What did Jesus say about helping others?

"A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among robbers, who, having stripped and beaten him, departed, leaving him half dead. And by coincidence a certain priest was going down by that way; and on seeing him passed on the other side. And likewise also a Levite, when he came to the place and saw, passed on the other side. But a certain Samaritan on journey came to him, and when he saw him was moved with compassion, and came up and bound his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and setting him on his own beast he brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow he took out and gave two denaries to the inn-keeper, and said to him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou shalt spend more, I at my coming back will repay thee. Which of these three, seemeth to thee to have been neighbour of him that fell among the robbers? And he said, He that showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, Go and do thou likewise" (vers. 30-37).

We need scarcely point out the lovely gospel theme here. Our Lord takes occasion from the self-righteous lawyer who would fain attain eternal life by his own care for his neighbor to show who is the true Neighbor for man's need. In the Good Samaritan, we cannot fail to see the One who, rejected of men, has come all the way from heaven to where we were half-dead with sin's wounds, and utterly helpless and naked, to bind up our wounds and bring us to where we can be cared for until He comes again. He desires that we shall be imitators of Him in this blessed work and in our little measure go and do likewise.

Our Lord says, in verse 42, "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." It is an example of a great general principle that the Lord is insisting upon; as He had laid bare the character of violence, so here of another thing — the solicitation that addresses itself to the kindness of heart of a Christian. "Give to him that asketh thee." Most certainly this is a comely and a gracious thing; but it is perfectly plain the Lord is not pressing upon His people that the thing be done heedlessly, nor as a mere gratification of their feelings, but with a conscience towards God. Supposing a person came to ask you for something, and you have reason to think that he would spend it improperly, you must limit it. Why not? He might say to you, Did not the Lord enjoin, "Give to him that asketh thee?" Certainly; but the Lord has given certain other words by which I judge as to the propriety of giving in each particular case. The asker might be going to do what I am sure would be absurd or wrong; am I still to give? or is not another principle introduced, namely, due discrimination? Perhaps he that asks has plans of his own which I believe to be worldly: am I to gratify his worldliness? What the Lord has in view is real need; and as there was wont to be great indifference to this among the Jews, as indeed such is apt to be everywhere, the Lord not merely insists upon the Christian helping his brother, but takes the broadest ground in urging generous giving; not, of course, for anything we may get by it, but out of love according to God.

"Give to him that asketh thee." We all know there are those who would impose. This shuts up and often hinders pity; and it may oftener still be an excuse for not showing pity. The Lord is guarding against the snare, and shows the great moral value, for our own souls and for the glory of God, of habitual, considerate, ungrudging kindness towards the distressed in this world. Not that I am always to give what a person asks, for he may seek something foolish; but still "Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." Do you count up how often you have been deceived? Even then why be sore? You are entitled, at the word of Jesus, to do it as unto your Father. The receiver of your bounty may apply it to a bad use: that is his responsibility. I am bound to cultivate unsuspicious generosity, and this quite independent of mere friendship. Even the publicans and sinners are kind to those who are kind to them; but what ought a Christian to be? Christ determines the position, conduct and spirit of the Christian. As He was a sufferer, they are not to resist evil. If there was need, the Lord's heart went out to it. They might turn His love against Himself, and use the gifts of His grace for their own purposes, like the man who was healed, heedless of the Lord's warning and the sense of His benefits. But the Lord, perfectly knowing it all, goes on steadfastly in His path of doing good, not in the mere vague thought of benevolence to man, but in the holy service of His Father.

Then the Lord says, "Give to every man that asks of thee." It is no question of foolish prodigality, but of an open hand and heart to every call of need. "From him that takes away what is thine ask it not back." It is of all consequence that, as there should be the patient endurance of personal wrong — "unto him that smites thee on the cheek, offer also the other" — so there should be also the testimony that our life does not consist in the things which we possess. At the same time, He adds for our own guidance towards others, "As ye wish that men154 should do to you, do ye also to them in like manner: and if ye love those that love you, what thank155 is it to you? for even sinners love those that love them." To love those who love us is not the point for a Christian; it is a mere human principle — as the Lord emphatically says here, "sinners also love those that love them." It is not as in Matthew, publicans or Gentiles, but "sinners," according to the ordinary moral tone of Luke. This was true of man everywhere, and the word "sinner" has a great propriety and emphasis. Not only men, but bad men, may love those who love them. So, too, the doing good to those who do good to us is but a righteous return of which the evil are capable; as indeed lending, when they hope to borrow or to receive. Sinners do quite as much.155a But for us the word is "love your enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward shall be great." Nor is the reward all. "And ye shall be sons of [the] Highest." How soon it was made their conscious relationship! Thus it becomes the desire and aim — to acquit ourselves according to the relationship grace has given us. "For he is good to the unthankful and wicked." How truly Divine! We ourselves are the witnesses of it in our unconverted days. "Hoping for nothing (μηδέν) in return": so W. H., etc., after ABLD, Latt., etc. Tischendorf adopted μηδένα (Revv. marg. "despairing of no man"), following ℵΞΠpm. Syrr. (sin.: "do not cease hope of men"). We cannot reason on the use of the word [ἀπελπίζειν] elsewhere in the N.T., for this is its only occurrence. What influenced the Revv. is the fact that the word occurs in Polybius in the sense of despairing or giving up in despair … But even Liddell and Scott furnish from Diog. L. i. 1-59, an instance of the modification, hoping that a thing will not happen. … Verbs compounded with ἀπὁ admit of flexibility enough in sense to cover the meaning attached to the word in our old and other versions. The question then mainly turns on the requirement of the context. And when one weighs verses 30-34 with care, it seems surprising that a sense so unnatural here should be attached to the word in verse 35. Especially consider the immediately preceding verse: what can be simpler than the converse call of grace, love, do good, lend, "hoping for nothing again"? (Cf. Luke 14:12.) What worthy sense in such a connection is there in "never despairing"? Does it mean that, whatever we may give thus unselfishly in faith, we are to have no fears of coming short for ourselves? If so, it seems needless, mean, and out of character with all the rest. Never despair because of giving or lending to others! Even a generous man might be beyond such fears, not to speak of a son of the Highest exhorted by the Only-begotten of the Father. And what here is the force of the margin "despairing of no man"? If the Revv. understand despairing of no man's honesty or gratitude in repayment, it seems quite contrary to the spirit of verse 30, not to mention that the sequel of verse 35 casts the believer wholly on God's great recompense [B.T.].156

