Daily Devotional • October 24
A Reading from Luke 10:25-37
25 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
29 But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Meditation
The good Samaritan loves the poor and the needy. He draws near to those who have been injured by the brokenness of this world, who have no money to give, who cannot defend themselves, and who have less power. The good Samaritan prefers the people who are dismissed and left for dead by the most powerful and publicly devout. He makes them whole, tends to their physical wellness, and meets their immediate needs.
But you’re not the good Samaritan. I’m not the good Samaritan. Jesus is. And we’re all the man left for dead on the side of the road.
The lawyer didn’t understand that to satisfy the law on his own was much harder than he expected. It requires perfection. Compared to perfection, each of us is a stripped, beaten, and left-for-dead man on the side of the road. We’ve been thoroughly injured by the brokenness of the world and by our sin. Left to our devices, we will die on the side of the road. But Jesus is the good Samaritan. Jesus makes us whole and pays a price we can never repay.
Yet once we receive Christ’s free gift of salvation, we can show our gratitude by loving others the way Jesus loves us. We can care for the poor and needy so that they can be whole, even when they have nothing to give in return. Even when it hurts those giving. The life we have is not ours to hoard, but Christ’s to give. It’s precisely through the act of imitating Jesus by giving our lives fully that we will discover most fully what it means to be human, are able to find the greatest sense of purpose, and experience true belonging among fellow Christ-imitators.
Pieter Valk is a licensed professional counselor, the director of EQUIP, and cofounder of the Nashville Family of Brothers, an ecumenically Christian brotherhood for men called to vocational singleness.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Kapsabet – The Anglican Church of Kenya
Jerusalem Peacebuilders, West Brattleboro, Vermont
Pieter Valk is a Guest Writer. He is a speaker, author, consultant, and licensed counselor.
