Daily Devotional for Thursday, February 19

The Overview of the Parable

“But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,” Luke 10:33.

Any good teacher knows how to get a point across. From years of teaching in the classroom, I know from first-hand experience that some lessons require explanations in five different ways. There have even been times when a student continues to have that obvious look of confusion after I have exhausted all of my tools in my educational tool belt. Still, true educators persevere and try yet another method to pierce through the barrier between ignorance and enlightenment.

Jesus was the ultimate teacher. Even at twelve years old he confounded the scholars (Luke 2:47). And just like all teachers, he dealt with smart aleck students such as the lawyer trying to find a loophole. To really get his point across, Jesus began telling a parable in which the main character was a Samaritan. This might not mean much to you, but any story in which a Samaritan was the main character, much less the hero, was extremely offensive to the self-righteous Jewish scholars. I can almost imagine Jesus pausing between verses 32 and 33 as the listeners are trying to figure out where this story is going. Being studied in the Law, this man understood why the priest and Levite continued on their way avoiding any contact with this half-naked, half-dead victim. Just when he thought he would be justified in his piety, Jesus explained that an unmentionable Samaritan man not only felt compassion but also demonstrated it with everything that he had. He immediately treated the wounds with what he had, set the injured man on the animal he was riding, paid for him a place to stay and pre-paid for medical bills and any other expense, with no expectation of even being thanked, or repaid!

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Ask God to reveal whatever gives you a self-righteous attitude. In humility, boast only in the Holy name of Jesus.

Ashley Ridings