The Good Samaritan 4 - Luke 10:35-37

Now let’s put ourselves in to the place of the injured man. Because we aren’t given hardly any information on this guy, it is easy for any and all of us to identify with him. We don’t know why he was leaving Jerusalem, we don’t know where he was going, we don’t know if he was a good or evil man, but he represents all of us. We all came from the same place (the pre-mortal world) and we’re all doing to the same place (the spirit world) and we are all both good and evil. I think that I relate to the injured man the most because I feel so helpless and tired so much of the time. We have all been hurt by people and suffered injuries outside of our control, so that’s part of why we are unable to move, lying on the ground, but a big part of why we are so incapacitated is because of our own downfalls. We are all beaten down by our own poor choices, our own sins, and so much of the time we are unable to move forward on our journey because we have so much guilt and carry the burden of sin. If we are the injured man, then Jesus is the Good Samaritan. The Savior doesn’t just stop, pick us up, and throw us on his animal to get a move on, the Savior stops where we are, he comes to get us at our own level. He starts the healing process by cleaning our wounds with wine, soothing our wounds with oil, and then covers them with cloth so they won’t get dirty again. He uses the most expensive substance that he has, wine and oil for our benefit, he spares no expense to help us get well.

Like the story, we are unable to make it home from our earthly journey because we carry sin and guilt and pain. Jesus stops and meets us where we are; he teaches us how to think and act and as we do what he says, our wounds begin to heal. I don’t know how He does it, but I know that His healing is effective and complete because I’ve been healed by him throughout my entire life. When Jesus performed the atonement, the end result was that we could be forgiven for our sins and allowed to return home to Him and Heavenly Father after we die. To me, that would be the equivalent of Jesus throwing us on his animal and hurrying us home as fast as he could. But the atonement is so much more than that, Jesus’ saves in so many more ways than that, he doesn’t want us to just return to him in whatever way we can make it, he wants us to be healthy and happy, and that’s the part of his plan that heals. He brings us to the inn, which can be seen as the church, to be cared for and nurtured. Notice that we can’t heal ourselves, Jesus has to, and we can’t nurse ourselves back to health, other people, other disciples of Jesus have to do that. It’s so easy to feel alone in this life, and a lot of times I do, but we aren’t alone, we have other disciples, friends and family members, but most of all, we have Jesus, always.

The good Samaritan takes the injured man to an inn where he cares for him himself. But he can’t stay there forever, and the next day he has to leave. He gives the innkeeper two pence, and said to him, “Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.” If we put ourselves in the place of the innkeeper and the Lord in the place of the good Samaritan, we can see that the Lord himself has put others in our care. He has given us some money to do what we can, but he asks us to use more than what we are given. How can we use more then he has given us? We can do other things that don’t cost money, we can pray for others, we can serve them, we can just be their friend, and we are promised that when the Savior comes again, all will be repaid.

Jesus finishes the parable and asks, “which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?” The lawyer answered, “He that shewed mercy on him.” Jesus responded, “Go, and do thou likewise.” The IM quotes President Thomas S. Monson as teaching, “Each of us, in the journey through mortality, will travel his own Jericho Road. What will be your experience? What will be mine? Will I fail to notice him who has fallen among thieves and requires my help? Will you? Will I be one who sees the injured and hears his plea, yet crosses to the other side? Will you? Or will I be one who sees, who hears, who pauses, and who helps? Will you? Jesus provided our watchword: ‘Go, and do thou likewise.’ When we obey that declaration, there opens to our view a vista of joy seldom equaled and never surpassed…. When we walk in the steps of that good Samaritan, we walk the pathway that leads to perfection.”