roadside is the colored race in the South, robbed and beaten and bruised and despised and forsaken and left to perish by the wayside in ignorance and need since emancipation. Those who professed to know God have been as priest and Levite, seeing their wretchedness in slavery and neglect and passing by on the other side, locking up sympathy instead of acting at once to relieve great human necessity. Having compassion now means decided, earnest effort far beyond a fingertip or a hundredth part so far, to uplift and educate and train them through divine wisdom, to feed and shelter and save them in their low estate, to teach them the knowledge of God and present the spiritual freedom purchased at infinite price. It means repairing wrong and laboring for them in person and with means, lifting eyes to unworked fields and going in unitedly to reap with no time to be lost, rather than merely looking and deploring their discouraging appearance while fastening eyes on more promising fields near home. It means not holding the carriage, quibbling, diverting funds, or leaving fields barren, but binding about supposed necessities and staying the hand from selfish outlay that would add thousands to already large facilities, buildings and presses while the destitute Southern field of Black and white people in great ignorance and the unfinished needy work at Nashville lack foundation and running order. Every one with advantage and abundance is brought into collision with that need, and the Lord's money must be sent in larger gifts, not merely a few hundred dollars, to establish His work there, for one institution must help create the other; and when those helped are converted they partake of the divine nature and do Samaritan work in turn, rescuing fellow men and leading those in darkness into light.
The same compassion calls for Samaritan work for people ruined by intemperance and for the fallen, straying, discouraged and oppressed, bringing truth to them where they are, including those neglected by the churches. They are not to be abandoned as hopeless or passed by with the plea that it is lost time to work for so weak a man, for Christ died for that soul even when for the time under a demon's power and not sane through liquor, tobacco and fiery stimulants to the ruin of himself and family. The helper is to come when the man is sober as a friend without blame, speaking hopeful words that encourage faith, strengthening every good trait, arousing the sense that it is not too late to be a man, and helping him rise lest he go over the same ground again. Practical care opens the way, offering food and unstimulating drink and clean clothing where needed, restoring with oil rather than vitriol, seeking the lost with self-denying sacrifice, with Christ the great Physician standing beside the faithful worker to forgive the repentant discouraged soul. One soul thus rescued is a soul saved from Satan's grasp, and thousands might have been saved by such tender sympathy and personal effort to restore those who stumble or stray instead of neglect and harsh blame.
Sanitariums and other institutions are to act as good Samaritans, welcoming sufferers and relieving them with genuine sympathy as representatives of the Great Physician rather than merely performing tasks or speaking a few words. Physicians are to enter homes to relieve sickness and vigorously relieve suffering with practical care, serving generously rather than neglecting patients or charging excessive fees, which is robbery and fraud. A sick and feeble traveler seen on the way should move helpers to make his journey as safe and comfortable as possible even at personal expense and even when the best help costs more, for neglecting him is counted as doing the same to Jesus. Caring for the sick and relieving human suffering in this way is the gospel put into practice, which Christ's followers are to go out and do.
Such compassion loves as Christ loved with pure heavenly unselfish love seeking salvation of souls, in triumph of humanity over prejudice of color and caste. He who is closely connected with Christ is lifted above prejudice, his faith taking hold of eternal realities and working by love to purify the soul and lift the mind into a pure heavenly unselfish atmosphere. When the Holy Spirit is poured out and the loud cry is given, God controls minds so hearts love as Christ loved and the color line is regarded very differently, with talented Black believers laboring together with God for their own people yet sometimes bearing testimony in tent meetings and large assemblies to reach many souls.
