THE GOOD SAMARITAN
[p. 490] THE GOOD SAMARITAN
This parable presents to us the Lord Jesus Christ as man’s neighbour. If we think of Him now, our thoughts direct themselves to the place that He has taken in heaven, and it will perhaps often appear to us as if He is at a great distance from us, but although He is for the moment hidden in heaven nevertheless He stands in a certain relation to every man on the earth.
The parable points equally to the going away as also to the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is important to understand that He also has to do with men in the meantime. He is the Head of every man, and although men may little concern themselves about Him now, since according to appearance He is at such a distance from them, nevertheless this fact is not altered. Not only does Christ stand in relation to every man, not only has He a word to direct to every one, but He is also the test for all. A man may be an outspoken unbeliever, but he cannot alter the fact that Christ remains a test for his conscience. Our parable sets forth Christ as man’s neighbour, but from His answer to the lawyer we see at the same time that He is the real test for men.
The Lord has in grace become man’s neighbour. He is the neighbour of the one who needs Him; and who, may I ask, does not need a neighbour? But apart from that He has a right to everyone, for He has given Himself as a ransom for all and therefore everyone should turn to Him. Many men turn their back on Christ, but He does not cease to be on that account the test for them (Matthew 22: 42).
When we carefully consider this chapter, we see in a certain sense one world disappear whilst another, and that indeed a new one, appears. It is important for us believers to distinguish between these two worlds. The [p. 491] world, as it is, is the scene of the glory of men and of the activity of Satan, but this system which man at a distance from God has built up must sooner or later make room for that world which stands in connection with Christ. The apostle had this new world before him when he says in Hebrews 2 “For he has not subjected to angels the habitable world which is to come, of which we speak”. And again “Thou has subjected all things under his feet”.
In verse 13 the Lord pronounces a “Woe to thee” over Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, cities in which most of His works of power had taken place. Then He says in verse 18, “I beheld Satan as lightning falling out of heaven”. This has not all taken place actually, but I refer to the passages to show how we see here in a certain sense the one world disappear. Judgment has not yet come in and Satan has yet his place in heaven, but the moment of the overthrow of Satan was already present in the thoughts of the Lord.
The activity of Satan comes into evidence throughout the world. The believer knows that idolatry, superstition, infidelity and all other evil influences to which men fall a prey are the sorrowful fruits of his activity. These are the serpents and scorpions of which the Lord speaks here, poisoning influences which work in a deadening way on the minds of men so that they become quite blunted and unimpressionable in relation to God. But the present evil age will come to an end after Satan has been cast out of heaven. (Revelation 12: 8, 9). The Lord pictured this moment to Himself when He said, “I beheld Satan as lightning falling out of heaven”.
With the end of the present age, that will also disappear of which the priest and the levite are representatives in our passage, namely worldly religion, the basis of which is officialdom. Grace, which is presented to us in the good Samaritan, needs no office, and office without grace is an absurdity. Those who occupy a religious office without having experienced the grace of God affecting [p. 492] their hearts are blind leaders of the blind (Matthew 15: 14). They belong to the present age, but have no place in the world to come. The priest and the levite went by on the opposite side; that is to say, they disappear off the horizon. All these things which play such an important part in the present age must be looked at in the light of the coming age or the world to come, and not till then will they find their right value in our eyes. Abraham learned to judge the things of this world in this way and was a pilgrim and stranger below, and so also David and many others looked on to the world to come.
This world to come, or the coming age, is as we have seen subjected under the feet of the Son of man. We find an indication of this already in our chapter. The Lord says “All things have been delivered to me by my Father”. When we think of Christ, we should also think of a world which stands in connection with Him, indeed which is subjected to Him. We as believers do not view things as men of this world view them. It is clear to us that the present course of things must make way for the coming age, and so we see now already in principle in the Spirit the one world disappear whilst the other comes into view. The Lord has broken the power of Satan and the moment is approaching when he will actually be cast out of heaven. All this was before the eyes of the Lord when He uttered the words of our chapter.
“All things have been delivered to me by my Father”. Let us consider the words “all things”. They do not refer to the world as it is; for we read, “Because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father”. Kingdoms, too, and the other things after which man strives are not included in the “all things” that are given to the Son by the Father. The Lord says in another passage “All things that the Father has are mine”. He is the centre of all that belongs to the world of the Father.
