How to be a Good Samaritan

5 Ways Christians Can Apply the Parable

of the Good Samaritan Today

https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/bible-parable-of-the-good-samaritan.html

by Meg Bucher, Writer and Author

January 22, 2020

“‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’” Luke 10:36-37

It’s easy to assume no one in modern society would pass by someone ailing on the side of the road. But we can all recall a time when we witnessed someone pulled off to the side of the freeway … alone. We so often don’t pull over to help. Sometimes, out of a healthy fear of very real and opportunistic evil in the world. Other times, we choose not to put ourselves in danger on account of another accord. Further still, we are all consumed by the amount of time we have in each of our days. The story of the Good Samaritan reminds us to take time to notice, and inconvenience ourselves to stop and sacrifice our precious minutes and resources to love our neighbor the way we’re called to as Christians. God has purposed us to love one another. Let's take a look at the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Who Is the Good Samaritan in the Bible? And What

Happens in the Parable of the Good Samaritan?

"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 out two denarii 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.’” Luke 10:33-35

The Good Samaritan is a character in one of Jesus’ New Testament Parables. When questioned by a Jewish lawyer who he should consider a neighbor, Jesus picked a Samaritan to be the heroine of the story. This is significant because Jews hated Samaritans. The NIVSB confirms, “Jews viewed Samaritans as half-breeds, both physically and spiritually. Samaritans and Jews practiced open hostility, but Jesus asserted that love knows no national boundaries.”

As Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, he said, “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” (John 4:22) The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible says “Samaritans believed in the one God of Israel and claimed to be true heirs of his promises …(they) rejected the history of Israel after Joshua, and changed the Ten Commandments to include the requirement to worship on Mount Gerizim …” which the Judeans (Jewish) destroyed. The Samaritans believed in God but didn’t fully understand and know Him. Jesus rebuked them for what they got wrong, but all the more powerful when we consider the love the Samaritan man showed versus that of the priest and Levite who fully understood God and could call themselves God’s chosen people.

Why Did Jesus Tell the Parable of

the Good Samaritan?

“On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher’, he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” Luke 10:25

Jesus taught in parables and communicated in a way they understood. People like the lawyer questioning Jesus were akin to answering inclinations with questions. Thus, Jesus replied to his inquiry with, “‘What is written in the Law?’ he replied. ‘How do you read it?’ Luke 10:26 His concern was for their souls, not in arrogantly winning an argument He already held the heavenly victory too. His compassion for those who questioned Him is possibly one of His most remarkable characteristics. He had the patience to honor their curiosity, even when deviously tried to trap or trick Him. “And who is my neighbor?” Luke 10:29

The priest and the Levite passed by the suffering man on the other side. Significant, because Jesus illustrated living a legalistic life and following religious rules is nothing if we purposefully pass by a hurting soul. Love is leveling. Anyone can choose to help someone. Jesus shattered their perception of class and division by illustrating that love is love. We aren’t called only to love other Christians or others like us. We are called to love … period.

How Can Christians Apply the Parable

of the Good Samaritan Today?

Here are 5 ways Christians can use the parable of the Good Samaritan for inspiration today.

1. Be Noticers

“We live in a fast-paced world where it is easy to overlook the needs of others,” wrote Courtney Whiting, "But if we learn from this parable, we will be careful to be aware of those who are around us.” We can take notice of the people God places in our lives, both those who encourage and help us and those who need our help and encouragement. “The neighbor we’re called to love is often not the one we choose but one God chooses for us,” writes Jon Bloom “In fact, this neighbor is often not one we would have chosen had not God done the choosing.” Scripture says the man on the side of the road appeared dead, a condition that would make a religious authority ritually unclean (Leviticus 21:1-3). The priest in the parable let his holiness hold him back from helping. “He didn’t want to be stained by the stuff of life,” writes Pastor Rick Warren, “When we live a lifestyle of avoidance, we try to keep all our relationships superficial. If we can keep everyone at arm’s length, we can pretend we don’t see their pain and their needs. If we don’t get involved, we can avoid getting hurt or inconvenienced.” 

