THE NEIGHBOUR
The “certain man” the Lord speaks of was on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. You will remember that Martha and Mary lived in Bethany, which was close to Jerusalem. I suggest that this “certain man” passed Bethany on his way down towards Jericho. If a soul is on a downward journey, he or she will find that there have been several pointers, things that touch the conscience, on their journey – things that were available to them that they should have paid attention to, and had they done so they would have stopped. But in this case the man pursued his downward path. We were all once on a downward path. But the Samaritan here was going in the other direction.
Christ has come to meet you and me when we were in sin. He never takes a downward path in the sense we have it here. He is without sin. What a Saviour! He had to be sinless to be your Saviour. The Samaritan represents the Lord. He came up to the wounded man. It says of the man that he fell into the hands of robbers, he got into difficulties. He is robbed of whatever he had. I doubt if he had much, but whatever he had was taken and they inflicted wounds. A certain priest was going down that way – the same way, a downward way. That speaks of the organised religious body going the same way, down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jerusalem in this context represents God’s thoughts about a city, while Jericho represents the world’s system in a city; speaking simply, in Jericho we see all that is opposed to what is right.
The priest happened to go down that way, “and seeing him, passed on on the opposite side”. Then, “and in like manner also a Levite, being at the spot”. The Levite must have come in the same way as the priest, from Jerusalem on the downward way, and “being at the spot” did not offer any help either. I doubt if the priest or the Levite had anything to be robbed of. The man had something to be robbed of. These robbers inflicted wounds, and he was robbed of what he had.
But the Samaritan had the beast – there was provision to carry the injured man. The Samaritan represents the Lord. What a Saviour! Into your journey here, into your circumstances, He comes with everything that is needed. He brought everything: when He came from glory, He brought everything required for life. Jesus was a dependent man, dependent for everything on His God and Father. He derived nothing from the world, and He contributed nothing to its system in its moral condition, except as an example and a testimony to perfection in the eye of God. He came with everything. Wherever you are in your soul, whatever your need, He is available to you now: He is available to any one of us. Whoever you are, He has the provision to meet your need.
As I said, the Samaritan has “his own beast”. This wounded man could not have got back on his own; you cannot get back to safety yourself. This man was so wounded that he could not have made that journey. The Samaritan put the injured man on his own beast and took him to the inn. I suggest that it shows – I am free to apply the scripture – that to bring in full salvation, the three divine Persons are involved. The innkeeper suggests the actions of the Holy Spirit. He is available to care for believers. Then the Samaritan says, ‘I will bear the cost of it’: think of the Lord Jesus saying that. By paying the full redemption price, He has provided the repenting sinner with a cleansed heart and conscience. He bore the cost of that, and so the blessed Spirit has liberty to take up residence in a believer. It is important in Christianity to know the forgiveness of sins and clearance of our guilt so that our link with God is established on His terms, and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You cannot be in the assembly without that gift.
I read on in the passage as to Bethany itself, and Mary and Martha who lived there. The Lord came there: He was really the neighbour there. This passage is not the same as in other gospels. There are far more references to the neighbour in Luke than by any other gospel writer. The Lord told the lawyer, who must have been puzzled about the neighbour, “Go, and do thou likewise”. Effectively the Lord said, ‘The Samaritan was the neighbour. Go and be like him. You be the neighbour’. The innkeeper was the neighbour too, and at Bethany there were the neighbours. In Luke 15 the neighbours rejoiced at the recovery of the sheep. Neighbours come into Luke’s gospel. They love the results of the glad tidings. Does it not cheer your heart when you hear someone has confessed the Lord for the first time? I love it. I remember what flooded my own soul when I came to the Lord. I was alone, but I knew that I had got everything in my heart, and it is as simple, and also sober, as that. To get blessing you must come under the care of the Samaritan; you surrender to Christ.
We like to try and justify ourselves, but that does not work and it never will work. The “certain man” was so damaged by the world that he was left there, as it were, to die – left to die. The Samaritan, coming up, pours in oil and wine. What provision he made, just what was needed. And then the Samaritan put him on his own beast and took him to the inn. It appears that the Samaritan, the Lord in this parable, cared for the wounded man on the first night in the inn. Perhaps that was a difficult night; but the Lord is very close to you. You will find that, having received the glad tidings and enjoying salvation, you come into responsibilities. You will find that something comes up that tests your genuineness. I think that is part of God’s ways. But the Samaritan was there the first night, and cared for him. The next day the Samaritan provides the innkeeper with the needed resources; the Holy Spirit is freighted with all the resources needed to care. What a blessed Person the Spirit of God is.
Where was the Spirit of God in Jerusalem? It does not say anything about that. The Spirit of God is now in the assembly, amongst the people of God, and He helps in the care for souls. There is a place where souls are cared for, where young ones are brought up so that they become contributors in the local assembly. When we get to the house in Bethany, the Lord settles and speaks there. Martha thought that Mary was leaving her with all the work to do. Martha was not very neighbourly in what she says. If Mary was listening to the Lord’s word, that was better than anything we can do ourselves. We might become very busy doing things, and we should stop and say, ‘I have to listen to the words of the Samaritan’. Think of what pours out of His heart; Mary would listen to every word that was coming from Him, the whole thoughts of God. I do not doubt that He poured in extraordinary matters into her heart. It would be so assuring for Mary; the Lord Jesus is so assuring, and He poured in words of comfort and healing.
