Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Hello my friends.

We are continuing through our parable series this week.

I get the privilege of taking us through a very popular parable.... and my prayer is that I do it justice.

There is a tendency as communicators of the Word (The Bible) to try to “deliver it fresh”…I really struggled this week on this line between presenting the eternal truth of Scripture without trying to spin it from a ‘new angle’.

And…I came to the conclusion that, well, how Jesus presented it is plenty good (haha).

Let’s open our Bibles to

We’re going to be talking about The Good Samaritan today but before we get there I think context is key!

So, in order for us to understand verses 29-37 lets take a look at verses 25-28.

At this point in the story Jesus just sent out 72 in pairs into the regions where he was about to travel to.

The 72 return and everyone is rejoicing....and then a lawyer poked his head up.

Scripture tells us he wanted to put Jesus to the test:

Pause: This guy was a ‘lawyer’ and familiar with the Law (Jewish Law) others will call this guy a ‘scribe.’

Strict orthodox Jews wore little leather boxes around their wrists called phylacteries.

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PHYLACTERY (φυλακτήριον, phylaktērion).

Prayer boxes that Jewish men wear on their foreheads or left forearms as a devotional aid during statutory times for prayer.

Meaning and Etymology

Phylacteries contain copies of the four biblical passages upon which their usage is based: Exod 13:9, 16; Deut 6:8; 11:18.

They serve as a ritual reminder of the covenantal commitment to keep the Torah of Moses and to thank God for His many blessings (1QS 10.10; Segal, 160–64).

Two other physical symbols reflect this same goal:

1. mezuzah—a small box, containing scrolls bearing the same four verses, mounted to the right doorpost of the house and of each room (see Deut 6:9; 11:20);

2. tzitzin—tassels or fringes with blue cords worn at the four corners of a prayer shawl (see Num 15:37–38; Deut 22:12).

The use of phylacteries has varied throughout history according to time and place, as have rules regarding their use.

The Greek term “phylactery” (φυλακτήριον, phylaktērion) comes from the Greek word meaning “to watch, guard” (φυλάσσω, phylassō).

Its only occurrence in the Bible is in Matt 23:5, in which Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees.

The term also appears in extrabiblical sources from the mid-second century AD (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 46.5; Massekhet Tefillin §9 [attributed to R. Judah b.

Ilai, using the translation equivalent qāmîa]; §12).

Phylacteries are also known by the term tefillin (m.

Berakhot 3:1), which may be based on the Hebrew term for prayer (תְּפִלָּה, tephillah)

These boxes came as, what Jews, saw as a command/instruction from 2 passages:

The phylacteries contained part of , Deteronomy 6 & 11, and .

Jesus asks the lawyer: “How do you read?”

Exodus

Deuteronomy

So, Jesus essentially tells the lawyer…look on your wrist and you will have the answer to your question.

We then pick up the story in verse 29.

Vs. 29.

Willing to justify himself.—Perhaps the scribe took the reply, “this do,” as an indirect reproach that he, to his own amazement, had not yet done it, and now apparently his conscience begins to speak.

But he will justify himself, inasmuch as he intimates that he, in this respect at least, had already fulfilled the requirement of the law, unless it were that Jesus perhaps by the words “thy neighbor” might have some different meaning from himself.

But better still, we are perhaps to conceive the matter thus: if the answer was so simple as it appeared to be from the words of our Saviour, there might undoubtedly be need of an excuse that he had approached Jesus with so trifling a question.

He wishes, therefore, by this more particular statement to give the Saviour to feel that precisely this is the great question, namely, whom he is to regard as his neighbor and whom not; and as to this, our Lord now, in the immediately following parable, gives him a definite exposition.

The Lawyer Seeks To Justify Himself

In these little boxes were four Biblical passages:

PHYLACTERY (φυλακτήριον, phylaktērion).

Prayer boxes that Jewish men wear on their foreheads or left forearms as a devotional aid during statutory times for prayer.

Meaning and Etymology

Phylacteries contain copies of the four biblical passages upon which their usage is based: Exod 13:9, 16; Deut 6:8; 11:18.

They serve as a ritual reminder of the covenantal commitment to keep the Torah of Moses and to thank God for His many blessings (1QS 10.10; Segal, 160–64).

