Called to Be A Hero

Reading of the Word

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.” (Luke 10:37b, NASB)

Prayer of Illumination

Gracious God,

As we gather on this Second Sunday of Easter, we seek Your presence among us. Open our hearts and minds as we engage with Your Word. Illuminate the Scriptures for us by Your Holy Spirit, that we may understand Your truth and be transformed by it.

Guide those who proclaim Your Word today, granting them wisdom and clarity. May Your resurrection power inspire us to live as faithful witnesses of Your love and grace.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Introduction

Last week, we celebrated the greatest event in all of history—the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In that celebration, we declared that Jesus is the greatest hero of all time and talked about several reasons why.

One of the reasons Jesus is a hero—even a superhero—is his radical teachings. Those teachings were a drastic departure from the teachings of the religious leaders of his day. Those religious leaders were constantly following Jesus to try to trip him up or find fault with his words or actions. They may not have set out to be villains, but they ended up being villains.

Every superhero seems to have a villain. Batman has the Joker. Spider-Man has the Green Goblin. The X-Men have Magneto. Jesus had the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were jealous of Jesus’s fame among the people, and they wanted the people to come to them for religious guidance, not Jesus.

The Pharisees' Attempts to Outwit Jesus

The Gospels show the Pharisees trying to trick Jesus all of the time.

10 times to be exact

Luke 10 is one of those times where they try to do just that.

An example of a fairly harmless trick question, meant to make someone feel silly, might be, “How many letters are in the English alphabet?” The person being asked this question is supposed to take it at face value and answer, “26.” Meanwhile, they do not realize that it is a trick question and that you were really asking about the number of letters in the English word “alphabet,” so the answer you were looking for is actually 8.

In Luke 10:25, a trick question is asked to try to prove that Jesus was not trustworthy

Luke 10:25 (NASB 2020)

And behold, a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

An expert in the law asked this and of course, he would have know the answer according to what the law says. But remember last week, Jesus is a hero because his teachings are radical and different compared to the law.

This was an innocent question to the crowd but Jesus saw right through this expert and the trap he was setting for Jesus.

To understand what is going on here, we have to get some background on a couple of things.

Who are the Pharisees?

The Pharisees thought of themselves as the experts in the Law of Moses. Sometimes they were called lawyers, but that’s not the same thing we mean today when we think of a lawyer in a courtroom. The ancient historian Josephus wrote that the Pharisees began as a sect of Jews devoted to strict observance of the will of God as written in the Law of Moses. Even the name Pharisee means “separated one.”

Sadly, however, the Pharisees had morphed into a group of people who misunderstood the purpose of the law and had become hypocrites and fault-finding martinets. They prided themselves in knowing everything in their two holy books.

What were their two holy books?

One book was the Hebrew Bible, known as the Tanakh (Tuh-NAHK). Tanakh was divided into three groupings. The Torah is the first five books of what we call the Old Testament, containing the Law of Moses. The other two groupings are “the Prophets” (called Nevi’im in Hebrew) and “the Writings” (called Ketuvim in Hebrew). The Tanakh as a whole is what Christians call the Old Testament, although the order of the books is arranged slightly differently.

Their second holy book was called the Talmud. The Talmud contains the oral traditions of the Law passed down along with the teachings and opinions of thousands of rabbis over the centuries about what the Law means. The Talmud was like a commentary about the Law of Moses with lots of opinions and extra guidelines added.

So the mindset of the Pharisees and this specific expert was that they were so knowledgable in the law, they had the perfect way to slip Jesus up.

Jesus’ Response to Religious Hypocrisy

He responds to his question by asking his own question.

Luke 10:26 NASB 2020

And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”

The Pharisee responds exactly how Jesus thought he would by reciting Deut 6. Let’s look at this passage and see what their response was.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 NASB 2020

“Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. You shall also tie them as a sign to your hand, and they shall be as frontlets on your forehead. You shall also write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The Pharisees named this the First Great Commandment and they combined it with the second great commandment found in Leviticus 19:18

Leviticus 19:18 NASB 2020

You shall not take vengeance, nor hold any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

Jesus commended him on his answer. The expert of the law answers for himself the question that he asked Jesus.

Luke 10:28 NASB 2020

And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

Insights for Spiritual Thought

I see a few things here that Jesus is telling us today.

Knowing about God is not the same as experiencing God.

Head experience is not heart experience.

Eternal life comes from a heart experience.

We must open our hearts to the Gospel message of salvation. It is how we gain eternal life and the gifts to reach others. ex. Jesus at the door

There is nothing we can do within ourselves to gain salvation.

The Pharisee’s main focus was not to find out the way to eternal life.

He thought his extensive knowledge was sufficient. He just wanted to draw Jesus into a controversial debate to crush his credibility.

We must make sure when we are engaging in God’s Word, we are doing this for the right reasons.

Many people do it to attack others.

Using the Bible to judge others.

Shoving God down their throats.

God doesn’t force himself upon anyone.

Others do it to puff up themselves.

Self-Pride - look at all the knowledge I have. Exactly what the expert in this story did.

Education is great and it helped me in understanding God’s Word to equip for ministry but experiencing situations and allowing God to transform you through them is worth much more than what any professor can teach you.

Don’t rely just on head knowledge to reach others for Jesus. Rely on heart knowledge where the Holy Spirit resides and can guide and teach us.

People use it to push their own agendas.

No further words needed here. We have seen it infiltrate the church and divide denominations.

God’s Word speaks for itself.

Within the pages of the Bible are contained everything we need for our understanding to gain salvation and to allow the Holy Spirit purify our hearts.

People don’t like what Scripture tells them and will use knowledge to overcome what they don’t like.

The truth convicts sinful humanity to come face to face with a decision that must be made.

To Sum it up: Jesus calls us to have a heart (salvation) experience that calls us to take action in loving and serving others.

Conclusion

You and I can be God’s channel for prevenient grace to touch hearts when we obey the call of Jesus to “go and do likewise.”

What does prevenient grace mean? Prevenient grace is the grace of God that reaches out to touch lost people and enable them to begin their journey toward salvation and experience God’s saving grace. Many lost people resist God’s grace because Satan has blinded their minds to their need for God. Prevenient grace is God touching their resistant hearts, making them curious and hungry to know God.

We can do this as individuals—being neighbors to those in need. By doing this, we can begin to engage our community and become heroes like Jesus illustrated.

We can also come together as a church of neighbors and, collectively, go outside the walls of this church and serve as neighbors to meet needs we see in our community. We can become a church of heroes! What a powerful channel of prevenient grace.

The challenge for us: What needs are you uniquely positioned to meet as you “go and do likewise”?

Prayer After Sermon

Heavenly Father,

As we gather before you on this blessed day, we are reminded of the profound teachings of your Son, Jesus Christ. His words echo in our hearts as he instructs us to go forth and do likewise, to embody his love, compassion, and mercy in our lives.

Grant us the wisdom to understand the depth of his message and the courage to live it out in our daily actions. Help us to see opportunities where we can extend a helping hand, offer words of encouragement, and be a source of hope to those in need.

May the joy of this Easter season continue to fill our hearts and inspire us to be agents of positive change in our communities. Guide us, Lord, as we seek to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer.

We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

Amen.

Benediction

May the resurrected Christ, who greeted His disciples with peace,

Fill your hearts with His presence and assurance of His love.

May the light of His truth guide your steps each day,

And may His grace empower you to live as witnesses of His resurrection power.

Go forth in the peace of Christ, proclaiming His victory over sin and death,

And may the blessings of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be upon you now and always. Amen.