The Second Great Commandment

By Jerad Allen

Good morning. How's everybody's day been? I can understand the snow. It's been a bit much.

As some of you may know, I go to Bowling Green State University. I'm there as an education major. Right now I'm on Thanksgiving break, so I'm home for now. As an education major, we're being taught how to properly educate our youth.

I'm specifically a middle childhood major. I'll be teaching middle school, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th graders. One important thing that I've learned is to be able to relate the content to the students. I'm a math and social studies major. Math in particular is something kids can find a hard time relating it to their life.

Oftentimes, you'll see students asking, when am I going to use this? Why is this important? When does this apply to me? One thing teachers must do is find ways these students can relate it to real life. One example is when we're going over division and fractions. We can easily relate that to price discounts. If it says 50% off, that's a fraction or one half. You can relate that to students as a fraction and relate math in that way.

What I want to do today is bring up a time, as Christians, we might ask, “How am I to be a Christian?” Today we will be going over Luke 10:25-37. Some of you may know, this is the parable of the Good Samaritan, where Jesus answers the question, What does a Christian look like?

I'll start with verses 25 through 27. “On one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. Teacher, he asked, 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.”

Here, the lawyer is referencing Moses in Deuteronomy chapter six, when he's talking about the Israelites. Moses is talking to the Israelites about God's covenant. Here, specifically, verses five and six are being referenced. These are the Lord's commands. Jesus call them two of the greatest commands. Love him with all your strength, all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Earlier in class, we were talking a lot about brotherly love and what that is and how that shows. It's in the same vein, love your neighbors, love your brothers, and love those around you. What does this look like though? There are plenty of examples in the Bible. Many times Jesus attended to the poor and the weak.

In Mark 12:28-31, it says, one of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating, noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer. He asked of all the commandments, which is the most important? The most important one answered is hear, O Israel, the Lord, your God, love your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. These commandments, as I was researching for this sermon, were repeated many times in the Bible.

One of the ladies here, after my first sermon, told me that to get it through to people you're preaching to is tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what your told them. I believe what she was say was say it once, say it twice to make sure they hear it, and then say it three times to really just make sure they get the point. That's what I think is being done here. These are very important commands so the Lord repeats them, and He repeats them again, and again, and again.

Verses 28 an 29, says, you have answered correctly, Jesus replied. Do this and you will live. But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, who is my neighbor?

The lawyer is testing Jesus here. He is questioning Him. He is, I don't want to say interrogating, but he is pressing onward. He is trying to test Jesus' knowledge. I just kind of have to ask, how arrogant must you be? The Jews had been prophesying about a savior for their entire existence. Now that savior is here in front of you, and you have the gall to test him? The gall to test his knowledge? To test what he knows?

I also think that the lawyer knows who his neighbor is. He knows exactly what Jesus means when he says, your neighbor. He just wants to believe it is the people he thinks it should be, the people he wants it to be, but not the people he knows it is—the people he knows he should treat neighborly. Here he is really asking, who must I treat neighborly?

In Romans 12:20, we are told, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will keep burning coals on his head.

Feed your enemy. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. I would say this is acting pretty neighborly, right? If you're to act neighborly to your enemy, to someone you despise, to someone who has harmed you, to someone who seeks ill will upon you, who else do you think you should act neighborly towards? Your brother? Your actual neighbor who lives right across from you? Maybe the random kid on the street who is outside all the time, but doesn't necessarily have friends? I ask you, if you are to treat your enemy neighborly, shouldn't you treat everyone around you neighborly? Any man, woman, child you come across?

Let’s move on to Luke 10:30-32. “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. When he saw the man, he passed on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed on the other side.”

Notice who passed him here, a priest and a Levite. A priest is meant to lead his people spiritually. This is a spiritual leader. This is an important man, and a Levite, from what I saw, is a man to aid the priest. These are important figures in the temple. These are important figures in the Jewish faith, and they pass over the man. Of course, they were probably not without reason. They may have assumed that it was a trap. Maybe he was trying to lure people closer to him so he could in turn rob them. They may have thought it was a lie. That’s not a bad assumption, but as spiritual leaders, as people who are meant to be the example their followers look to, I think they should have done better.