2. Prayerfully Prepare for these Moments

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you-‘ when you already have it with you.” Proverbs 3:27-28

A disciplined life of prayer will allow to see people from God’s perspective and fight any fear holding us back from taking immediate action. “Pray for people,” wrote Anne Dahlhauser in “10 Ways to Love Your Neighbor," “Ask God for love for your neighbors.” When we pray for eyes open to see people in need, God is faithful to reveal them. When we do take notice of someone in need, it’s not just our action that needs to be immediate in aid, but our prayer. It's only humanly possible to help someone to a certain extent, so we need to cut God into the moment through prayer. Vaneetha Rendal Riser reflects in her article, “How to Pray When Life Falls Apart,” “I need to remember his limitless power when my situation looks insurmountable.”

3. Don’t Hesitate

“In Christ we are given a right standing before God (justification), and we are propelled in love for God and others by the new power of his Spirit in us (sanctification),” writes Jonathan Parnell, "This affects the way we see those around us.” Instead of weighing our options and wondering if we have time to stop and help, trust God to stretch minutes when we are convicted to help. The Samaritan man wasn’t prepared with a medical kit in case he crossed paths with someone who needed bandaging. He gave of what he had, choosing to invest in the struggling stranger. “We may quote scripture and recite platitudes on love and God, but unless we are willing to get involved in the lives of others, we are only blowing smoke,” wrote Joe Plemon, “But he [the Good Samaritan] didn’t. As the scriptures say, he had compassion …and he acted on it.” Given the man was robbed, the Samaritan probably put himself in danger of meeting the same fate. “Love is something you do,” writes Pastor Rick Warren, “Love doesn’t just say, ‘I’m sorry for this guy. Isn’t it a shame? Isn’t that too bad?’ Love seizes the moment.”

4. Reflection and Gratitude

Resist the cultural urge to frame those struggling as soft or weak. Suffering from the consequence of their own decisions doesn’t afford us a license to love them any less. We’ve all made bad decisions, suffered through our own consequences, or been hurt at the hands of another. Let gratitude for the people God had in place to pull us through fuel our love for them now. Remembering keeps us humble, reminds us to be grateful, and spurs us to pass it on. Instead of convincing ourselves we don’t have the time or the means to help, focus prayerfully on allowing God to show us how He wants us to love those suffering around us. John Bloom wrote, “if our restlessness is due to the disillusionment of having to deal with difficult, different people and defective programs, then perhaps the change we need is not in the church community but in our willingness to love our neighbors, the ones God has given us to love.”

5. Generosity

“It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.” Proverbs 14:21

Christians are called to live generous lives, both in meeting the physical needs of others and in our outpouring of compassion for our neighbors. The Samaritan man gave what he had. We are all too often led by a cynical mindset of short supply. However, God promises the more we share the more we have. Proverbs 14:31 says, “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” Benching worry to care for others first models trust in God. He asks us to love our neighbor as ourselves and is the great Provider we can trust in to make it happen. Proverbs 28:27 assures us, “Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.” The goal is not to get something in return for helping one another, but trusting God enough to let go of what we have in order to do so, being a good steward of what He’s provided us with.

10 Bible Verses About Loving Our Neighbors

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the enters of the others.” Philippians 2:3-4

“Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.” 1 Peter 3:8

“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.” Ephesians 4:25

“Do not say to your neighbor, ‘Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you’- when you already have it with you. Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you.” Proverbs 3:28-29

“Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.” Romans 15:2

“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:31

“honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 19:19

“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12

“Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

A Prayer to Love Others

Jesus, Not only did you come down to earth and live among us, but you choose to communicate on a level we can understand. Thank you for parables and stories we can apply to our daily lives, in order to understand a mere fraction of Your glory. We are humbled by your forgiveness and grace for the times we do indeed walk clear around those who need help. Convict us to stay alert, in prayer, and ready to love those You place in our paths. 

In Your Name, Amen.

Further Reading

The Good Samaritan - Bible Story

The Parable of the Good Samaritan’s Deeper Meaning

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons, Jan Wijnants [Public domain]

Meg, freelance writer and blogger at Sunny&80, is the author of “Friends with Everyone, Friendship within the Love of Christ,” and “Surface, Unlocking the Gift of Sensitivity,” She writes about everyday life within the love of Christ. Meg earned a Marketing/PR degree from Ashland University but stepped out of the business world to stay at home and raise her two daughters, which led her to pursue her passion to write. She has led a Bible Study for Women and serves as a Youth Ministry leader in her community. Meg, a Cleveland native and lifelong Browns fan, lives by the shore of Lake Erie in Northern Ohio with her husband, two daughters, and golden doodle.

Four Teachings of Jesus That Everybody Gets Wrong

The Parables of Jesus by James Christenson

4 teachings from Jesus that everybody gets wrong
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2014/09/21/four-teachings-from-jesus-that-everybody-gets-wrong/?sr=fb092114jesusteachings7pstorylink

by Amy-Jill Levine, special to CNN

September 21, 2014

(CNN) – It was once said, “religion is designed to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.”

Jesus’ parables – short stories with moral lessons – were likewise designed to afflict, to draw us in but leave us uncomfortable.

These teachings can be read as being about divine love and salvation, sure. But, their first listeners – first century Jews in Galilee and Judea – heard much more challenging messages.

Only when we hear the parables as Jesus’ own audience did can we fully experience their power and find ourselves surprised and challenged today.

Here are four examples of Jesus’ teachings that everybody gets wrong:

Return of the Prodigal Son to the Father

1. The 'Parable of the Prodigal Son'

This parable is usually seen as a story of how our “Father in heaven” loves us regardless of how despicable our actions. This is a lovely message, and I would not want to dismiss it.

It is not, however, what first-century Jews would have heard. Jesus’ Jewish audience already knew that their “Father in heaven” was loving, forgiving, and compassionate.

It is Luke who sets up a message of repenting and forgiving. Luke prefaces our parable with two shorter ones: the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin.

The evangelist concludes them with, “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

But is this really what the parables are about? Jesus was not talking about ovine sin or coinage cupidity; sheep don’t feel guilty and coins don’t repent.

Moreover, the man loses the sheep; the woman loses her coin. But God does not “lose us.”

The first two parables are not about repenting and forgiving. They are about counting: The shepherd noticed one sheep missing out of 100, and the woman noticed one coin missing from 10.

And they searched, found, rejoiced, and celebrated. In doing so, they set up the third parable. The Prodigal Son story begins: “There was a man who had two sons … ”

If we focus on the one prodigal son, we mishear the opening. Every biblically literate Jew would know that if there are two sons, go with the younger: Abel over Cain, Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Ephraim over Manasseh.

But parables never go the way we want. We cannot identify with junior, who “squandered all he had in dissolute living.”

Next, if we see the father as surprising when he welcomes junior home, we mishear again. Dad is simply delighted that junior has returned: He rejoices and throws a party. If we stop here, we’ve failed to count.

The older brother – remember him? – hears music and dancing. Dad had enough time to hire the band and the caterer, but he never searched for his older son. He had two sons, and he didn’t count.

Our parable is less about forgiving and more about counting, and making sure everyone counts. Whom have we lost? If we don’t count, it may be too late.

The 'Good Samaritan' by David Teniers the younger after Francesco Bassano.

2. The 'Parable of the Good Samaritan'

Our usual understanding of this famous story goes astray in several ways. Here are two.

First, readers presume that a priest and Levite bypass the wounded man because they are attempting to avoid becoming “unclean.” Nonsense.

All this interpretation does is make Jewish Law look bad. The priest is not going up to Jerusalem where purity would be a concern – he is “going down” to Jericho.

No law prevents Levites from touching corpses, and there are numerous other reasons why ritual purity is not relevant here.

Jesus mentions priest and Levite because they set up a third category: Israelite. To mention the first two is to invoke the third.

If I say, “Larry, Moe …” you will say “Curly.” However, to go from priest to Levite to Samaritan is like going from Larry to Moe to Osama bin Laden.

That analogy leads us to the second misreading.

The parable is often seen as a story of how the oppressed minority – immigrants, gay people, people on parole – are “nice” and therefore we should check our prejudices.

Samaritans, then, were not the oppressed minority: They were the enemy. We know this not only from the historian Josephus, but also from Luke the evangelist.

Just one chapter before our parable, Jesus seeks lodging in a Samaritan village, but they refuse him hospitality.

Moreover, Samaria had another name: Shechem. At Shechem, Jacob’s daughter Dinah is raped or seduced by the local prince. At Shechem, the murderous judge Abimelech is based.

