Two Important Questions
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What are we to do with parables?
What are we supposed to notice?
What are we supposed to learn?
Are the details important?
Is the trivial important?
Parables generally have one main point. While it is good to understand the historical and cultural context of the parables, we should avoid getting caught up in trying to make more of the parable than was intended. Parables are usually to drive one main point home to the ones hearing it.
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?”
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Two Important Questions:
Two Important Questions:
Question 1: What shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Question 1: What shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Question 2: Who is my neighbor?
Question 2: Who is my neighbor?
The main question the parable of the good Samaritan addresses is the second one. But both questions are important.
Let’s see how the questions are really part of the same problem.
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
not a lawyer like we would think of today
He was an expert in the Law of God, the commandments handed down by Moses, as well as the many rules added on to those over time
As important as the answer to this question is, he did not ask it because he wanted wisdom from Jesus. He asked it to test him.
Have you ever had someone who is an expert ask you questions to find out what you know? He is taking the role of the examiner. This happened again and again to Jesus during his ministry. People questioned him as a test. And people will question us as believers as well, which is why Peter wrote: 1Pet3.15
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Jesus gave us many examples of how to answer people who present us with questions, even questions that are not asked with a pure motive.
What shall I do to inherit eternal life?
He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
A typical rabbi’s response, to answer a question with a question. He turns it back to the questioner. We may do the same sometimes. In fact, if you can become at ease with doing this, you may be able to go deeper than the question being asked
And his answer is correct: Luk10.27
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.”
But who can do this? No one has, other than Jesus
Has anyone ever kept this, even for five minutes?
Loving God seems like the easier of the two; he is lovable
But loving neighbor? That is more difficult
But no one has done this perfectly. If they had, they would be sinless, because love of God would mean keeping his commandments perfectly.
This lawyer has quoted from Deuteronomy6.4-5
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
And Lev19.18
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
And Jesus said that these two commandments are the sum of the law and the prophets. The Ten Commandments have to do with loving God and loving neighbor.
So this lawyer has answered well. Remember the question, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And the answer is to love God with every fiber of your being and love your neighbor as yourself.
Love God with all your heart: All your passion and drive should be motivated by love for God
Love God with all your soul: David said my soul thirsts for God
Love God with all your strength: All of your physical abilities should be put to work to please God
Love God with all your mind: Studying his Word, being transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Love your neighbor as your self: This is impossible this side of heaven. Who can honestly say that they have done this, that they have put any other human on perfectly equal footing with themselves in love? Who can say that every decision and action they take considers neighbor just as equally as it considers self?
Now Jesus tells this man his answer is good. Luk10.28
And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
But this man is not secure in this. And when we do not feel justified in something, we try to justify ourselves. Have you ever seen someone who is clearly not up for the job they have? Many of us have worked with someone or for someone who was not competent in their job, and these people can be a little dangerous in a sense. If you have someone who is incompetent and doesn’t know it, that is one thing. But an incompetent person who knows it is something else altogether. They know they are not up to it, and they are terrified that others will find them out. So what do they do? They justify themselves. They may take credit for other’s work. They may constantly recite their inflated list of accomplishments. But inside, they live in constant stress because they are concerned they will be found out to be a fraud. And this man, he wants to justify himself. He has answered a question well, but he knows that even though he has identified the way to eternal life, he has not met the criteria, and this worries him. So he asks his second question.
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
The first question had a motive “to put him to the test”
The second question had a motive, he desires to justify himself.
The first question Jesus answered with his own question.
The second question Jesus will answer with another question. This time, Jesus’ question is actually the same question. He pretty much asks the same question back to the man: Luk10.36
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
Before we examine Jesus’ question, let’s look at the parable again:
Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.
Sadly, stories like this are common, both in history and today. (examples)
Jesus, in this parable, uses a local context that the listeners could relate to. We might say, a man was walking along Okeechobee near the airport…
Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
Many people then, like today, did not necessarily care for the priests. Yet some might defend this priest. Perhaps they would say that he was on his way to do service to the Lord, and could not defile himself by touching the bleeding man, or else he would have to go through purification again. But this defense does not satisfy the God who desires mercy over sacrifice.
So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
Another member of the clergy. A Levite, by birth he was born into the clan responsible to teach the laws and maintain the tabernacle. He passes by as well.
