Why are You? Beholding Jesus to See Others

Last week we saw how in the aftermath of the ascension and then Pentecost Peter and John defined themselves and found their sense of identity in Christ, to the point of being willing to die.

This week we are going to see how, as we behold Jesus and root our identity in him and not in the things of this world, our view of others changes.

We are in a passage today that if you grew up in the church, or even if you haven’t, you probably have heard before

Please try and hear it for the first time this morning.

Luke 10:25–37 CSB

Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?” He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.” “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’ “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”

Text

This is a well known Parable

Found only here in Luke

While verses 25-28 have parallels in Matthew and Mark, vv. 29-37 don’t

This passage has 4 parts and we are going to take them one at a time.

Part 1 vv. 25-29

This is the part that is paralleled in Matthew and Mark

Teacher/expert of the law comes to “test” Jesus

What is this test?

Two option

One, he is trying to catch Jesus in a “gotcha” situation

Think this is unlikely, because after all, Love commands are central to Judaism

Two, he is genuinely trying to see if Jesus is qualified to be teaching.

Comes on the heals of some pretty bold teaching about the Father and the Son.

But what does Jesus do?

Turns it back on the “expert”

and then (v. 28) forces the discussion into the practical and personal.

Expert wants to justify himself?

Why?

Because he knows that just because he knows these commands, he also knows that doesn’t mean that he is following them.

Knowledge of what to do isn’t the same as doing it.

Give the expert credit here, he knows something that many of us don’t

He knows that he isn’t capable of doing this, so he seeks to justify

He knows that he draws lines on who he “loves” and wants to see Jesus draw those same lines.

If we take a hard look ourselves, we will see that we aren’t capable of doing this either.

We want to draw these same lines on who’s in and who’s out, who’s worthy and who is not, all the time.

These are all questions of identity

And when we define ourselves as the world defines us, we get to draw lines and say “these people are acceptable and these people aren’t.”

Part Two vv. 30-32

Jesus decides to answer in parable.

Human beings are narrative driven people.

We love story

And stories shape us in ways that we can’t really understand.

This is the first part of the parable.

Setting: Road from Jericho to Jerusalem

17 miles

Distance from here to Cracker Barrel on the interstate

Elevation shift

Jerusalem is are 2700 feet ABOVE sea level

Jericho is about 800 feet BELOW

Change of 3500 feet or 205 feet per mile

barren, no vegetation, and hilly

Hard road, perfect place for robbers.

Two characters: Priest and a Levite

These are the religious folk

FOlks that should know the Love Commands.

Yet both pass by on the other side of the road.

Don’t know why, but they do.

We aren’t given an explanation

Any explanation we attempt is simply conjecture.

What we are sure of is that

they saw him

passed to the other side

did not help him

Part Three vv. 33-35

This is the meat of the parable, this is where Jesus spends the most time.

Samaritan

we’ve talked about this, but a Samaritan would cross all sorts of lines for a lot of Jews.

Other

Not in our group

not the right identity

suspect

What does the Samaritan do?

“he had compassion”

Luke 10:33

Luke 10:33 CSB

But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion.

His response is totally different from the others

Him, one that is supposed to be ethnically and religiously suspect

He serves the man out of his own wealth

this is costly

2 denarrii would get you 2 weeks room and board in an inn.

Jesus isn’t saying “love even the Samaritan”

even more shocking

uses an “unclean” Samaritan as an example of neighborly love

Jesus messes up all of our preconceived ideas about identity.

Part Four vv. 36-37 (conclusion)

Jesus turns it all around again, forceing us to ask not “who was the neighbor” but “am I a neighbor?”

How do we show neighborlyness to people?

Showing mercy

To whom?

All, regardless of social and worldly “identities”

Expert is trying to exclude some from love’s embrace

Jesus shows that Love does not have calcuable limits

Loving our neighbors is about us and whether we are doing what God called us to do, not whether others are worthy of that love!

After all, Romans 5:8

Romans 5:8 CSB

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Application

When we have eyes that are focused on God, we will see the people around us in a new way and be willing to pause our own agenda to help meet those needs.

We don’t know why the priest and levite didn’t stop, but they didn’t pause thier agenda to reach out to a man in need.

What the Samaritan does in the parable is active.

Look at all The verb phrases

“came to where he was,”

“had compassion,”

“went to him,”

“bound up his wounds,”

“pouring on oil and wine,”

“set him on his own animal,”

“brought him to an inn,”

“took care of him,”

“gave” money,

“repay”

This should show us that neighbor love is active and should prod us to use concrete action on behalf of those in need around us.

When our eyes have been fixed on Jesus for quite some time, our vision changes

Remember the solar eclipse a few years ago?

“Dn’t stare at the Sun it will blind you

Or old TV’s and moniters that would “burn in” and image

When we stare at Jesus, it changes what we see

it’s easier to extend patience to people around us, for we see their humanity, their need for Jesus, and their need for grace when they mess up.

When we see Jesus, who is perfect, it becomes more natural for us to extend grace to others who are imperfect like us.

In other words, We begin to see others the way Jesus sees us!

“as yourself”

Who are the people we tend to overlook due to busyness?

protecting our reputation?

the potential high cost of meeting their needs?

our fear we won’t know what to do?

or selfishness?

Often, we hesitate when people don’t look like us, talk like us, come from the same place (geographically, financially, socially) as us, or some other reason.

After we spend time truly beholding Christ, a miraculous occurrence takes place: we begin to see others the way he sees them.

Suddenly we find ourselves with compassion that overtakes our previous fears or concerns.

Our reflection of Christ doesn’t change the way we look (although we might be healthier and begin to exude joy); we look like Jesus in our actions.

It’s easy to say “those people aren’t like us” and then forgo building relationship with them

But they are as in need of the Gospel as we are.

We weren’t commanded to take the Gospel just to people that are like us, but rather “to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”

Or maybe just to the ends of Fairmont

Maybe that is where we need to start

We wouldn’t be here is the early church had said, “we’re only going toe share the gospel with the people that are like us, that fit our identity”

Sometimes we are turned off by other’s brokenness

Maybe they aren’r broken and struggle in the same way we do

Maybe they do, and it is forcing us to confront our own brokenness and sin.

Don’t know about you, but I am glad that Jesus didn’t look at my brokeness and say, “Yuck! Nope, not helping him!”

When we respond to our own brokeness and sin by trusting in Jesus, it allows us to repent and seek forgiveness. But it also means that we get to recover and pursue God’s design for us, that we get to sit and behold Jesus, and grow in CHristlikeness.

This Time with Jesus changes our perspective of others, and we begin to see them the way that God sees them and sees us.

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