Neighboring with Compassion (Lk. 10:25-37)

One of the most dominant players to ever pick up a basketball was a guy by the name of Tim Duncan. No relation to Dunkin’ Donuts. Tim played power forward and center for the San Antonio Spurs from around 1997–2016. He was one-third of the “Big Three” (alongside Tony Parker, and Manu Ginóbili ). He also played with the Admiral, David Robinson, to form the legendary "Twin Towers." Tim Duncan wasn’t the most explosive or flashy player. He wasn’t like Jordan, Kobe, Lebron, Curry, or Shai. He didn’t have crazy handles like Allen Iverson or a many of today’s NBA players, but he was probably one of the most consistent players in regards to his performance. He was rather unassuming to be quite honest and if you didn’t understand his style of play, you could get bored watching him.

Starting out, Tim Duncan had no plans of making it big in the NBA, He was actually focused on being a swimmer, but through a few unfortunate events growing up he switched his attention from swimming to basketball.

Something that set Tim Duncan apart, which many other players seemed to undervalue, were the basics. He mastered the fundamentals of basketball which resulted in him earning the nickname, “The Big Fundamental.” With Tim Duncan’s help, the San Antonio Spurs won five NBA championships.

Nothing’s cool about the fundamentals, right? Everybody, whether you’re picking up a musical instrument for the first time, a paintbrush, a soccer ball, or basketball—you name it, you’re not interested in learning the fundamentals. You want to go straight to nutmegs, juggling, ankle breaking crossovers and shredding like Eddie Van Halen or doing all of the exciting things the pros are doing.

But guess what?

With the exception of a few prodigies, they all had to learn the fundamentals before they could move on to the big stuff. So, that’s what I want to talk about this morning, the basics.

After the seventy disciples returned and shared their missionary encounters with Jesus, He met a lawyer. Lawyers, during that time, were well educated in understanding God’s law, and this man wanted to see how advanced Jesus’ interpretation of God’s Word was. It’s pretty obvious (to me) that the lawyer has given more attention to the fancy stuff of religious life, losing sight of the basics. Well, Jesus is going to redirect his skill and remind him of the value and importance of sticking to the fundamentals.

Interpreting God’s Law (Lk. 10:25-28)

So let’s pick up at verse twenty-five.

25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” 27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 28 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” (Luke 10:25–28, NKJV)

This interaction between Jesus and the lawyer is only found in Luke’s Gospel. There is a parallel version of this story found in Matthew and Mark, but there are noticeable differences.

In Matt. 22:35-36 and Mark 12:28, it is the lawyer who asks Jesus about the greatest commandment, to which Jesus replies that we are to love God with our entire being. However, Jesus goes a step further in offering the second greatest commandment, to love people as we love ourselves and Jesus concludes by saying that the entire counsel of God’s law is summed up in these two commandments. The lawyer agrees with Jesus’ answer.

In Lk. 10:25-28, the lawyer’s question does not concern the commandments of God, but rather, what works may be performed to secure eternal life. Jesus responds by turning the question back to the lawyer,

26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” (Luke 10:26, NKJV)

And the lawyer answers by summing up the whole counsel of God by stating that we are to love God and love people, to which Jesus commends him for a right answer.

Now, let’s break down what transpired here.

The lawyer, an expert at interpreting and applying the commands of God, shows up to test Jesus. That word test means to examine for weaknesses or to find fault. Luke has already described the attitude of the lawyers in Jesus’ day.

30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him. (Luke 7:30, NKJV)

God had revealed Himself to these men and yet, they turned their noses up at His grace. So, here comes this rejector of God’s redeeming love and he is trying to find a hole in Jesus’ ministry and understanding of God’s law.

Our Inheritance

25 Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25, NKJV)

This question is set up all wrong from the very beginning. You don’t do anything for an inheritance. Marvin Richardson Vincent calls it a

...portion or heritage which one receives by virtue of birth or by special gift.[1]

This question is set up all wrong from the very beginning. You don’t do anything for an inheritance. Alicia and I have a Trust set up which states that our kids will get everything that we cannot carry over into the room Christ has prepared for us in His Father’s house. Those boys haven’t done a single thing to get what they will inherit once we die. Because they are our children, what belongs to us has been promised to them, and if they live long enough in this world they will have full access to all that has been bequeathed to them.

So it is with our eternal lives.

Because of our new birth in Christ, we are children of God.

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: (John 1:12, NKJV)

We have an incorruptible inheritance that does not fade, rust, or perish and we have acquired this through no effort of our own.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9, NKJV)

This is a rudimentary understanding of the Christian faith. Our salvation is according to God’s foreordained purpose and not our own efforts. Paul told young Timothy,

9 [God] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, (2 Timothy 1:9, NKJV)

When His disciples asked about what effort was required to do God’s work, Jesus simply told them—faith.

