The Question of a Lifetime
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Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 6632 Lawyer Threw in Check
An old miser, because of his exceptional thrift, had no friends. Just before he died, he called his doctor, lawyer and minister together around his bedside.
“I have always heard that you can’t take it with you, but I am going to prove you can,” he said. “I have $90,000 cash under my mattress. It’s in three envelopes of $30,000 in each. When I pass on I want each of you to take an envelope and just before they throw the dirt on me, you throw your envelope in.”
The three attended the funeral and each threw his envelope in the grave. On the way back from the cemetery the minister said, “I just don’t feel exactly right. My conscience hurts me. I m going to confess. I needed $10,000 badly for a new church we are building, so I took out $10,000 and threw the $20,000 in the grave.”
The doctor said, “I too, must confess, I am building a hospital and I took $20,000, and threw in only $10,000.
The lawyer said “Gentlemen, I’m surprised, shocked and ashamed of you. I don’t see how you could hold out like that. I threw in my personal check for the full amount.”
Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
Lots of people dislike lawyers, even when they need one. An article from the LaFleur Marketing Company began with these statistics:
The Verdict Is In: Many People Aren’t Fond of Attorneys
The Verdict Is In: Many People Aren’t Fond of Attorneys
In a Gallup poll from 2015, only 4% of respondents rated the “honesty and ethical standards” of lawyers as “very high.” In that same poll, more than one-third (34%) rated attorneys’ honesty and ethical standards as low (25%) or very low (9%). A landmark study for the American Bar Association found even harsher truths underlying the popular perception of attorneys:
74% of those surveyed agreed that “lawyers are more interested in winning than in seeing that justice is served.”69% believed “lawyers are more interested in making money than in serving their clients.”57% claimed that “lawyers are more concerned with their own self-promotion than their client’s best interests.”More than half (51%) agreed that “we would be better off with fewer lawyers.”
Thus, whether we view this man as a “lawyer” or as an “expert in matters pertaining to the Torah,” another meaning of the word, “νομικός,” we are already preconditioned to view him with skepticism. Luke’s opening sentence just adds fuel to the fire by saying that he “stood up to put Him to the test” or “to tempt Him.” He wasn’t there seeking a better way, He wasn’t looking for direction, and he didn’t believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah of God. No, he was there because he wanted to entrap Jesus as a fraud, a false prophet, a false Messiah!
According to a recent 2017 Pew Survey, 58% of American Republicans stated that they believe universities and colleges have a negative affect on the country – a 21% increase since just 2015. This concurrent growing mistrust of education goes hand in hand with mistrust of experts, as universities are assumed to be staffed with expert professors and are seen as the site where experts are created through education. But changes in education over the last generation have led many to question whether universities are positive, whether they actually create experts, and whether the experts at universities can be trusted.
Thus, whether we view this man as a “lawyer” or as an “expert in matters pertaining to the Torah,” we are already preconditioned to view him with skepticism. Luke’s opening sentence just adds fuel to the fire by saying that his purpose in engaging with Jesus was to “put Him to the test” or “to tempt Him.” He wasn’t there seeking a better way, He wasn’t coming to find direction, and he wasn’t there because he had come to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah of God. No, he was there because, knowing that other people were responding positively to Jesus’ preaching and miracles, he was part of a group of people who wanted to expose Jesus as a fraud, a false prophet, a false Messiah!
s opeong sentence just ass fuel to teh fire by saying that his purpose in engaging with Jesus was to
Not everyone who comes to us is seeking to know “the truth as it is in Christ Jesus” (). Some are curious about us because of our witness - mercy - life together, even in the face of rejection and hostility or suffering loss for Christ’s sake.
But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 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, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
Some come to us having a strong sense of right and wrong, strong feelings concerning what we call “social justice.” They want to know how to make things right in the world. Others truly want to improve themselves, having come to recognize that the works of the flesh are destructive:
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
For people like these, God’s Law has truly become “a lamp unto their feet and a light unto their path” as it exposes the crookedness of self-made paths to righteousness and the roughness of human efforts to achieve peace, both within individuals and between people.
And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.
Jesus declared that He was the fulfillment of the promises made by God to Israel and, through Israel, to the world. And yet this expert in the Law asked what he could do. Jesus answered his question with a question:
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.”
If only this man had come like that rich young ruler that Matthew and Mark told us about in and . Because that young man knew that, even with his self-perceived obedience to the Law, he still lacked something.
And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Jesus meets each person, not according to a one-size-fits-all template, but right where you are.
Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.
David praised the Lord for His willingness to come to us and meet us like that:
With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
This lawyer, this expert, however, was not of those. He did not come to know the truth. Like many lawyers, he only wanted to win.
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
The Law always accuses
The Book of Concord Article IV: Justification
[37] It is easy for complacent minds to fabricate some foolish dreams about love, namely, that a person guilty of mortal sin can love God above all things, because they themselves do not realize what the wrath or judgment of God is. But in its agony and its battles the conscience experiences the emptiness of such philosophical speculations. [38] Paul says [Rom. 4:15*]: “The law brings wrath.” He does not say that through the law people merit the forgiveness of sins. For the law always accuses and terrifies consciences. Therefore it does not justify since the conscience that is terrified by the law flees the judgment of God.
We have the treasure of “The Good Samaritan” because this man sought to justify himself. Like many today, he sought to find an escape, a loophole from the grievous burden that the Law places upon us if we seek to be justified by our works. He was no more successful than they were, for he, like every man, woman and child hearing these words today, is as frail as the grass. Like everyone here today, he lacked the capacity to “love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your strength, and all of your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
The story of “the Good Samaritan” is not a morality tale that illustrates that we should be kind to strangers in order to inherit eternal life. Placed in that role, it still accuses us as failures, for we don’t show mercy to everyone who falls among robbers, we don’t show mercy to everyone who suffers under the uncaring costs of progress, market competition, politics, and the various other aspects of life under which we live and move and have our being in “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” Even if we wanted to, the needs of so many are so great, the obstacles faced by so many are so high, and the failures suffered by so many are so crushing, that even contemplating it all casts us into despair.
No, there is only One who can declare in truth, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.” Only one who can say, and mean it, “Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy-burdened, and I will give you rest.” Only Jesus, Who “was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities” can be the one who can bind up our wounds, care for us and then say to the innkeeper, “Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.” .
Yes, Jesus shares His mercy with us, His Church, whom He equips through the Holy Spirit to care for those who come for healing, for deliverance, for reconciliation with God and with their neighbor, as the pure Gospel, like oil and wine, soothes the wounds inflicted by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ empowers us to be His witnesses, to love our neighbors for Christ’s sake, not perfectly, but fearlessly; not completely, but faithfully. Not in our own strength, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .