WHO IS YOUR NEIGHBOUR?
This question is very important for all believers to meditate upon. It really has a mystery untold about the parable of the man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho recorded in Luke 10, who was saved by a Samaritan referred as a neighbour.
From the book of Luke 10:30-35 which reads:-
30. And Jesus answering said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed leaving him half death.
31. And by chance there came a certain priest that way, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32. And likewise a Levite when he was at the place came and looked on him and passed on the other side.
33. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion on him.
34. And went to him and bounds up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine and set him on his donkey and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence and gave them to the host and said unto him take care of him and whatsoever thou spends more, when I come again I will repay.
This parable has been passionately used by many preachers to explain who a neighbour is. In so doing the interpretation has been to love one another and to show kindness to fellow man. However, the main question which ignites the follow up question “who a neighbour is” has been ignored.
Earlier verse 25 of Luke 10 which contains the first question says “And behold, a certain Lawyer stood up, and tempted Him (Jesus) saying MASTER WHAT SHALL I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE”?
The answer to the question called for the second question from the Lawyer in Luke 10:27 to justify himself by asking “WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR” (Luke 10:27).
However, the answer to the second question was not straightforward. It led to the parable of a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. This man fell into the hands of thieves and was left half death who needed help to be saved.
So it is clear that the parable is all about eternal life since the question asked was on salvation and not human survival. In this context, a neighbour is the one that saves a life from eternal death. To proof this, we have to note some characters used and how those characters relate to salvation. It will help us to understand that the parable is not talking about human love but eternal redemption.
First of all, Jesus mention of a man traveling from JERUSALEM to JERICHO. In the Bible, Jerusalem means the CHOSEN CITY OF GOD (1Kings 11:32), the HOLY CITY (Num. 11:1, Isa 52:1), the CITY OF TRUTH (Zech. 8:3) while Jericho means a FALL CITY or CURSED CITY (Jsh 6:26).
The use of these two cities in the parable symbolically reflected the fall of man from the Glory of God. That journey shows how Adam left the Garden of Eden (Jerusalem) to the wilderness (Jericho) due to sin. So the man in the parable moved from the present of God to the land of curse.
Therefore, life in Jerusalem shows the Grace of God, whilst living in Jericho is living under the curse of sin. That is why Joshua said any man who will build the City of Jericho is cursed before the Lord (Jsh 6:26) and Daniel Said open your windows to Jerusalem.
This journey from Jerusalem to Jericho is best explained when Daniel was in Persia, outside Jerusalem. The Bible said Daniel knowing that Darius, King of Persia has signed writings against him, went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem, kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime (Daniel 6:10).
Daniel prayed to God for safety when he was outside Jerusalem. So anyone outside Jerusalem needs salvation, and this means the man in the center of the parable who has fallen from the presence of God and left half dead needed salvation.
However, the parable projected how the half dead man was saved and in line of his salvation the following three key personalities came into being which we must know more about.
(a) The Priest who saw the half dead man first and passed by (Luke 10:31)
(b) The Levite who also saw the man and passed by the other side (Luke 10:32) and
(c) The Samaritan who saved the man (Luke 10:33).
Priest represents Aaron who was made priest to lead the people of Israel before God through their sacrifices. But because this sacrifice could not save the people as it lasted a maximum of one year (Heb 10:1). So the parable said the priest passed by the other side.
The Levite as stated in the parable is John the Baptist who also could not save man but said he came to prepare the way for the messiah.
The Samaritan therefore stands for Jesus Christ who came to save all men from eternal death.
So as Aaron the Priest was used to lay the path of righteousness onto salvation through animal sacrifice, John the Baptist came to present the sacrificial lamb (Jesus Chris) before the presence of God for the one time salvation of all men.
Therefore by knowing that, the animal sacrifices was just a shadow of good things to come as read in Heb. 10:1, we now relate the parable to our salvation by been seen as the half dead man due to the sins we inherited from Adam and lost the Glory of God.
As the Samaritan dressed the wounds of the half dead man, paid for the present medical bills and deposited additional money for future excess medical expenses should the need be; in the same way, Jesus Christ saved the world by taken all sins (John 1:29) (which are our past, present and future sins) in His Baptism and paid for all with His blood on the Cross. Therefore the Samaritan in the parable is our Lord Jesus Christ who is the saviour of the world.
So to answer the Lawyer’s question “who my Neighbour”, the answer is Jesus, the Samaritan. He is the one who has saved our lives and forgiven our sins. So Jesus is our Neighbour who saved us from the sin of Adam that we connected to through birth. AMEN.
