Luke 9:23 (NIV)
Luke is writing his gospel so that Theophilus may know the certainty of the things he had been taught. Luke not only wants Theophilus to know who Jesus is, he also wants him to know the pattern of disciple making that Jesus set during His ministry.
As we read Luke 9 we discover that Jesus made disciples who Proclaim, who Heal and who Feed - they perform His mission - they do the things Jesus did, and they are expected to pay the price that Jesus paid. A disciple of Jesus, a follower of Jesus, knows that in order to do the mission of Jesus, they must take up their cross and follow Him.
The story of the good Samaritan appears only in Luke’s gospel and illustrates the principle of taking up your cross in order to Heal and Feed. Many of us give out of our excess; we give God our spare time, and we give God our spare money, and we think that we are fulfilling the mission of Christ and we call ourselves a disciple of Christ. However if we only give spare money and only give spare time, then we don’t know the certainty of the things Jesus taught. The good Samaritan is on Mission. He has pity on the human in need and he Heals him and Feeds him. He used his time and his money, his donkey, his purse, his oil, his wine, his bandages, and he told the innkeeper he would be back to pay any other expenses incurred. The Samaritan is the neighbour that God wanted Cain to be, that God wants every one of us to be.
We talk about being friendly and helping people as a witness to them as an evangelism strategy, and yet our Lord helped everyone, although some of them crucified Him later. He helped them without expecting them to become believers. He helped them because our Lord Jesus is a good human. He is the human Adam was meant to be and so we are to be the good human that He was as He lives in our hearts through faith. No expectation of conversion or an evangelism strategy - come on what is that all about anyway? Just pity or mercy. Just take our money, take our time and help those around us who need help.
People read this story and wonder where the Proclaim is in the story. Friend, if we would take our money and our time and help those around us – the Proclaim will happen and the gospel will have power! Let us be the good humans that God wants us to be!
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