In church and home and business, being neighbor means personal ministry according to strength and opportunity that money alone cannot replace, feeling interested for brethren and cultivating and teaching love to neighbor as self in family life. Labor must not be confined to believers but reach unbelievers with acquaintance and compassion, placing truth before those living up to all the light they have and loving with all the heart those for whom God gave His only begotten Son, using the open door set before them to bring precious souls such as those in Melbourne into fellowship. Those blessed with health must have kind regard for the afflicted and crippled and sickly and favor them, pitying and sympathizing even with an afflicted crippled brother who erred in judgment and purchased too largely, lending a helping hand that supplies lack and comforts and cheers and strengthens his heart as one would wish to be done by if crippled, bringing sweet satisfaction and reward, for to leave him unaided or oppress him breaks the lesson and God notices it. It means showing sympathy and tenderness to motherless children and to willing workers and faithful servants in poverty, seeing that a willing worker has chance to earn enough to support his family, searching out unknown causes, relieving debts, opening houses and churches to shelter strangers free of cost, and sustaining schools and needy enterprises by liberal gifts and equal distribution of means rather than enlarging already large facilities.
In general no one is excused from quickly noticing necessity and actively helping as God's helping hand, for the helpless and forsaken need practical care and withholding help while spending on convenience leaves them neglected. Love of neighbor requires practical help without first asking whether sufferers share one's beliefs, for genuine devotion to God leads to concern for fellow beings and true missionary work obeys God's law in this way. Sufferers are to be met where they are, physical necessities supplied first to open the heart for spiritual good and set forth Christ crucified, doing vigorously what one can as far as God provides means, since neglecting to watch for opportunities is sin. God places people where they can care for one in need, and suffering calls away from selfishness to awaken compassion and tenderness and love, while mercy must not be withheld through indifference or neglect but given with wise careful judgment rather than mere impulse, for Jesus holds accountable those who pass by on the other side like priest and Levite.
A despised Samaritan traveling the dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho came to where a man stripped, wounded and left half dead by thieves lay, and on seeing him was moved with pity. He did not pass by like the priest and Levite but went to him, covered, bound and treated his wounds with his own clothing, oil and wine, carried him on his own beast to an inn, nursed him and paid for his continued care. A neighbor is therefore not defined by nation, creed, class or color but is the one who shows mercy, and anyone in need who requires sympathy and help is the neighbor to be loved as self. The Samaritan pictures Jesus himself, who left glory, came to humanity robbed and ruined by Satan and left to perish, healed, covered and provided for them at his own cost even unto death. This compassion is the second great principle of the law, true religion and the condition of eternal life, for loving God is shown by deeds of mercy to fellow men and to see need and withhold help is to break the commandments.
Parable Setting and Story
Jesus told this to answer the lawyer's question Who is my neighbor about what to do to inherit eternal life, after the lawyer had rightly answered that the law requires loving God with all heart and soul and strength and mind and loving neighbor as self, and Jesus had said this do and thou shalt live. The answer was given without controversy as a case explaining who is a neighbor, outlining the whole duty of man and upholding all the law and the prophets. The story records an incident that had lately taken place and was familiar to and known by many present who heard Christ tell it, presented as parable but as a true event that actually took place.
A man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among thieves who stripped him, wounded him, and left him half dead on that same dangerous road. A priest and a Levite each came that way, came and saw him, looked, and passed by on the other side, the priest giving only a sigh of pity and wishing he had not seen the wounded man. Jesus set forth the Samaritan's conduct as different from theirs and contrary to the lawyer's ideas that forms and ceremonies were all the law required.
A certain Samaritan as he journeyed on the same road came where the wounded man was, and when he saw him he had compassion on him. He did this though Samaritans were despised, hated, cursed and excommunicated by the Jews and made a byword, and though the sufferer was a Jew, and his pity and love showed a heart that could feel for suffering humanity and nobility of soul to show mercy to one whom he knew not. His love was of the right quality, flowing out in disinterested benevolence, treating the wounded stranger as he himself would desire to be treated were he placed in similar circumstances, and proving worth before God is not determined by nation or religious profession but by the spirit shown in compassionate action.
