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“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew and Mark both write that this was Jesus’s response when the expert in religious law asked Him which was the most important commandment in the law of Moses.(1) Luke writes that the expert in religious law told Jesus that they were the most important commandments in response to Jesus’s question, and He affirmed him. If the Spirit of God impressed all three Gospel writers to include this dialogue, it is well worth our paying attention.
Interestingly, Luke goes on to include the continuation of that conversation between the lawyer and Jesus.(2) Knowing that he was to love God without limitation and love his neighbor to the same degree that he loved himself, the lawyer found the need to define who his neighbor was. i believe there are two reasons why he sought that clarification.
First, the lawyer was standing before Jesus as a representative of the Pharisees. On their behalf, he was seeking to catch Jesus in a misstatement regarding the law. They were looking for any error on Jesus’s part in order to malign His character and reputation. It was a fool’s errand. There would never be any fault to be found.
The second reason is one of which i believe we are guilty—he was looking to justify his own actions. He knew there were people he did not love for various reasons and was attempting to exclude them as his neighbors. Perhaps they were people against whom he held a grudge because of something they had done to him in the past. Or perhaps they were people against whom he held prejudice, not because of something they had done, but because of their race, ethnicity, or beliefs. He was looking for a definition of “neighbor” that included everyone he felt comfortable loving and excluded those he did not.
Is that starting to sound familiar? i would venture that you and i have at some point divided those around us into “neighbors” and “non-neighbors.” Because if we can place those people who we don’t want to love into the latter category, then we can justify our action of not loving them. We will have solved our problem of being disobedient to Jesus’s command because they are “non-neighbors.”
That’s why Jesus’s example of the Good Samaritan is as relevant for us as it was for the scribe that day. Interestingly enough, Jesus never said that this story was a parable. It could well have been the report of an actual occurrence. It could well have been an occurrence in the life of one or more of the people that Jesus was addressing at the time.
In that day, a story that made the Jews look bad and the Samaritans look good, at best, would have put off the Jews from hearing the truth Jesus was communicating. At worst, it would have been dangerous, offending all the Jews who were gathered and inciting them to defend their honor. Thus, it was very risky to tell a story like this hypothetically. But don’t forget, Jesus knew everything about everyone who was within the sound of His voice. The same Jesus, who had written in the dirt the secret sins of the religious leaders who had brought forth the woman caught in adultery, was able to use actual events in the lives of some of these to teach a truth. Perhaps it was an experience straight out of the life of the religious expert himself. Perhaps, if you’ll allow, it is an experience straight out of one of our lives!
Several years ago, i had the opportunity to visit the treacherous path between Jerusalem and Jericho. From a topography standpoint, the route isn’t much better today. It’s a narrow, winding path through a rocky and barren landscape. Back in the first century, it apparently was also a “high crime” area that neither the Roman soldiers nor the Jewish leaders cared enough to police.
The first persons to come upon this Jewish man who had been robbed, beaten and left for dead were a Jewish priest and a Levite. The priest had been serving God at the temple all week, and he was anxious to get home. He had put in enough time ministering to others for one week. Surely there was someone else who could take care of this poor fellow. (i’m ashamed to admit that i can relate to him.) Also, perhaps the robbers were hiding out just waiting for the next person to stop. He didn’t want to take that risk. Anyway, the man was not a member of his synagogue. So he left it for the next person coming along to help him. Then the Levite did exactly what the priest did – nothing!
The fact that the “hero” of the story is a Samaritan made the point of the account so much more poignant to the Jews. It would have been one thing if a Jew had stopped to help a Samaritan, but in this case, a Samaritan stopped to help a Jew that two Jews had already passed by. The Samaritan was showing love to someone who hated him. He was risking his own life and spending his own money. And he wasn’t seeking any credit or honor for himself. Instead, he felt compassion and “showed him mercy.” There was no earthly reason for him to do what he did—giving of his time and his resources—without expecting anything in return.
The religious expert had wanted to have an intellectual discussion about who his neighbor was. It would keep the conversation academic and impersonal. Jesus forced him to consider the person in need. How easily do we talk about abstract ideals and never personally provide any practical help? Getting involved personally will require getting our hands dirty. It will require allowing ourselves to be inconvenienced. It will definitely cause us to step out of our comfort zones. And there’s a good possibility that our efforts won’t be appreciated. The lawyer wanted to make the issue philosophical; Jesus made it practical!
This week i am releasing a novel titled A Belated Discovery, a story which at its core deals with this very issue. This second book in The Parables series applies Jesus’s teaching in a more contemporary setting. The story occurs in the 1940s in the European theater of World War II and the years following the war here in the U.S.—specifically in the cities of Williamsport, PA and Richmond, VA. In the story, the main character becomes acutely aware that he has never considered people of another race to be one of his “neighbors.” Since he didn’t believe them to be one of his neighbors, he didn’t consider himself to be under any obligation to love them. The story follows his awakening to the truth, as well as the awakening of those around him.
Returning to the biblical account of the Good Samaritan, we see that ministering to the Jewish man on the side of the road cost the Samaritan two silver coins and some time, but not helping him cost the two Jewish religious leaders much more. It cost them the failed opportunity of investing their time and resources with which God had entrusted them. It cost them the failed opportunity to be better men and caring neighbors. They could have been a good influence in a bad world, and yet they chose to be a bad influence. The Samaritan’s deed of mercy, on the other hand, has inspired sacrificial ministry across centuries… and across the world.
We, too, would do well to consider who our neighbor is. Who have we knowingly—or unknowingly—excluded? What opportunity is God giving us to love that neighbor in a very tangible and genuine way? What adjustment do we need to make to no longer pass our neighbor by “on the other side of the road?”
Today is the day to love your neighbor as yourself. Let’s not put it off!
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You can read about this exchange between the religious expert and Jesus in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
Portions of this post are taken from chapter 47 of my book, Walking With The Master. For more information about the book, click here. Information about my newly released book, A Belated Discovery is also available by clicking here.
(1) Matthew 22:35-39; Mark 12:28-31
(2) Luke 10:25-37 (NLT)
One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking Him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”
Copyright © 2024 Kenneth A. Winter All rights reserved.
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