Two other physical symbols reflect this same goal:

1. mezuzah—a small box, containing scrolls bearing the same four verses, mounted to the right doorpost of the house and of each room (see Deut 6:9; 11:20);

2. tzitzin—tassels or fringes with blue cords worn at the four corners of a prayer shawl (see Num 15:37–38; Deut 22:12).

The use of phylacteries has varied throughout history according to time and place, as have rules regarding their use.

The Greek term “phylactery” (φυλακτήριον, phylaktērion) comes from the Greek word meaning “to watch, guard” (φυλάσσω, phylassō).

Its only occurrence in the Bible is in Matt 23:5, in which Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees.

The term also appears in extrabiblical sources from the mid-second century AD (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 46.5; Massekhet Tefillin §9 [attributed to R. Judah b.

Ilai, using the translation equivalent qāmîa]; §12).

Phylacteries are also known by the term tefillin (m.

Berakhot 3:1), which may be based on the Hebrew term for prayer (תְּפִלָּה, tephillah)

The text tells us that the lawyer sought to justify himself… and he asks, “who is my neighbor?”

His question springs therefore from a very different source from that of the rich young man, Matt.

19:16, and without doubt he expects a very different answer from this one, which, on the position of the law, was the only possible one.

He is first put to shame by the very fact that the Saviour gives him to hear nothing strange, but simply that which was perfectly familiar.

Note: When you compare this account to the account of the Rich Young Ruler we see that the Rich Young Ruler says he’s kept all of the commands from his youth, Jesus then tells him to sell all of his possessions and then he walks away sad because he has great wealth.

:

Vs. 29.

Willing to justify himself.—Perhaps the scribe took the reply, “this do,” as an indirect reproach that he, to his own amazement, had not yet done it, and now apparently his conscience begins to speak.

But he will justify himself, inasmuch as he intimates that he, in this respect at least, had already fulfilled the requirement of the law, unless it were that Jesus perhaps by the words “thy neighbor” might have some different meaning from himself.

But better still, we are perhaps to conceive the matter thus: if the answer was so simple as it appeared to be from the words of our Saviour, there might undoubtedly be need of an excuse that he had approached Jesus with so trifling a question.

He wishes, therefore, by this more particular statement to give the Saviour to feel that precisely this is the great question, namely, whom he is to regard as his neighbor and whom not; and as to this, our Lord now, in the immediately following parable, gives him a definite exposition.

Mark: 19:16-22

Mark 19:16-22

Mark: 19:16-22

Jesus tells hin in verse 28 to ‘do the following’ and the scribe takes it as if Jesus told him he wasn’t doing it…at this point he says, well who is my neighbor (because if Jesus says its just the Jews then he would respond that he’s already doing this):

but with their passion for definition the Rabbis sought to define who a person’s neighbour was; and at their worst and their narrowest they confined the word neighbour to their fellow Jews.

For instance, some of them said that it was illegal to help a Gentile woman in her sorest time, the time of childbirth, for that would only have been to bring another Gentile into the world.

So then the scribe’s question, ‘Who is my neighbour?’

was genuine.

Alrighty… lets pray.

Alrighty… so, now that we have the context set lets talk setting and then we will talk about our characters.

The setting of our parable is the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

This road was known to be super dangerous.

Jerusalem is about 2300 feet above sea level and the Dead see is 1300 below sea level… in about a 20 mile stretch this road drops about 3600 feet.

A few facts about this road:

5th century scholar named Jerome called it ‘The Red or Bloody Way’

By the 19th century it was still necessary to pay Sheiks ‘safety’ money before you travelled on it

This was a dangerous road and things like someone getting jumped happened all of the time during Jesus’ time

There is a longer, yet safer option which most Jews would’ve taken to (a) avoid danger and to (b) avoid most Samaritans through Bethlehem

Characters

The traveller.

Most assume this is a Jew… but a fool nevertheless.

Most people who travelled this road would seek strength in numbers.

A lot of commentaries refer to this guy as ‘reckless’ and ‘foolhardy’

The priest.

The text tells us that the priest passed on the other side… this man probably had on his mind.

He would be unclean if he touched a dead man (for 7 days).

This is some literary license here but… this priest put the Temple and its liturgy above human suffering.

He wanted to remain ceremonially clean.

The levite: The Levite comes closer but then moves across the way.

Bandits were known to use decoys… so, the Levite took no change and being jumped himself.

The priest and the levite both appeared to go closer, make an inspection, and then chose to keep going.