His compassion meant going to him instead of passing by, covering his nakedness with his own clothing, and binding up his wounds pouring in oil and wine carried for his own comfort to heal and refresh him. He stayed in a dangerous place where robbers might return, set him on his own beast and walked slowly and evenly to keep from jarring him and increasing his pain, brought him to a comfortable inn, nursed him through the night with careful watching, and cared for him in the morning until he was improved. On the morrow he paid two pence to the host with charge to take care of him and promise to repay whatever more was spent on his return, making provision for his wants and continued care at his own expense.
He that showed this mercy was neighbor to him that fell among thieves, and Jesus commands Go, and do thou likewise, making the Samaritan's compassion the pattern of loving neighbor as self. That showing of mercy is the mark of being neighbor, in contrast to the priest and Levite who refused the work because they did not want the trouble, though the duty was no more agreeable to the Samaritan than to them. When followed, this brings peace and happiness and joy into the home and the church.
Who Counts as Neighbor
A neighbor is not a title of nation or religious profession but the one who shows mercy and practical care to someone in need. When the Samaritan saw the wounded man he felt compassion and was moved to go to him, approach him, and do the practical work of care that the priest and the Levite had refused. His compassion in contrast to their passing by makes him the neighbor, even across the hostility between Samaritans and Jews.
A neighbor is anyone who needs sympathy and help, without distinction of race, color, class, caste, nationality, boundaries, social rank, or church or faith to which one belongs. The Samaritan's care shows that love of neighbor and obedience to God's law extend to strangers and are shown through merciful action, not merely professions of piety. Our neighbor is the person who most needs charity and help, whatever class or background, and when their needs are learned they are to be relieved as far as possible, with physical necessity and suffering met first to open the way to the heart for spiritual good. Everyone who claims to be a child of God and everyone whose name is upon the church book must represent the mercy, compassion, and tenderness of Christ in this same way with no thought of race, color, or class distinction.
This includes every soul wounded and bruised by the adversary, every one who is the property of God, every stranger in distress, and families and souls lying nearest at hand. The wounded man stands for all the needy and unfortunate brought under notice as subjects of interest, sympathy and charity, no matter who they are, whether their need is physical or spiritual, including a wounded soul straying from Christ. Jesus holds up such a wounded and dying stranger as a neighbor and a brother in suffering whose need should move the heart to pity, and compassion toward him is the law brought into practical life. Belief of the truth takes away selfish, narrow worldliness and makes the world the field of labor, where believers must be laborers together with God in words and actions to see the needy and help lift them up.
Need alone moves compassion without stopping to consider whether the man is pleasant or disagreeable, Jew or Gentile, courteous, agreeable, converted, able to repay, or whether helping risks oneself or whether he would have treated the helper kindly. As soon as the suffering need of a human being wounded, bruised, naked, needy and suffering is seen before him, he has pity, and that need is enough to move him to help. This duty and privilege is to be done quickly, seeing necessities and acting as God's helping hand in relieving suffering humanity, without inquiring whether those in need believe the same doctrines or hold the same religious belief.
The Southern field, Black and white people in ignorance and need, neglected cities like Nashville, New York and California, and the cities of the Southern field left in darkness are the neighbor lying close at hand to be helped. The colored people of the Southern States lie close at hand in ignorance and need since emancipation, like the wounded traveler left without help, and to do only a fingertip or a hundredth part of the work required is to pass by on the other side with indifference and cruel neglect like the priest and Levite. Having compassion means decided, earnest efforts far beyond what has been put forth so far, to warn the indifferent, educate the ignorant, minister to needy souls, help them gain spiritual freedom, and repair the harm done. It requires binding about supposed necessities, staying the hand from selfish outlay that would invest thousands in adding to already large facilities, buildings and presses while the sister enterprise at Nashville lacks foundation and running order, and sending larger gifts of the Lord's money to establish His work in the destitute portion, because leaving those unentered fields in unsightly barrenness is unfaithfulness by those who have had great light.
