If you haven’t had a chance yet, take a minute and read a short introduction to this series of posts here: Loving your neighbor in a day of viral madness (Part 1).
The good Samaritan is perhaps the most well known parable of all the parables of Jesus. Amazingly, Christians and non-Christians alike are acutely aware of the story. We have all heard news casters, actors, actresses, and preachers make their point by simply stating… “he was a good Samaritan.” The assumption is that a simple reference can be made about the Samaritan and we think we know the point Jesus was making. Many assume, “It’s about being a good person/Christian… right? It’s about how we are to be a good neighbor… isn’t it?”
While we are going through this current pandemic I hope to blog a series of posts about loving your neighbor. In an effort to do this we must dig deeper into the context and the point Jesus is making in this epic parable.
Context Is King
Wherever we find ourselves in God’s Word, context is king. Meaning, we are to look at what is going on around the specific text we are reading and ask ourselves: What comes before and after the text? What is Jesus addressing when he shares this particular parable? The context is where we will find meaning for any particular passage. We shouldn’t make a passage of scripture say what we want it to say. Nor should we take a passage out of its context to distort the message. Rather, context is king! So let’s check the context and determine what is happening that leads Jesus to tell this particular parable.
Firstly, let’s take a closer look at Luke 10:25-37 by looking at the immediate context. Secondly, in future posts we will broaden our scope and look at the wider context which will then reveal the point of the parable.
Luke 10:25-37
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
The Immediate Context / Testing Jesus
There are two sets of questions in our text. In this post I will only be tackling the first set of questions.
A lawyer has come to test Jesus. If you are like me, you try to imagine scenes like this one. At first glance, I begin to think – wow this is really, really good! This lawyer is probably sticking his chest out and making a show of himself. After all, he is experienced in the things of the law. He knows the Pentateuch, he is well studied. He likely thinks that Jesus is no match for his superior understanding of the law. Therefore, we are told that the lawyer seeks to “put him to the test…” Yikes! Imagine trying to go toe to toe and test the Son of God!
He does so by asking Jesus a question. We are to read this and realize that the lawyer is not asking the kind of question that seeks an answer. After all, he is a law expert. His assumption is that he already knows the answer! He asks the question not to gain an answer, he asks the question to put Jesus to the test. We will also see in a future post that the 2nd set of questions shows us that he is trying to “justify himself.” What are the driving motives for the lawyer’s questions? We are told that he is asking the questions to test Jesus and justify himself.
The Lawyer’s Question
In an effort to trap Jesus the lawyer asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Let’s pause right there for a moment. This is a great question. It is the question of all humanity throughout all of history. Everyone has an answer to that question! The lawyer and most people have already settled their answer to the question. As we read further, we will see that it’s not really a question at all. We have already seen that the question has a motive, which is to test Jesus. Nonetheless, the lawyer and all of humanity answers the question in a variety of ways. Interestingly, most people land in the same place as the lawyer. “What must I do to inherit eternal life…?”
When a person inherits something it is typically not because of anything he or she does. An inheritance typically comes to people not because of what they do but because of who they are or who they belong to. My children will one day receive an inheritance from me. This inheritance will be theirs not because of what they have done but because of who they are. They are my children and they belong to my family. Therefore, they don’t have to DO anything! (Keep that in mind as we press forward.)
Jesus Answers With A Question
The second question comes from Jesus. Remember the lawyer asked, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life”? Jesus replied, “What do you think? What is written in the law?” What a great answer! I like this for two reasons. Firstly, the man is a lawyer, an expert regarding the law. So Jesus asks the expert – what does the law say? Or, “what do you think, expert of the law?” Secondly, I like that Jesus didn’t come straight out with an answer. Instead, his response to the lawyer’s question was… a question.
Sometimes I think we would do well to follow Jesus’ example. I find too often we want to give oversimplified answers. We want to speak some bit of truth and that be the end of it all. Contrastingly, Jesus engages further with the lawyer. This shows us that Jesus is not in a hurry and that he is discerning that there is more to the question than the question itself.
The Lawyer’s Reply
The lawyer responds with Scripture. His answer, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart….and your neighbor as yourself.” This is a great answer! It’s a biblical answer and in that sense it is the right answer. Clearly this lawyer knows his Old Testament (See: Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19). However, even though he has provided the right answer according to the law, he has also provided the impossible law to do. And remember, he wants to know what he must do to inherit eternal life.
Let’s think about the lawyer’s reply, and ask ourselves if we are fulfilling the command. Here it is again:
The Lawyer: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus replies: “what does the law say?”
The lawyer responds: “love God with ALL my heart, soul, strength, mind and love neighbor as yourself….”
The lawyer has just hung himself. Who of us has ever fulfilled this one verse? Just one verse, that’s all it takes for me and you to be undone. According to the law expert, this is what we must do and immediately we are found to fall woefully short of obeying this law. Indeed, none of us has ever loved God with all our heart, soul, strength, mind and our neighbor as ourself!
We are further indicted when Jesus quotes this same text in Mark 12. Jesus is answering the question about, “what is the greatest commandment?” Jesus then quoted this same verse that the lawyer did in Luke 10. It is the greatest commandment because all the other commands are wrapped up into this one. In other words, if you keep this one, you will be keeping all the rest. Love God with all of your being… it sounds so simple, it’s easy to quote, and yet it is impossible to perfectly obey.
Jesus’ Reply…
“You have answered correctly, do this…” Consider, did the lawyer know that the tables had turned? Did he realize that he had set out to trap Jesus and that his own answer trapped himself? Did he know that he was unable to keep the very thing he stated was needed for eternal life? I personally think he did based on the next set of questions in the text. We will look into those questions in the next post but for now let’s consider a few questions of our own.
In the midst of this viral madness…
1.) What does it look like to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, mind and to love your neighbor as yourself?
2.) How do we practice loving God and others without it becoming something that we do in an effort to earn eternal life?
3.) What is the gospel connection? Meaning, how does the gospel inform what we do as we walk through days of this viral madness that surrounds us?
4.) Look back over the immediate context and see: The Lawyer asks a question / Jesus answers with a question / Lawyer replies / Jesus replies. Begin to look at the next section of our text and see if you can spot that same sequence repeated again.
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