17 JUNE (1877)
The good Samaritan
‘Go, and do thou likewise.’ Luke 10:37
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Mark 12:28–34
I have often wondered which way the priest was going, whether he was going up to the temple and was in a hurry to be in time for fear of keeping the congregation waiting, or whether he had fulfilled his duty, had finished his month’s course at the temple and was going home. I conclude that he was going from Jerusalem to Jericho, because Luke 10:31 says, ‘by chance there came down a certain priest that way’. To the metropolis it is always ‘going up’, going up to London, or up to Jerusalem; as this priest was coming down, he was going to Jericho. It was quite literally going down, for Jericho lies very low.
I conclude that he was going home to Jericho, after having fulfilled his month’s engagements at the temple, where he had been familiar with the worship of the Most High, as near to God as man could be, serving amidst sacrifices, holy psalms and solemn prayers; and yet he had not learned how to make a sacrifice himself. He had heard those prophetic words which say, ‘I desired mercy, and not sacrifice’, but he was entirely forgetful of such teaching: he had often read that law, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’, but he regarded it not. The Levite had not been quite so closely engaged in the sanctuary as the priest, but he had taken his share in holy work, and yet he came away from it with a hard heart. This is a sad fact. They had been near to God, but were not like him.
Dear people, you may spend Sabbath after Sabbath in the worship of God, or what you think to be so, you may behold Christ Jesus ‘evidently set forth, crucified among you’, and themes which ought to turn a heart of stone to flesh may pass before your minds, nevertheless you may return into the world to be as miserly as ever, and to have as little feeling towards your fellow men as before. It ought not to be so.
FOR MEDITATION: (Our Own Hymn Book no.92 part 1 v.1—Isaac Watts, 1719)
‘Sweet is the work, my God, my King,
To praise Thy name, give thanks, and sing,
To show Thy love by morning light,
And talk of all Thy truth at night.’
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 179.
The good Samaritan
‘Go, and do thou likewise.’ Luke 10:37
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Mark 12:28–34
I have often wondered which way the priest was going, whether he was going up to the temple and was in a hurry to be in time for fear of keeping the congregation waiting, or whether he had fulfilled his duty, had finished his month’s course at the temple and was going home. I conclude that he was going from Jerusalem to Jericho, because Luke 10:31 says, ‘by chance there came down a certain priest that way’. To the metropolis it is always ‘going up’, going up to London, or up to Jerusalem; as this priest was coming down, he was going to Jericho. It was quite literally going down, for Jericho lies very low.
I conclude that he was going home to Jericho, after having fulfilled his month’s engagements at the temple, where he had been familiar with the worship of the Most High, as near to God as man could be, serving amidst sacrifices, holy psalms and solemn prayers; and yet he had not learned how to make a sacrifice himself. He had heard those prophetic words which say, ‘I desired mercy, and not sacrifice’, but he was entirely forgetful of such teaching: he had often read that law, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’, but he regarded it not. The Levite had not been quite so closely engaged in the sanctuary as the priest, but he had taken his share in holy work, and yet he came away from it with a hard heart. This is a sad fact. They had been near to God, but were not like him.
Dear people, you may spend Sabbath after Sabbath in the worship of God, or what you think to be so, you may behold Christ Jesus ‘evidently set forth, crucified among you’, and themes which ought to turn a heart of stone to flesh may pass before your minds, nevertheless you may return into the world to be as miserly as ever, and to have as little feeling towards your fellow men as before. It ought not to be so.
FOR MEDITATION: (Our Own Hymn Book no.92 part 1 v.1—Isaac Watts, 1719)
‘Sweet is the work, my God, my King,
To praise Thy name, give thanks, and sing,
To show Thy love by morning light,
And talk of all Thy truth at night.’
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 179.
17 JUNE (1877)
The good Samaritan
‘Go, and do thou likewise.’ Luke 10:37
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Mark 12:28–34
I have often wondered which way the priest was going, whether he was going up to the temple and was in a hurry to be in time for fear of keeping the congregation waiting, or whether he had fulfilled his duty, had finished his month’s course at the temple and was going home. I conclude that he was going from Jerusalem to Jericho, because Luke 10:31 says, ‘by chance there came down a certain priest that way’. To the metropolis it is always ‘going up’, going up to London, or up to Jerusalem; as this priest was coming down, he was going to Jericho. It was quite literally going down, for Jericho lies very low.
I conclude that he was going home to Jericho, after having fulfilled his month’s engagements at the temple, where he had been familiar with the worship of the Most High, as near to God as man could be, serving amidst sacrifices, holy psalms and solemn prayers; and yet he had not learned how to make a sacrifice himself. He had heard those prophetic words which say, ‘I desired mercy, and not sacrifice’, but he was entirely forgetful of such teaching: he had often read that law, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’, but he regarded it not. The Levite had not been quite so closely engaged in the sanctuary as the priest, but he had taken his share in holy work, and yet he came away from it with a hard heart. This is a sad fact. They had been near to God, but were not like him.
Dear people, you may spend Sabbath after Sabbath in the worship of God, or what you think to be so, you may behold Christ Jesus ‘evidently set forth, crucified among you’, and themes which ought to turn a heart of stone to flesh may pass before your minds, nevertheless you may return into the world to be as miserly as ever, and to have as little feeling towards your fellow men as before. It ought not to be so.
FOR MEDITATION: (Our Own Hymn Book no.92 part 1 v.1—Isaac Watts, 1719)
‘Sweet is the work, my God, my King,
To praise Thy name, give thanks, and sing,
To show Thy love by morning light,
And talk of all Thy truth at night.’
C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 4), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2007), 179.
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