What Compassion Means and Does
Compassion begins the moment suffering need is seen, for the Samaritan beholds a human being wounded, bruised, naked, needy and suffering lying before him and as soon as he sees him is moved with pity and tender feeling from a kind and loving heart. Unlike the priest and Levite who see yet pass by, he does not withhold response but becomes neighbor by answering need with compassion that gives practical, continuing help including care and provision for expenses. That pity crosses social and religious division, showing tender care to discouraged and oppressed people and proving genuine conversion and harmony with God in spirit and works.
Real love is never mere feeling, weeping, idle curiosity, sighing pity, or wishing not to have seen, but going to the sufferer instead of passing by on the other side. It approaches, stops, gets down from the beast, treats wounds, carries the man, watches carefully over him on the way to an inn, and takes responsibility for his care. By this mercy toward a Jew despite hostility between their peoples, the verse shows that loving neighbor means noticing need and kindly doing what one can give even when inconvenient or costly, fulfilling duty to fellow man and living by the golden rule through a transformed life that shares the divine nature.
It acts at once with gentleness, kindness and disinterested benevolence at personal cost and risk in a dangerous place where robbers may return. It covers nakedness with its own clothing and uses oil and wine carried for its own comfort to heal and refresh wounds, pouring in oil to restore rather than vitriol to dishearten. It lifts the man onto its own animal and walks slowly and evenly to avoid jarring him and increasing pain, brings him to a comfortable inn, nurses him through the night with careful watching, waits until morning improvement, pays money for care and promises to repay any extra cost on return. Such conduct, though no more agreeable than it was to the others and though despised by the self-righteous, shows true conversion and harmony with God, valuing others as God does and seeking the lost from love of the true Shepherd with self-denying, self-sacrificing effort. Refusing sympathy and cooperation except for wages, closing the heart to simple requests, and sending only cast-off clothing while knowing necessities in a poverty-stricken field is passing by on the other side and lacks the bowels of mercy required; keeping the verse means giving money, sympathy, cooperation and direct help to the hardest fields so the poor are helped to help themselves with kind, courteous hearts not blind and deaf and dumb to need.
Such compassionate service has heavenly approval, for angels were beside the Samaritan as he helped and all heaven looked on the scene. Angels and Christ stand and work with those who serve others as the Restorer, accompanying all who minister to others instead of passing by. Our own experience of weakness and of receiving comfort from God should therefore move us to sympathize, help and comfort others who suffer.
Plainly revealed duty to help a neighbor in need when seen must not be evaded through excessive caution, but met with practical compassionate care in contrast to the priest and Levite passing by.
Christ Seen in Samaritan
The Samaritan pictures Jesus himself and his mission, and those who with him do good imitate his example. Unlike the priest and Levite who passed by, he saw the injured man and responded with compassion, illustrating the love for neighbor that the law requires as tender kindness toward people in need. Though despised, he acted as Jesus would have acted and fulfilled the command to love neighbor as self, and is shown more righteous than those who despised him. He represents Christ, who came in humility to serve and bring divine love to humanity, humbling himself from his position in heaven to take humanity and the role of a servant. For humanity's sake he lived in poverty and self-denial and became poor so that others might become rich.
The man robbed and wounded and left to die is humanity deceived, bruised, robbed, ruined and left to perish by Satan. He is the sinner and the lost human race left destitute, helpless and unable to save itself. The lesson therefore allows no sense of superiority, contempt or indifference toward others, for sinful people can obey God's law as the standard only through the merit and grace of Christ who died for their salvation.
