Untitled Sermon (2)

Jesus Encounter with the Expert in the Law – Luke 10:25-37

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.”

What do you do when you meet someone who causes you to re-think everyone you know? Has anyone every accused you of being an expert in something?

· Sometimes the only thing worse than knowing something well, is realizing you know less than others think you do…

· The expert in the law/scribe was highly educated

o He knew the Law/the OT backwards and forwards

o He didn’t just know Scripture, He KNEW Scripture

o This group of scholars were prominent in the exile period,

§ Some good examples were Ezra, kind of the ideal scribe (Ezra 7:11), some worked as adminstators, advisors, treasurers, etc.

§ Over time this group sort of evolved into a religious aristocracy, becoming authorities in the Old Testament/Law, protectors and preservers of the Jewish ways

§ Over time, this group was highly revered, and held in high honor

· This isn’t the first time we encounter a scribe, or expert in the law in the Gospels

o A lot of the clashes in the NT between Jesus and the religious leaders were between the experts in the law, some where Pharisees, and some weren’t

o They saw themselves as guardians of the purity of Torah and their vision of a Jewish way of life

o Jesus called out their hypocrisy on more than one occasion

§ Outwardly they looked like they had it all together

§ According to Jesus, they were full of death!

The problem with the scribes and their vision of the Jewish life was they replaced knowing God with knowing a lot about God, and Scripture

· They knew lots of Bible, but they weren’t being inner-renewed by their Word encounters

· They had no problem speaking for God, instead of living as active listeners in a world where God still speaks

· Preached an unscrupulous obedience of truth , yet neglected the weightier matters of the Law, mercy, justice, compassion, forgiveness, faithfulness

Our passage today is a familiar one, In Luke 10:25-37 the parable of the Good Samaritan

· I’d bet most of us read this story, and sort of just forget about the expert in the law

o For us, he sort of just fades in the background of the text.

· I think one of the interpretive keys to the parable of the good Samaritan comes in the text just above in 10:21 in response to the successful mission of the 72 and their names haven been written in the book of life “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, , and Jesus words there, “the Lord has hidden these things from the wise and the learned and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.”

· In 10:25 the expert in the law, stood up to test Jesus…

o Trying to trap Jesus he asks, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

o Jesus points the law expert back into Law, “how do you read it?”

o The expert answers with a familiar response, that he is most certainly proud of, ““‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c];(AG) and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.

§ Quoting from Deut 6:4ff; Lev. 19:8

· Jesus acknowledges that this man had answered correctly, and adds, do this and you will live.

o Jesus makes it a point that knowing Scripture well is important as is living Scripture well, but its practical not just intellectual

· But the test isn’t over just yet, wanting to justify himself, to appear right, to give extra credence to scribal traditions, he asks who is my neighbor?

o For the scribes, neighbor had a narrow definition

§ It was Jewish folks only. Actually, it was only those Jews who obeyed the law as taught by them and followed the traditions of the elders

o So, for this expert in the law, his neighbors was a narrow group of rightly aligned and those who understood Scripture like himself

· Jesus answers his question with a story with a surprise twist

o An unnamed man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho

§ A well known, rather treacherous 17 mile hike

o This man fell into the hands of robbers

§ Not uncommon, considering the report of lots of caves, rocks, hills and lots of bandits along the area

o They attacked him, stripped him of his clothes, beat him, went away, leaving him half dead

· V. 31-32 a priest and a Levite traveling down the same road, saw the man and passed by on the other side

· V. 33-35, a Samaritan traveled the same road

o Need to understand the cultural tension that existed at the time between the Jews and Samaritans

o Samaritans were viewed as traitors, as half-bloods, who polluted themselves during the Assyrian Captivity, by inter-marrying with the disposed people Assyria brought into the area when the sent largen numbers of Israelites into exile

o The Samaritan, sees the deserted man and takes pity on him…

§ V. 34, went to him, bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, put him on a donkey, took him to an inn ad take care of him, provided for his stay and any extra expenses that may have arisen

· In a culture where hospitality was a key value, Jesus’ story features an unlikely here, an unloved Samaritan. He fulfills the obligation required in the Law to show mercy to strangers

o Ex. 23:4-5, 4 “If you come across your enemy’s(A) ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it.(B) 5 If you see the donkey(C) of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.

o Lev. 19:33-34, 33 “‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born.(A) Love them as yourself,(B) for you were foreigners(C) in Egypt.(D) I am the Lord your God.

o Micah 6:8, He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly(A) and to love mercy and to walk humbly[a](B) with your God.(C)

· Following Jesus’ story is a follow up question to the expert in the law, he asks him which of the three was a neighbor to the man who had fallen into the hands of the robbers?

o V. 37The Expert in the law, can’t even say Samaritan, but simply responds, the “one who had mercy on him.”

o Jesus tells him to go and do likewise!

What I love in this story is the expert in the law had hopes of trapping Jesus with his words. Jesus had caused the experts in the law lot of grief, for how we was flippant with the tradition of the elders

o Purity and tradition were to be protected. Jesus was touching those who were deemed unapproachable and was challenging their traditions that laid unnecessary burdens on the people

o Hoping to label Jesus as a heretic, he is forced to his examine his own theology, and the texts he so freely used as a weapon

o Instead of winning an argument and causing a spectacle, he is forced to reevaluate all that he holds near and dear

o The scribal tradition had a narrow view of neighbor, fellow Jews

o They had now for several centuries begin to draw the circle even smaller, to only those who obeyed the law as they did and held the teachings and traditions of the elders

o Cf. Matthew 23:1-4, “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law(C) and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.(D)

o Luke 11:45-54, “45 One of the experts in the law(AR) answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”46Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.(AS) 47 “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. 48 So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.(AT) 49 Because of this, God in his wisdom(AU) said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’(AV) 50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, 51 from the blood of Abel(AW) to the blood of Zechariah,(AX) who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.(AY) 52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”(AZ) 53 When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, 54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.(BA)

Some questions for us:

Are we guided by the Word, or guided by the World? Are we willing see and believe new things, or are we so stuck in our way that we are unwilling to change?

Do people know us by our FB diatribes? Or are we known by our love, compassion, generosity?