Go and Do Likewise – August 7, 2019

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:37

Go and Do Likewise

A pastor once said in a sermon, “The church is not supposed to be a museum of saints, where we show off. Nor is it a courtroom where we judge the world. The church is a hospital for sinners.” This is because, spiritually speaking, we are like the battered man in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. Our sins have wounded us. We have been stripped naked of our righteousness. We are completely helpless and exposed. Jesus is like the good Samaritan. He comes to bind up our wounds. He comes to clothe us with his love and forgiveness. He pays for our room in his eternal kingdom.

But that is not all Jesus was teaching with his parable. At the end of the Good Samaritan, he told those who were listening, “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37). In other words, although only Jesus has truly lived like the good Samaritan, he calls us to follow his example. He wants us to be good Samaritans in our lives as well. He wants us to live lives of love in action.

We might think about it this way: We go to the hospital when we are sick, but hopefully, we don’t stay sick. We get better. The same is true with our lives of faith. We go to Jesus with our brokenness and sin, and we leave his presence better than we were before.

Therefore, let Jesus bind up your wounds with his love, then “go and do likewise.”

Prayer:
Jesus, lead me to be like you. Lead me to sacrificially love whoever you put in my path. Amen.