The Samaritan's compassion is Christ's compassion toward the helpless human condition. He left his glory, his heavenly home and royal courts, laid aside royal robe and kingly crown, clothed divinity with humanity that humanity might touch humanity, and stooped from highest command in the heavenly courts to become a servant. He came to the rescue, found people ready to die and dying, undertook their case and took it as his own, and did not pass by. He healed their wounds, carefully dressed them, covered the soul with his robe of righteousness, opened a refuge of safety, and made complete provision for their needs at his own charges, paying expenses and promising to repay further cost. He lived a life of poverty and self-denial so that through his poverty the poor might be made rich, died to redeem them, even to save his enemies, and prayed for his murderers. Looking at his life and Spirit and work gives light by which to view one's own life and work and to see how far short of keeping God's commandments and loving neighbor as self people come. All heaven looked on the Samaritan's care as a picture of this compassion set against the neglect and false reasoning of the priest and Levite who saw the wounded and bruised man by the roadside and passed by on the other side. Their indifference rebukes all who should help first yet show the same indifference, and every church member is to follow the Samaritan example as a laborer together with God in self-denying, self-sacrificing, consecrated service to save souls perishing in sin, accepting inconvenience to meet human need and cheerfully sacrificing for the privilege of following the Master.
God's providence brings sufferers into contact with those who might minister to them, constantly weaving the web of human events and guiding and placing the suffering where one with sympathy and compassion will give attention to needs. Like the compassionate Samaritan, Jesus does not pass by a wounded person in need of sympathy but draws near to those who are bruised and distressed and responds with faithful care. He commended this mercy despite the hostility between Samaritans and Jews, and the lesson helped prepare his disciples to show love to Samaritans and carry the gospel to them.
Law True Religion Eternal Life
The verse holds the second great principle of God's law, on which the last six commandments hang, while supreme love to God shown in the first four bears fruit in impartial love to fellow men shown in the last six, lived out as deeds of mercy, with love to mankind as the fruit of love to God. It was given in answer to the lawyer's question Who is my neighbor, after he had rightly said eternal life comes by loving God with all heart and soul and strength and mind and loving neighbor as self. The story records an incident that had lately taken place in which a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among thieves who stripped him and left him half dead, and a priest and a Levite saw him and passed by on the other side. The Samaritan's compassion when he saw him is true neighborliness, showing mercy in action by going to him and binding up his wounds pouring in oil and wine and setting him on his own beast and bringing him to an inn and taking care of him and paying two pence with promise to repay more. Christ's closing decision that the neighbor was he that showed mercy, with the command Go and do likewise, makes the Samaritan's compassion the pattern of loving neighbor as self, which together with supreme love to God outlines the whole duty of man and upholds all the law and the prophets, bringing peace and happiness and joy into the home and the church when followed. His care for a stranger in spite of hostility between Samaritans and Jews showed genuine conversion and harmony with God, and exposed the failure of self-love to fulfill that law.
Compassion for the needy when seen is a binding term of salvation and condition of inheriting eternal life, to be applied personally and calling for the whole person to be converted. Keeping the commandments about duty to neighbor in seeing, feeling and helping brings eternal life, including exercising sympathy and tenderness for the unfortunate and for motherless children in the home as duty to a neighbor, and God holds people accountable for neglect of it so that neglecting sympathy and tenderness results in loss of eternal life. The wounded man stands for all the needy and unfortunate brought under notice as subjects of interest, sympathy and charity, no matter who they are, and the Samaritan seeing him and having compassion is obedience to the second great commandment to love the neighbor as self. To neglect such cases or withhold pity because sufferers are not kith or kin breaks that commandment, and to offend in one point is to be guilty of all, leaving no assurance of eternal life. Those who will not open their hearts to the wants and sufferings of humanity will not open their hearts to the claims of God in the first four precepts, where idols take the heart and God does not reign supreme.
It does not point to wonderful higher education in sophistries and spiritualistic ideas, but gives the solid foundation for eternal life, a foundation Christ Himself created by giving His own life for the life of the world. To act as the Samaritan acted is to stay wide awake to see how to bless humanity and to work in Christ's lines with constantly improving efficiency, faithfully improving great light and great opportunities lest the judgment condemn the failure to use them. Neglecting to watch for opportunities and discern the necessities of fellow beings is sin in God's sight. True religion is not a matter of systems, creeds, rites, forms and ceremonies or mere profession of piety and loyalty, but is expressed in loving deeds seeking the greatest good of others and genuine goodness. Love to God and people is lived out through what a person does, not merely what he says, making him a doer of the law in spirit and works, though the duty is no more agreeable than it was to the priest and Levite.