As the lawyer earlier mentioned, you must love your neighbor as yourself. As we looked at earlier, even your enemy is your neighbor. The men here did not act neighborly; they didn't even have the decency to ask if the man was okay. Notice how they didn't just pass by. They didn't say a word to him. They saw him, looked away, and went on their merry way. They didn't have to get close to him to simply ask a question, but no, they didn't ask.

In 1 John 4:20, it says, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen.”

Christ is calling the priests and the Levites specifically out here. I think this is a specific example for the culture and the people of the time. They were not only not being neighborly, but for not loving God. If they did love God, as the commandments state, they would also love their neighbor, right? Those are the two greatest commandments.

Love God, love your neighbor. If you truly loved your brother or your neighbor, then you would help them in their time of need. You would ask them, are you okay? You would help them in their time of need. You would aid them. Here though, they just passed by, and did nothing. Religious leader, important people in the temple did not help. They did not do a thing.

Moving on with our text, “But a Samaritan, as he traveled, 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 two denarius 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.”

This Samaritan showed kindness, showed brotherly love. It is interesting that Jesus used a Samaritan in particular as the man who was showing love, who was showing kindness. Samaritans were not looked on kindly. The looked down on them. They were a racially mixed people and were looked on as a lesser class by society as a whole at the time.

Jesus uses one here to emphasize, not only should everyone act neighborly, but everyone should be given neighborly acts as well. If a Samaritan man is showing kindness to a man he has never met, to a man he knows nothing about, and then so should the Jews of the time as well. So should everyone else. No one is exempt from this. It seems like Christ likes using Samaritans in the Bible. The woman at the well is another good example of Him doing the same thing.

She was a Samaritan woman and he had a lengthy conversation with her in John 4. It makes sense though. Since they were looked down upon, since they were seen as a lesser people, Christ would use them to show everybody can be saved, that everybody needs to act this way to gain this thing and that this is available to everyone who does this. It is a gift anyone can accept. I believe that's why he uses a Samaritan man here.

In Galatians 3:13-14, it says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”

Christ's gift is for everyone. He is the fulfillment of the Jewish law. It is for everyone, not just the Jews of the time, not just for a select few. It is for all of us, so we should act in accordance. We should act neighborly to all.

Back to our text verses 36-37, “which of these three do you think was neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? The expert in this law said the one who had mercy on him. Jesus said go and do likewise.”

I want to point out something else before I get into anything. Notice what the lawyer said. Did he mention the Samaritan? Did he say Samaritan? He didn't. He said the one who had mercy. He actively went out of his way to not mention the man's race, to not mention his class, to not mention who he was. Instead, he said the one who had shown mercy. Notice, again, the arrogance this lawyer shows.

Jesus just went through this whole parable explaining to the lawyer how he should act and how it should be applied to everyone. It seems he can't even let his own prejudice towards those people, towards Samaritans, let him acknowledge the Samaritan that was used as an example. The man that acted neighborly when his own priests, when his own Levites, people he would see as worthy, didn't. Think about that how this lawyer in particular, shows just how arrogant he was.

I asked you when you go into the world do not be like the priest or the Levite. Be like the Samaritan and be a neighbor to all. Feed the hungry and take care of the sick. For if we love God then we must love our neighbors as well. If we love our neighbors, then we show our love for God as well.

Mark 12:30-31 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”
Christ loved us more than we could ever imagine. It is our job as Christians to replicate that love and follow in his footsteps, to do as he did. His life was an example on how we are supposed to act. He has told us that those two commandments, those two simple commands, that is the key to following a good and Christian life. That is how He walked. Those commandments led His every decision.

Most important to me is to love your Lord. Love our God, because if you truly love the Lord, then the love for the neighbors will come naturally. Those works, those kind acts will follow.

If you truly love the Lord, then you will obey His commandments and be baptized for the remission of your sins. If you love the Lord, why wait? Death is in any corner. At any point, robbers could jump out of nowhere and stab you, and you might not be as lucky as the man in the story who was able to survive and received help. You may be left with nothing. Death can come whenever, wherever, at any point.

Why wait? There is no way but His way. As I leave to you today, I asked you if you have not been baptized, please come. Thank you.