Lesson 59: My Neighbor, Compassion & Eternal Life (Luke 10:25-37)

“And who is my neighbor?” The lawyer in this story was, like so many of us, much more eager to justify himself than to humbly take in the words of Jesus and shift his focus and life accordingly. What does it look like to truly obey the most foundational instructions in God’s Word? Is it left up to interpretation or is it a mere matter of semantics? Jesus didn’t answer this with a quick sentence but with a story, the story we have come to know as “The Good Samaritan.” From this account, Daniel emphasizes the point that, “Impossible and extraordinary acts of compassion should be common place among those of us who have received eternal life.” By way of more specific application then, we should understand that the one who has eternal life 1) loves their neighbor, 2) has an unlimited concept of who their neighbor is, and 3) has a compassion that compels them to action.

Summary by Seth Kempf, Bethany Community Church Staff