Jesus’ Compassion: The Heart of Missional LivingSample

Day #9: Luke 10:25–37

In Luke 10, we encounter one of Jesus’ most famous stories, commonly referred to as “the parable of the good Samaritan.” This story is prompted by a conversation between Jesus and a religious leader (a “lawyer,” someone who knew well the terms of the covenant between God and his people). In this repartee, the lawyer wants Jesus to define the requirements for eternal life (v. 25), but Jesus throws the ball back into his court. “What do you read in the law?” (v. 26, NRSV). The man’s answer is 100% correct: “Love God with all you are and with all you have, and love your neighbor as yourself.” That is a beautiful and succinct summary of all God’s expectations for his people, and Jesus responds: “Exactly!” But he also makes clear that simply knowing this is not enough, insisting to the man, “Do this, and you will live” (v. 28).

This lawyer appears to be okay with the first command, but less comfortable with the “love your neighbor” expectation. So he seeks a loophole, a redefinition of neighbor that will be narrow enough to justify his own limited neighborliness (v. 29). “Who is my neighbor?” he asks. Instead of answering that question, Jesus tells a story that shifts the focus from defining a neighbor to being a neighbor. At the heart of this parable—and in the heart of its surprising hero—is compassion. Verse 33 describes the Samaritan’s response to a wounded man in the same terms that the Gospel writers have been describing Jesus: “He was moved with compassion.” The lawyer—and Luke’s readers—are being invited to act like the Samaritan, who acts like Jesus, who acts like God. When the lawyer is forced to concede that “showing mercy” is what being a neighbor looks like (v. 36), Jesus offers him the inescapable punch line: “Go and do likewise” (v. 37).

By making a Samaritan—a person disdained and scorned by the Jews—the hero of the story, Jesus deliberately disrupts any tendency in his hearers to reserve or restrict compassion for those who are “worthy” or “acceptable.” This story of compassion would have been deeply unsettling and troubling for the lawyer and perhaps even for Jesus’ own disciples. But the message is clear and enduring: the same compassion that flows from the heart of God must be a characteristic of those who are in relationship with God. And it may make us as uncomfortable as that lawyer probably felt when Jesus turned his question back on him with laser-like precision.