The priest's and Levite's indifference, though they read the command to love the stranger, proves disobedience and commandment-breaking. The Samaritan's compassion, rather than his nation or religious profession, made him a neighbor in God's sight, for he did not merely observe religious forms but responded to a person in need with practical care. Outward observance without a heart that feels for suffering and without love is not true obedience. Their neglect in seeing the man but leaving him without help and making excuses for failing to care cannot be reconciled with loving one's neighbor as oneself. Neglecting people in need in contrast to helping the suffering is evil in God's sight.
Compassion for souls stands opposed to intemperance in drink and tobacco and every perverted appetite that enslaves men until they cannot break their bonds in their own strength. It exposes the condition of the world as before the flood and before the destruction of Sodom and as in Belshazzar's sacrilegious feast ending in being weighed in the balances and found wanting, showing the difference between obedience and disobedience to God's law for those who are transgressors of the law. It sets the value of the human soul in the light of the cross of Calvary, warns that each person has souls to save or souls to lose and is deciding eternal destiny, and calls for no more moments to be wasted but to flee to refuge and lay hold on eternal life. Freedom comes only when Christ is made the strength and protector so that consent is no longer given to the arch deceiver who must gain consent before men are compelled to sin. Keeping the verse is the faith that works by love, the natural fruit of the Holy Spirit's influence and Christ living within, overcoming selfishness through a transformed life sharing the divine nature and living by the golden rule.
God's power is shown through such compassion, and the Holy Spirit and angels work with people in ministering to those in need, for a tender, sensitive heart does not avoid responsibility or pass by a helpless person but responds with pity and care. It is the spirit all churches must represent toward those in need, stopping to help the wounded and bruised stranger left to die by the wayside, those who need the power of the divine Healer to cure their wounds, and the lost sheep for whom Satan has set his trap. To pass them by uncared for and unnoticed, as the priest and Levite did, and to go home caring nothing for them, proves lack of the divine nature and shows the attributes of the enemy of God. His compassionate act exemplifies the duty to show human kindness, mercy, and benevolence to those in need even when they belong to a despised group, and Christ approves this example for all to follow. The lesson applies that love to the use of property, for possessions are talents entrusted by God to be used wisely for good and for God's glory and eternal interests with sound judgment, not to gratify passion or become an idol.
Living Out Compassion Today
The wounded traveler by the roadside is the colored race in the South, robbed and beaten and bruised and despised and forsaken and left to perish by the wayside in ignorance and need since emancipation. Those who professed to know God have been as priest and Levite, seeing their wretchedness in slavery and neglect and passing by on the other side, locking up sympathy instead of acting at once to relieve great human necessity. Having compassion now means decided, earnest effort far beyond a fingertip or a hundredth part so far, to uplift and educate and train them through divine wisdom, to feed and shelter and save them in their low estate, to teach them the knowledge of God and present the spiritual freedom purchased at infinite price. It means repairing wrong and laboring for them in person and with means, lifting eyes to unworked fields and going in unitedly to reap with no time to be lost, rather than merely looking and deploring their discouraging appearance while fastening eyes on more promising fields near home. It means not holding the carriage, quibbling, diverting funds, or leaving fields barren, but binding about supposed necessities and staying the hand from selfish outlay that would add thousands to already large facilities, buildings and presses while the destitute Southern field of Black and white people in great ignorance and the unfinished needy work at Nashville lack foundation and running order. Every one with advantage and abundance is brought into collision with that need, and the Lord's money must be sent in larger gifts, not merely a few hundred dollars, to establish His work there, for one institution must help create the other; and when those helped are converted they partake of the divine nature and do Samaritan work in turn, rescuing fellow men and leading those in darkness into light.