That is Christianity; Christianity is real. It is not a building: some people try to make a church, try to get some recognition publicly. Real Christianity is not that. It depends on the presence of the Holy Spirit; you will find a neighbourly spirit amongst believers who have the Holy Spirit. They are neighbourly, they are ready to come in to help, and to supply all that is necessary. That is part of the glad tidings, and it is good to be assured of it. It is important to know where we are, and why we are there. The Samaritan took the “certain man” to a place where his wounds were bound up. If these wounds had been left unbound, he would see all the damage that had taken place, but that is not how the Samaritan leaves you. He bound up the wounds, pouring in oil and wine. How soothing were the actions of this Samaritan.
Think of when the Lord washed the feet of His disciples: how soothing it would be (see John 13:4,5). It was very soothing, and all traces of the earthliness that we can so easily be affected by were cleansed away. Then you are ready to move with Christ; it is why He washes your feet. The Lord says in that chapter, “Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me” (v.8). In other words, if you do not accept the washing, you cannot move with Christ, and you are going to lose out. To be clear, you will not lose your salvation: once you have soul salvation it remains for ever. But to have part with Him, you need your feet washed so that you can move in a pure way with the Lord Jesus. There is no one like Him.
He took our place, the sinner’s place, at Calvary; He suffered for us. What a Saviour! He suffered for what He did not do, but He suffered for what I did. Yet He wants our company; the Lord Himself wants our company. He says, in principle, ‘I will wash your feet so that you can move with me’. Is that not wonderful? The first thing is that you are washed all over (v.10). Washed all over is what Christ did in His once and for all work on the cross. But then there is the constant service of Christ to His own, washing our feet so that we can have part with Him, part in the holy things of God. The believer whose feet are washed can move with Christ in the testimony, and in the service of God. That service of the Lord, and these privileges, are available to believers. I think it is very beautiful.
When this “certain man” left Jerusalem, his goal was Jericho. But I think that when he eventually left the inn, he could find a place in Bethany, amongst neighbours. The brethren love you. Saul of Tarsus was the very worst type of person, and he was seizing believers, men and women, and taking them to prison to be beaten; no doubt some lost their lives. He was bringing captive believers to Jerusalem to suffer. But the Lord spoke to him on the road to Damascus and brought him down. Did the Lord use a stick? Did He use force? Did He use evil men to bring in conviction, as in a sense happened to the “certain man”? No, the Lord appeared to Paul in a light out of heaven, above the brightness of the sun at mid-day (see Acts 26:12,13). The Lord Jesus brought Saul of Tarsus down. Saul says, “Who art thou, Lord?”, Acts 9:5. And the reply was, “I am Jesus”. That filled Saul’s heart. He never forgot it; he kept speaking about it. Afterwards he was not ashamed to speak about his history, because he had arrived at a judgment of it; it was closed and finished. That is what atonement means: the whole matter is covered, covered from the eye of God. Christ has made atonement for sin and, dear friend, God does not look on your history now; it is gone. But in wonderful grace, to keep us lowly, we remember what we have been. All of us should be able to say with all sincerity, ‘I needed mercy, and I received it’. I love that; we received mercy (see Heb.4:16).
Is there anyone here who is downhearted? Is there anyone who does not have the assurance of having received mercy? It is available to you. It is wonderful to be in a company where there are radiant faces, and you know these people have gone through the experience of finding mercy themselves. And the Lord is the One through whom we have found mercy. I think the Samaritan would be loved more and more by this man who had been on the way to Jericho. Luke was a great lover of Christ; he was true to Him. He was also a companion of Paul: “Luke alone is with me”, 2 Tim.4:11. Luke was a neighbour to Paul when Paul needed him; he went right through, a faithful Gentile. Luke loved good company, and found it. Paul found a true companion in Luke: “Luke alone is with me”. When some had left him, and forsaken the work, Luke stood with Paul. I think that is why Luke writes about neighbours. He valued relationships into which he was brought through divine grace. That is what divine grace is – we are not forced into it. But I tell you, there is nothing worth having outside of it. In the company of those that the Lord has cleansed, those who seek to help you as they have been helped by the Lord, you will find safety and help. A fellow-believer can draw near to you and give some sense of what that Samaritan was like. The spirit of the Samaritan, of Christ, is reflected in the spirit of Luke and many others. There is provision made among such people where the repenting sinner can find their place.
Think of Ananias at Damascus. His name was probably on Saul’s list to be detained. Yet Ananias says, “Saul, brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus that appeared to thee in the way in which thou camest, that thou mightest see”, Acts 9:17. Saul knew right away that this man Ananias was a true neighbour. In one of the accounts, Paul says, “And I, in the same hour, received my sight and saw him”, Acts 22:13. Is that not beautiful? He saw a real neighbour. Oh, that more would come in to enjoy these blessings, to experience the spirit of the neighbour; may we do all that we can to attract souls into that atmosphere, to attract souls back.
Luke is very gracious, and he loves the neighbourly spirit. Such persons are fully with God in what He is doing. You see that in Luke 15, where the neighbours are fully with God in what He does, as to the sheep and to the coin that were both lost. The friendly spirit is valuable and needed where a soul has been damaged by the world. All of us have been damaged in some way, but the gospel meets it all. The Lord Jesus is such a Saviour: He meets every need and difficulty.
May the Lord bless the word.
Preaching of the Gospel, Grimsby
15 June 2025
Norman Henry