[p. 493] In addition, the Father Himself is now revealed, “No one knows ... who the Father is but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is pleased to reveal him”. God in love, that is to say as Father, has now been revealed by the Son, and Jesus is the Son of His love, so that in a certain sense we find the kingdom here (compare Colossians 1: 13). That will be characterised by the fact that it is the kingdom of the Son of His love. From this we see how the kingdom, the coming age or the world to come, comes to the fore.
In the further course of the chapter, we find that the One to whom the Father has given all things has become man’s neighbour. The Samaritan in the parable was the neighbour of the Jew who had fallen among robbers, but Christ in heaven is the real neighbour of man. The word signifies the relationship in which He stands to every man, although He is now hidden in heaven. We read that the Jews had no intercourse with the Samaritans, so that the one who had fallen among robbers could make no claim on the service of the Samaritan, and also man has no title to Christ, but it has pleased Him to take this place in relation to man and indeed not only now but also in the coming age. Christ will there stand in the same relationship to man upon the earth.
The character of the neighbour consists in the fact that he exercises mercy. Man has claim to nothing; it is just that Christ acts in mercy because He has become man’s neighbour. It is an exceedingly blessed thought that the One who in Himself forms the centre of the world to come is the Sun of righteousness and also the merciful One. Man is entirely dependent upon mercy, for he has got away from God, fallen among robbers, is paralysed, come under the power of the law through sin and cannot help himself. But Christ has come upon the scene in order to bring mercy to man. In the coming age each will be debtor to Christ because of the mercy which He has exercised towards him. He will put this imprint upon each one, and everywhere the sense of [p. 494] mercy will come to light. Mercy is often mentioned in the epistles, for instance the apostle prays, “The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus”. Again he says of Epaphroditus, “But God had mercy on him”. Similarly in the epistle of Jude we read, “Awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”. So it will be in the coming age that men will be true neighbours under Him and each will exhibit the quality of mercy; (see Psalm 112: 4, 5). The Jews came under judgment because they opposed the mercy which was proffered to the nations but now they have become the objects of the same mercy.
Now the moment nears when Christ will take into His hands actually all that has been given to Him by the Father, and it is our privilege to find ourselves in the light of that moment and to exhibit the quality of mercy.
Let us consider now the way which mercy takes and pursues. We read of the good Samaritan that he came up to the man and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine. The way in which Christ as neighbour deals with men is wonderful. His thought is to make man entirely whole. Man is sick from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, but the work of Christ is to bind up his wounds and to make his soul and conscience quite sound, as also Peter said of the lame man, “And, by faith in his name, his name has made this man strong whom ye behold and know; and the faith which is by him has given him this complete soundness in the presence of you all” (Acts 3: 16). The name of the One who is now in heaven gave the man complete soundness. The jailor at Philippi was in the same way badly wounded (Acts 16), but Christ gave him also complete soundness. Oil and wine were poured into his wounds and he learnt the Lord Jesus as the neighbour who had shown mercy to him.
Then the neighbour sets the man upon his own beast. If healing has come to us, it is a question then of the way which we have to go according to the will of God. None [p. 495] of us can walk in his own strength in the path of the will of God. Afterwards, as before, we find ourselves entirely cast upon Christ, and only in His strength can we tread this way. But He does not only capacitate us to continue in the path of the will of God, but He cares for us as we see in verse 35. He is still our neighbour, to care for us, and He always lives to make intercession for us.
In the physical world, the sun is the great motivating power, and in the world to come every stimulus will go out from the Sun of righteousness, from Him who has become man’s neighbour. The word describes His attitude towards all men in the present time. He is man’s neighbour, and to those who turn to Him He gives living water. To this end He has been made sin and has taken upon Himself on the cross all that lay upon man as the judgment of God.
Now do we all know Jesus as neighbour, as the One who has shown mercy to us? Are our wounds bound up? Do we know what it is to have a perfect conscience before God? and are we conscious of being borne by Christ on the path of the will of God? We who believe look forward to the moment when Christ will actually take over all that which has been given to Him by the Father, but now already we walk in the light of that which God has brought to pass in Him. Christ is the neighbour of all those who suffer need, and to me and to you He says “Go and do thou likewise”.