We are the person in the ditch, and we see the Samaritan. Our first thought: “He’s going to rape me. He’s going to murder me.”

Then we realize: Our enemy may be the very person who will save us. Indeed, if we simply ask “where is Samaria today?” we can see the import of this parable for the Israeli/Palestinian crisis.

Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, c.1769
Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna

3. The 'Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard'

This parable tells the story of a series of workers who come in at different points of the day, but the owner pays them all the same amount.

The parable is sometimes read with an anti-Jewish lens, so that the first-hired are the “Jews” who resent the gentiles or the sinners entering into God’s vineyard. Nonsense again.

Jesus’ first listeners heard not a parable about salvation in the afterlife but about economics in present. They heard a lesson about how the employed must speak on behalf of those who lack a daily wage.

They also discovered a prompt for people with resources: Attend to those who do not have jobs, and make sure everyone has what is needed.

Jesus does not invent this idea of advocating for the unemployed and sharing resources. The same concerns occur in Jewish tradition from King David onward. But, unless we know the biblical and historical sources, again we will mishear the parable.

Domenico Fetti - The Parable of the Precious Pearl or The Pearl of Great Price

4. The 'Parable of the Pearl of Great Price'

This parable describes a man who sells everything in order to obtain his prized pearl. It is usually allegorized to tell us about the centrality of faith, or the church, or Jesus, or the Kingdom of Heaven. But commentators cannot conclude what the pearl represents.

Perhaps they are looking in the wrong place.

We don’t recognize the parable’s initial absurdity today – the merchant (a wholesaler who sells us what we don’t need at a price we cannot afford) sells everything he has for a pearl.

He can’t eat it, or sit on it; it will not cover much if it’s all he wears. But, he thinks this pearl will fulfill him.

What if the parable challenges us to determine our own pearl of great price? If we know our ultimate concern, we should be less acquisitive. We won’t sweat the small stuff.

More, we become better able to love our neighbors, because we will know what is most important to them.

Jesus’ short stories provoke us because they tell us what, somehow, we already know to be true, but don’t want to acknowledge.

I am not a Christian, but I hear profound messages in these parables. If I as an outsider can be so moved by Jesus’ stories, surely people who worship him as Lord and Savior can appreciate them even more.

---

Amy-Jill Levine is the author of "Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi," and a professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and College of Arts and Sciences. The views expressed in this column belong to Levine.

Of Sons and Daughters Lost to the Fathers and Mothers of this World

Rembrandt, The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1662–1669 | Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

The Parable of the Prodigal Sons

Commentaries by Pete Enns & R.E. Slater

A Parable of the $20 Bill

Sermon by James Grier

“But While He was Still Far Off” (or, what if God actually loves us?)

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2013/01/but-while-he-was-still-far-off-or-what-if-god-actually-loves-us/

by Pete Enns

January 6, 2013

Comments

But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion (Luke 15:20).

A lot of people have heard of “the parable of the prodigal (i.e., wasteful) son.” Some translations call it “the parable of the lost son,” which is better but not quite there. I prefer “the parable of the jerk loser son.”

Long story short (you can read the full version anytime you want to), the younger of two sons demands that his father give him his inheritance right now. This move is majorly disrespectful, for a inheritance is given only when the father dies and also the older son is supposed to get his first. The younger son isn’t being a little forward. He’s leaping over his older brother and in effect saying to his father, “you are dead to me.”

So, he left to live the life that mimicked Animal House and - spoiler alert - "ran out of money!" Of course, what should happen next but a famine and so he roamed the streets hungry and alone. He finally decided he actually has to get a job, and so wound up taking care of pigs–which, if you recall your Judaism, is about as bad an animal as you can come in contact with. He’s so hungry, he even started daydreaming about eating pig food.

He figured he needed to do something about his predicament before he starved, so his sense of self-preservation kicked in. (If you haven’t caught on, this guy is pretty focused on himself, even here.) ”I know, I’ll go back home and grovel a bit. ‘Oh father, I am not worthy to be your son. Treat me like one of your hired hands.’ That should work.”

"The Parable of the Lost Son" by Christopher W. French.
"Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight."