In sharp contrast to this hypocritical attitude stands the attitude to which the Lord Jesus encourages every single disciple (vv. 3 and 4): "But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly." Everyone is called to see how and where he may help. As we said earlier, the Lord does not command the giving of alms. But if we do give alms, it is to be done in secret and without being noticed. For this the Lord Jesus uses an expression which seems to say something humanly impossible: "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." If my left hand is not to know what my right hand does how much less ought my brethren and fellow-men to know it!

The Lesson. — Now resuming His garments and His seat, He is once more the Master in the midst of His disciples. As that He addresses them all. "Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say to you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither is he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (12-17). Care for each other, and interest in each other, could be manifested by washing the feet — i.e. bringing the Word of God to bear on the other, if occasion call for it. Much wisdom and grace is surely needed for such a service to be rightly performed. Love, unchanging love, for His own moves the Lord to do it. Real love for another, and a true desire for his welfare, are needful for any of us to undertake such a work. And we do well to remember, that beside the washing there is the wiping. The service, when done, should be reckoned a service of the past; and the failure, which called for it, should then be buried, so as not to be cast up against the individual in the future. A lowly service it might seem; yet it was to be viewed as beneath none of them. If the Lord and Master would do it, the disciple, the Apostle, must not be above it.

The Apostle never forgot those words, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" And we must never forget them. The truth enshrined in them confronts us in a number of scriptures. Those who would strike a blow at Christ today, strike at His saints. Those who would serve Christ today, care for and serve His saints. That which is done to even the least of His brethren He will accept as done to Himself. God grant that we may not forget this. Real devotion to Christ is far more truly and effectively expressed by devoted service to His cause and people than by much outpouring of devotional and endearing language, either to Him or concerning Him.

Mark how our Lord puts the case in the beautiful parable of the good Samaritan. It was, if I may so say of Him as a man, the single eye and the heart that perfectly understood what God was, and enjoyed it; that never, therefore, had difficulty in finding out who was his neighbour. For, in truth, grace finds a neighbour in every one that needs love. The man that needs human sympathy, that needs divine goodness and its clear testimony, though it be through a man upon the earth, he is my neighbour. Now, Jesus was the only man who was walking in the whole power of divine love, though, I need not say, this was but a little part of His glory. As such, therefore, He found no riddle to solve in the question, Who is my neighbour?

As to giving to everyone who asks from us, this must be subject to sober wisdom; for someone may ask for a large amount to be spent on a project that is questionable, and concern for his own good might be reason to refuse this. We must also draw a firm line when people claiming to be the Lord's servants, urge us to give to their particular work. There are too many who take advantage of Christianity to make money. But if one is in need and asks for something to relieve that need, we ought to be fully prepared to give to him what is necessary. This attitude will result, by God's intervention, in receiving back in the same measure that we willingly give (v.38). The Lord is seeking in all of this to draw out the genuine faith of His people. He is certainly not "browbeating" His own! Also, if one has taken away what belongs to us, faith will make no demands for its return (v.30). However, if one borrows from another and forgets to repay him, it would be only right to remind the person of this, not because we want our rights, but to encourage the other person's reliability.

If we desire to be treated in a certain way, let us be sure to treat others in this way (v.31). If we do not practice this, why do we expect it of others? Also, if we only love those who show love to us, this is nothing to our credit: such a thing is common among sinful people of the world, as is doing good to those who do good to us (vs.32-33). Or if we lend, expecting to receive as much again, this is the same selfish principle that animates the ungodly (v.34).

Genuine love is much more than this, for it has honest care even for enemies, doing good and lending without expectation of receiving anything back (v.35). There are people who would not ask for a gift, but would not hesitate to ask for a loan, though they have little intention of paying it back. It would be wrong for us to encourage dishonesty in anyone, but so far as we ourselves are concerned, it is better for us to suffer wrong than to demand our rights. Faith on our part can leave my such things in the hand of God. If so, our reward will be great, and also in practical life we shall be children of the Highest, rightly representing His character of kindness to all, whether they are thankful or not. The reason for our being merciful is simply that our Father is merciful (v.36).

A last instruction may be added — one already obvious from what has been said — viz., that the work of Dorcas was for cases of need. There is some danger, if not watchful, of seeking to gratify ourselves in ministry of a Dorcas character; of expending our efforts upon selected cases, of choosing such as commend themselves to us in one way or another, so that it will often happen that the needs of some of the poor saints are abundantly met, while those of others are almost entirely overlooked. The antidote is to have Christ Himself before us as the object of our ministry, only remembering that, as it was not our merit, but our necessities, that drew forth His heart in service for us, so likewise the only incentive to our loving ministry to His own should be their needs. In other words, all our service must be drawn forth by the constraining love of Christ; for it is possible to bestow all our goods to feed the poor and yet to be without divine charity (1 Cor. 13), and hence without any promptings of the heart of Christ. Christ, therefore, must be the motive; Christ must be the object, and Christ must be expressed in all our service. E. D.