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” (John 6:29, NKJV)

Using the father of their faith as the most compelling example of God’s gracious redemption, Paul says to the church at Rome,

3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. (Romans 4:3–4, NKJV)

So, for those of you who feel the need to expend some great amount of energy in order to secure your allegiance with the Lord, Jesus says that the best and most beneficial thing you can do is walk in faith. Take God at His Word. You do not earn an inheritance. You do not earn eternal life. You simply receive it by first believing that it is yours to have in Christ.

Jesus doesn’t answer the lawyer’s question directly, instead, He turns the question back on him. “What does the law say? How do you interpret it? And the lawyer gives a seemingly satisfactory response as he quotes two passages from Torah (Dt. 6:5; Lev. 19:18).

27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ” (Luke 10:27, NKJV)

Notice, Jesus doesn’t answer the lawyer’s question directly, instead, He turns the question back on him. “What does the law say? How do you interpret it?” This is always a good place to start when you want to know what God says, go to His Word. Don’t go to Claude or ChatGPT. Don’t immediately go to friends and family. Open your Bible. In fact, the lawyer gives a seemingly satisfactory response as he quotes two passages from Torah (Dt. 6:5; Lev. 19:18).

As we’ll see in just a bit, it’s pretty clear that he doesn’t fully understand his own interpretation of God’s law. Although he gives a right response, he has the wrong motivation and completely misses the point of the Scriptures.

Who Is My Neighbor? (Lk. 10:29)

29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29, NKJV)

Here we learn a valuable lesson in knowing when to quit.

The fact that this lawyer does not ask Jesus what loving God looks like makes the point that he felt as though he had accomplished that part of the commandments. He was doing good in that area. The same may be true for some of us. We feel as though we have checked the box of loving God because we attend church service weekly, or because we are in small groups and Sunday School or Wednesday evening classes. We may feel as though our love for God is without question because we volunteer in the church’s ministries. Or perhaps because we tithe and financially support the work that Christian organizations are doing by serving the poor and the needy. We may be convinced that our love for God is genuine because, quite honestly, we are good people.

What John argues in his first letter is that our hatred of people cancels out our love for God no matter how faithful we are in the areas I just described.

20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. (1 John 4:20–21, NKJV)

Who is my neighbor? By asking this question, the lawyer is not at all concerned with identifying his neighbor, not even a little bit. Instead he wants to know “Who is not my neighbor?” Where is the edge of my religious responsibility to which I can rest knowing that I have fulfilled my obligation? Treat others the way you want to be treated. Am I not justified in my ill-treatment of those who mistreat me? Give without expectation of reciprocity. Am I not justified in withholding charity from those who have been uncharitable? This is the mentality of worldliness. But Christ compels us to widen our gaze and look beyond our natural and unregenerate assumptions about neighborliness.

30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. (Luke 10:30–33, NKJV)

Here is a man that has been beaten within an inch of his life, robbed, stripped of his clothing and left to die. It’s seems clear to me that the half-dead man is a Jew as he is travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. This stretch of road was well-traveled by Galileans going to and from Jerusalem during festival times. Also, based on some historical evidence, the perpetrator may very well have been a Samaritan. And for that reason, I think this gives the story a greater punch.

Jewish historian Josephus tells us that “Samaritans were not averse to ill-treating pilgrims going up to Jerusalem, even to the extent of murdering them on occasion.”[2]

And it was along this road in Jesus’ story that these things took place.

Something to pay attention to in this parable are the characters mentioned. I’ve already talked about the robber and the victim. Well, Jesus tells us that a certain priest, a Levite, and a certain Samaritan all happened upon the victim on the road. Without question, the priest and the Levite we understand to be adherents of Yahweh’s laws and statutes and for that reason we judge them more harshly. They saw the man, but religious practice, their faulty interpretation of God’s law, their legalist view of holiness, it all forced them to avoid the man in need. Why? Because no good Jew would have dared defile themselves by touching something or someone impure.

Have you ever witnessed this kind of treatment?

Have you ever treated someone else in this way?

You avoid those who are in need because your understanding of the law says that helping that person is out of bounds. It’s going to cost too much. What will other people think. It might very well cost your comfort, your reputation, your sense of religious correctness. Instead of entering into the pain of the one suffering, you side step them and convince yourself that legalism, not love, is the holiest response.

And folks, that’s the question this parable presses on us: Will we let our inaccurate interpretations of righteousness keep us from doing what is actually right?

God never intended for His people to use their faith as a justification for denying aid to those in need of assistance and compassion. Oh sure, the grace and compassion they showed to someone else may cost them dearly, but Yahweh made provision for times when their compassion and mercy to others affected them ceremonially or ritually. They may be unclean for a while, they may be put out of the community for a time, they may be prohibited from entering the temple for a few days, or they may have to offer sacrifice and give a little extra as a consequence, but isn’t it worth the cost?

Helping the hurting was never meant to be an interruption to holiness; it was meant to be an expression of it.

Those are the basics.