The same compassion calls for Samaritan work for people ruined by intemperance and for the fallen, straying, discouraged and oppressed, bringing truth to them where they are, including those neglected by the churches. They are not to be abandoned as hopeless or passed by with the plea that it is lost time to work for so weak a man, for Christ died for that soul even when for the time under a demon's power and not sane through liquor, tobacco and fiery stimulants to the ruin of himself and family. The helper is to come when the man is sober as a friend without blame, speaking hopeful words that encourage faith, strengthening every good trait, arousing the sense that it is not too late to be a man, and helping him rise lest he go over the same ground again. Practical care opens the way, offering food and unstimulating drink and clean clothing where needed, restoring with oil rather than vitriol, seeking the lost with self-denying sacrifice, with Christ the great Physician standing beside the faithful worker to forgive the repentant discouraged soul. One soul thus rescued is a soul saved from Satan's grasp, and thousands might have been saved by such tender sympathy and personal effort to restore those who stumble or stray instead of neglect and harsh blame.
Sanitariums and other institutions are to act as good Samaritans, welcoming sufferers and relieving them with genuine sympathy as representatives of the Great Physician rather than merely performing tasks or speaking a few words. Physicians are to enter homes to relieve sickness and vigorously relieve suffering with practical care, serving generously rather than neglecting patients or charging excessive fees, which is robbery and fraud. A sick and feeble traveler seen on the way should move helpers to make his journey as safe and comfortable as possible even at personal expense and even when the best help costs more, for neglecting him is counted as doing the same to Jesus. Caring for the sick and relieving human suffering in this way is the gospel put into practice, which Christ's followers are to go out and do.
Such compassion loves as Christ loved with pure heavenly unselfish love seeking salvation of souls, in triumph of humanity over prejudice of color and caste. He who is closely connected with Christ is lifted above prejudice, his faith taking hold of eternal realities and working by love to purify the soul and lift the mind into a pure heavenly unselfish atmosphere. When the Holy Spirit is poured out and the loud cry is given, God controls minds so hearts love as Christ loved and the color line is regarded very differently, with talented Black believers laboring together with God for their own people yet sometimes bearing testimony in tent meetings and large assemblies to reach many souls.
In church and home and business, being neighbor means personal ministry according to strength and opportunity that money alone cannot replace, feeling interested for brethren and cultivating and teaching love to neighbor as self in family life. Labor must not be confined to believers but reach unbelievers with acquaintance and compassion, placing truth before those living up to all the light they have and loving with all the heart those for whom God gave His only begotten Son, using the open door set before them to bring precious souls such as those in Melbourne into fellowship. Those blessed with health must have kind regard for the afflicted and crippled and sickly and favor them, pitying and sympathizing even with an afflicted crippled brother who erred in judgment and purchased too largely, lending a helping hand that supplies lack and comforts and cheers and strengthens his heart as one would wish to be done by if crippled, bringing sweet satisfaction and reward, for to leave him unaided or oppress him breaks the lesson and God notices it. It means showing sympathy and tenderness to motherless children and to willing workers and faithful servants in poverty, seeing that a willing worker has chance to earn enough to support his family, searching out unknown causes, relieving debts, opening houses and churches to shelter strangers free of cost, and sustaining schools and needy enterprises by liberal gifts and equal distribution of means rather than enlarging already large facilities.
In general no one is excused from quickly noticing necessity and actively helping as God's helping hand, for the helpless and forsaken need practical care and withholding help while spending on convenience leaves them neglected. Love of neighbor requires practical help without first asking whether sufferers share one's beliefs, for genuine devotion to God leads to concern for fellow beings and true missionary work obeys God's law in this way. Sufferers are to be met where they are, physical necessities supplied first to open the heart for spiritual good and set forth Christ crucified, doing vigorously what one can as far as God provides means, since neglecting to watch for opportunities is sin. God places people where they can care for one in need, and suffering calls away from selfishness to awaken compassion and tenderness and love, while mercy must not be withheld through indifference or neglect but given with wise careful judgment rather than mere impulse, for Jesus holds accountable those who pass by on the other side like priest and Levite.