So, he sucks it up and heads back home.

I’m talking now to you parents out there, especially with high school and college age offspring. If you’ve ever been in the place where you son or daughter has left the straight and narrow, slammed the door in your face (actually or metaphorically), and began making some life choices that keep you up nights worrying yourself sick if they are OK, what they’re doing, are they alive, are they ever coming home–if you’ve ever been there, you know what’s going on here.

Or maybe things have not been all that dramatic for you. You child disrespects you and storms out the door to go who knows where and do who knows what with who knows whom. You’re worried and mad. The next day, the car pulls in the drive way and s/he clearly has that look of remorse.

If you’re a like most parents I’ve met (including me), you’re relieved but you also want to make a point. So you play it cool, stand at the door, and give you son or daughter that “I told you so, c’mon, admit it, admit it, you were wrong and I was right” look.

And this is where the parable hits me between the eyes.

When the son was still a far way off, rather than going back into his tent to play it cool (“Oh…You’re back. I hadn’t noticed. How have you been?”), rather than doing what normal fathers do, he was filled with compassion and ran out to meet him.

But while he was still far off…

He couldn’t wait. Even though the son had done his best to bring shame and hurt to his family and his faith …

... his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.

The son delivered his limp, rehearsed, apology, hoping at least to get a bite to eat. Instead the father ignored the speech and ordered that his son be fully restored: a clean robe, a ring (representing family membership), and sandals where he had been barefoot.

As for a bite to eat? Forget it. How about a feast? And why not, as the father says, “for this son of mine was dead and is alive; he was lost and is found.”

You get the feeling the father was pretty excited.

Frans Francken (II) - The Parable of the Prodigal Son

The father, obviously, represents God in this parable, but this isn’t a “get saved and go to heaven after you die” story. The son is, well, a son–already part of the family.

In Jesus’ day, he was addressing his stubborn fellow Jewish countrymen, reminding them about the love of God and that it’s never too late to come home. When this and other stories were adapted for the Christian faith, that same point remained but with a broader [non-Jewish] audience.

The story isn’t about conversion to Christianity. It’s about God being on the look out for those in the family who have wandered off, and God simply can’t wait to welcome them home.

I read stories like this and I wonder, What if this is actually true? What if there is a God who is really like this? What if God can’t wait to have us around–even with the garbage we keep carrying around and our half hearted “I’m sorries?”

What if God is glad to see us?

And the much more threatening question, What difference would really believing all that make in how I look at, well, pretty much everything?

And, what would it look like if I loved the way God loved?

- Pete Enns

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

How Does One become "Family"?

R.E. Slater

January 11, 2012

I'd like to make one small addition and add the following observation....

The traditional church view here is that "the family" refers to believers of God who follow after Jesus. To a Spirit-baptized, confessing believer, who has left God and now wishes to come back, to whom God says to His child, "Eh, verily, even now, do I love thee! Thou art my child and ever will I love thee." Of course this doesn't answer the question of "faith and works" (James, Peter, etc) so much as state a profundity of church dogma which we must save for another day's examination.

But this isn't what Jesus was saying....

Certainly Jesus had this in mind when speaking to the Pharisees about belonging to God through the covenants made in Abraham, Moses and David. As Jews under covenant (esp. the unconditional covenant of Abraham) they were part of God's people. Even if, after having broken covenant with God (sic, the Mosaic Law, and Suzerainty-Lordship of God in the Abrahamic Covenant) they were welcomed back. It's what God does as One who Loves and Redeems.

But how can one come back when covenant has been broken?

In the OT sense of "remnant (theology)" those Jews who broke covenant were no longer part of God's blessings and fidelity. They stood in jeopardy of judgment and would be treated as a non-covenanted people God knew not. This is the sense you get when reading the prophets of the OT as they preached against the sins of the people of Israel who hardened their hearts against God and persisted in refusing to repent to the prophets message that they had broken covenant with God. That they were faithless, refusing His will and word in their lives. So too had the younger son in the parable acted by rejecting his father, collecting his inheritance, and leaving the community of his birthright.

Under the Abrahamic Covenant there was a way back to God. But how?