The “Godly” Samaritan

23 “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. (Matthew 23:23, MSG)

I think that, in the church, we have been conditioned to look down on the Samaritans, both the Samaritans of Scripture as well as the “Samaritans” of our modern society. Something that we fail to consider is that they, oftentimes, while reading from the same Scriptures that we are, in many cases they are doing a much better job at living out its holy intentions than the rest of us. The Samaritan in Jesus’ story, religiously speaking, is no different than the lawyer, the priest or the Levite. All of them are bound by the Law of Moses. But where the lawyer, the priest and the Levite fail, the Samaritan excels. While the first group uses religion as a way to excuse themselves from showing love, the Samaritan sees it as an opportunity to embody it.

This story is an affront to our religiosity and follows the same train of thought which is unraveled in James’ letter.

26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (James 2:26, NKJV)

Now watch this. The Samaritan is more Godly than either the priest or the Levite and we know that because all three of them see the man half-dead, but while the priest and Levite cross the road to avoid the man, it is the Samaritan who, upon seeing him, has compassion on him.

Think for a moment, where else in Luke’s Gospel have we seen this same depth of compassion and concern for another person? We saw it earlier in the story of the widow at Nain (Luke 7:11–17). In both accounts, everything begins with a simple awareness. Jesus saw the widow, and He had compassion on her. He willingly risked becoming ritually and ceremonially unclean in order to step into her pain and meet a need she could never meet on her own.

The Samaritan mirrors this pattern. He saw the half‑dead man, and instead of crossing the road as the priest and the Levite had done, he moved toward the wounded traveler. Compassion compelled him to act.

34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ (Luke 10:34–35, NKJV)

The Samaritan goes far beyond what anyone would reasonably expect. His compassion is costly, but Scripture assures us that such mercy never goes unnoticed by the Lord:

17 He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, And He will pay back what he has given. (Proverbs 19:17, NKJV)

In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis comments on our inability to live out the Golden Rule of treating others as we want to be treated, unless and until we can learn to love God and neighbor. He says:

“I may repeat ‘Do as you would be done by’ till I am [blue] in the face, but I cannot really carry it out till I love my neighbour as myself: and I cannot learn to love my neighbour as myself till I learn to love God: and I cannot learn to love God except by learning to obey Him.” [3]

Jesus concludes the parable with a question that forces reflection and an instruction that demands obedience:

36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” 37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36–37, NKJV)

I find it interesting that Yahweh would choose a word like neighbor for this command. Neighbor is so vague and undefined. Why not use a more pointed word? Something clearer to understand? Something like, citizen, friend, or family member?

If Yahweh only intended for Hebrews to love other Hebrews, He would have said so plainly. He does not command, “Love your citizens,” though we might prefer that. He does not say, “Love your friends,” which would be far easier. He does not say, “Love your family,” or “Love those who love you,” which we would gladly accept. Instead, He commands, “Love your neighbor.”

I believe that neighborliness and compassion are included in the list of things Jesus said are hidden from the wise and the prudent, but which has been revealed to the child-like (Lk. 10:21).

Our Neighbor Larry

When my son Elias was about two years old, we lived in the Village between two guys named Larry. We had Eastside Larry and Westside Larry. Both of these men were older White guys. Whenever I would talk about the Larrys to Elias, I would always refer to them as our neighbor Larry.

In the mind of two year old Elias, “our neighbor Larry” meant something totally different than I imagined.

If Elias and I were at the store or at the zoo, which was where we spent a lot of our time when he was that young, any time he saw an older White man he would point and tell me, “Daddy! That’s Larry.” It was so cute. The first several times I tried correcting him, “No buddy. That’s not Mr. Larry.” And then one day it hit me, “Yeah! That is Larry. That person is my neighbor.”

Perhaps God chose the word neighbor precisely because it is nuanced. It refuses to be confined to ethnicity, religion, social category, or personal preference. Neighbor can be defined by proximity, by circumstance, by need, or by opportunity. In Jesus’ parable, neighbor is ultimately defined by the compassion we show.

Respond

Now, here’s the part we don’t like to admit: you most likely are not the Samaritan in this story. Oh, I’m sure that we’d like to believe that, but it’s just not true. More often than not, we behave like the lawyer or the priest or the Levite, but not the Samaritan. I’m sure that we’ve had moments where we acted with compassion like the Samaritan, but don’t kid yourself, those moments were generally the exceptions to the rule.

In this story, we are the wounded traveler who possess nothing, not even the strength to pick ourselves up off the ground.

1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, (Ephesians 2:1, NKJV)

Jesus, that’s who the Samaritan is as He has come to your rescue. As He has placed your lifeless body upon Himself. Your healing has come as a result of His own suffering.

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5, NKJV)

Jesus is the Good Samaritan who has paid the debt that we owed.

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9, NKJV)

Today, I want to invite you to come and receive the inheritance promised to you in Christ Jesus.

I want you to come and repent of your un-neighborliness.

Come and receive the healing your dead soul needs as you place your hope in Jesus.

Tre Clark

Britton Christian Church

9/5/2026

[1] Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 1 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887), 630.

[2] Bellum ii.232; Antiquities xx.118

[3] Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity. HarperCollins, 2009, p87