So we might say in our time, if we were making this a local parable, a pastor walked by on the other side, and then a professor from a religious school passed by.
But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
The Samaritans were pretty much hated by the Jewish people, and I won’t get into all the reasons at this time, but they were truly hated by most Jewish people.
Maybe today the story would be that a member of Hamas came across the injured man.
Someone hated, someone not expected to give a lick of care
but he had compassion
So it would be shocking for the people to hear that a Samaritan was the hero of the story.
Let us consider as well where compassion comes from
It ought to be in our nature as humans, yet it is marred by the fall
Yet God in his graciousness gives us compassion for others. The Samaritan had compassion
He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.
He took immediate action! He did not delegate. He did not go on as the priest and Levite had, probably to tell someone later how inconvenienced they were that they had to step to the other side of the road. The Samaritan physically helped and financially helped this man, and even made sure that he would continue to be taken care of.
And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
This story would be nearly unbelievable to the people hearing Jesus tell it. I remember after 9/11, the news interviewed the neighbors of two of the terrorists who hijacked the plane, and they said these guys were so polite, they helped their neighbors, no one could have guessed the evil they had planned. And just as it is hard for us to understand how someone who seems rather pleasant could do such evil, it is also hard to understand how someone we see as evil could do any good.
Now Jesus poses the question back to the lawyer: Luke10.36
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”
He had asked who his neighbor was, and Jesus told the short parable, and brought the question back. Who was the neighbor? This is a rhetorical question, of course, the answer is clear in the question. But let’s ask it in an even more obvious way, that even the youngest child could answer. Let’s do it as a multiple choice. In a multiple choice, we are reminded of the three options:
Who proved to be a neighbor to the man? Was it: a) the priest? b) the Levite? c) the Samaritan?
He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
The man can’t bring himself to say it was a Samaritan, so rather than say who he was, he more generically says, “The one who showed him mercy”
Two important questions:
What shall I do to inherit eternal life?
Who is my neighbor?
The first question is very important. In a sense, the question is wrong. What shall I do? implies that there is something you can do to inherit eternal life, and there isn’t, at least not in the way this man was thinking.
Repent and believe. If you had kept the commandments perfectly, if you had loved God and neighbor perfectly, you could have eternal life, but you have already failed in this. Everyone has. All have sinned and fallen short. None is righteous, no not one.
We deserve God’s wrath for our sin.
We deserve death for our sin
Jesus took these on our behalf as our substitute.
God’s wrath was poured out on him on the cross
He died in our place.
He was raised again, so we can be guaranteed to have eternal life, the very thing this lawyer was concerned with.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
The second question is important also. Who is my neighbor?
Answer: Everyone.
People have examined this parable from every angle. But let’s remember the purpose of a parable. To make one main point. And the point of this parable is to answer the question, who is my neighbor?
Neighbor does not mean brother. In Christ, we are one family. We are not in relationship to those outside the church in the same way. There is a difference between neighbor and brother. We have a stronger obligation to those in the church, but we are to love all of our neighbors, and that is everybody.
RC Sproul: There is a popular distortion of Christianity that teaches the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. However, the central meaning of brotherhood and fatherhood in the New Testament refers to those who are the adopted children of God. The Bible does not teach a universal brotherhood of man, but it does teach a universal neighbourhood of man. I am required to love each human being as much as I love myself. No wonder we fall under the weight of the demands of this law. You might be thinking, ‘Nobody loves anybody as much as they love themselves, and nobody loves God with their whole heart, mind, soul and strength, so why should we be exercised about our neighbours?’ But the point is, that is the standard by which we will be judged. God’s requirements do not change simply because there is universal disobedience to them. We can take no comfort from the fact that none of us keep the law. In fact, we should be terrified by the fact that God calls it the Great Commandment. Therefore, in the logic of the New Testament, the Great Transgression would be a failure to love God with all our heart, strength, and soul, and the failure to love our neighbour as much as ourselves. That’s the great transgression. That’s why we are all exposed to the wrath of God. That’s why if we try to redeem ourselves through keeping the law we will be lost for ever. That’s why we need Jesus. It is only by his righteousness, that we will ever stand in the presence of God.
Sproul, R. C. A Walk with God: An Exposition of Luke. Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 1999. Print.
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.”
Can you do this perfectly? You cannot. But Christ has done it for us. And because He has, we must strive to do this.