In essence, God Himself would become the sacrifice for His people's sin, as the Lamb of God, pictured in Jesus (who was very God himself!). Hence, when God had Abraham bring a sacrifice for his, and his family's (and his future descendant's) ratification of the covenant (... a ratification that in essence was an atoning covenant for sin, a family covenant for membership, and a submittal covenant for duration of treaty, among other things... ). When this sacrifice was brought it was God Himself who cleaved the oxen in two, who functioned as both the priest and the mediating sacrifice, before Himself and Abraham (Abraham here is pictured as yet another typological figure like that of Adam for mankind).

Thus was God both the Suzerainty who treated with Abraham, and the undergirding foundation for the covenant itself, when it surely would be broken by Abraham in his doubts and faithless acts soon to come.

Even so did Jesus remind the Pharisees and religious leaders of His day of their faithlessness to God. Of their need to repent (sic, as such, Jesus was acting as God's prophet to His people Israel... ). Of their rightness of restoration based upon God's faithfulness and love as their Suzerainty who had become their surety as sacrifice upon creation of their treaty with YHWH. Which Jesus Himself would someday soon perform in His own body and spirit as Exemplar Magnifique, by way of re-establishing Israel's broken covenant with God through Himself, as God's perfect, and acceptable sacrifice.

To whom does this apply? To Israel alone?

Hence, under Paul and NT theology, God's covenant has been expanded to all men - both Jews and Gentiles alike - in and through Jesus. Jesus is mankind's surety of covenant in/under/before/beside/by God. Through Jesus is our sin removed. Through Jesus may we become adopted into God's covenant as His people. And through Jesus has Israel's covenant with God has become enlarged to all men everywhere. And if - and when - broken, as it surely will be, it will ever remain in force because it is based upon the eternal God Himself, and through His Son, and not upon our own selves. So that even in our sin, we are God's "family". By right of creation (Genesis). By right of concession (Abraham). By right of redemption (Jesus).  By right of sustenance (the Holy Spirit). We are God's lost and straying remnant. We are God's faithless people to whom He seeks day and night.

And it is to this idea that God says to us today - to those standing outside His covenant, as well as to those standing inside His covenant - that all may come. And when we fail that He will be our surety. Our sacrifice. Our Oxen and Lamb. Our High Priest and Mediator. Our Savior and Redeemer. That His covenantal love restores, as well as makes, covenant with us. That He understands our brokenness and fallibility. Our sins, selfishness, pride, ego, faults, and small-mindedness. Our hesitancies, doubts, misgivings, hurts, shames, and failures. And yet, reaches out to all who wish to enter in to His grace and mercy, peace and forgiveness, healing and strength.

Then what is our answer this day? Shall we continue to despise the Father or return home?

Regardless if you have left "the covenanted family" or not. Regardless if you were not part of that family (like Abram first was before God had ever established covenant with him). It is to you that God has made covenant. A covenant that will stand the test of time through God Himself and through His work on Calvary's cross for all Jews and non-Jews alike. He is our Redeemer. Our surety. Our Promise-Keeper. Our faithful Lord and Sovereign who seeks all who are lost, and weary, and filled with the pain of this world.

Where money and riches and fast friends never brought satisfaction. Where the pigstys and self-imposed poverties of this world would grind upon our souls in our lostness and inability to find safe haven and rest. Yet God is there. He waits for you to leave yourself behind and to come to Him. Willingly. In hope and desire. Bearing ruin and destruction in your bones through the mangle of sin in our lives. Even as He searches for you. And is pained by your absence. And when seeing you come, will run to you. Embrace you. Hold you. And never let you go. Inviting all who will come to a feast held in your honor, reveling with God's broken heart of joy that yet another sinner has come home from the pigstys of the human heart and lost dens of this world. Wherever they be. For all are sought, and longed for by God, our Creator-Redeemer, with a broken and heavy heart, until "found" on the road leading back to "home". Come. And wait no longer.

R.E. Slater

January 11, 2012

The Parable of the $20 Bill

A well-known speaker started off his seminar holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this."

He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it...?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We may feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE. For you are priceless in the eyes of God who loves you.

AUDIO FILE

James Grier: Sermon on the Parable of the Two Lost Sons

The Father of Two Lost Sons – Luke 15

Additional Sermons on Luke: http://jamesmgrier.org/sermons/