Three Appooaches To Life Series

THREE APPROACHES TO LIFE

Luke 10:25-37

From the Book, “Parables Found Only in Luke” bmarcaurelle@charter.net

Last week we saw that the religion of the Scribes and Pharisees lacked love for people. They looked down on people socially, racially and religiously. This was strange because the Old Testament) they claimed to love and obey taught them, above all else, to love God (Deut. 6:5) and to love their neighbor as they loved themselves (Lev. 19:18). They tied these verses written-down in little leather pouches tied to their heads but the truth they contained were a million miles away from their practice of religion.

When this weird looking Bible scholar (Scribe) walked up with his leather boxes and asked Jesus the way to be right with God and have eternal life, Jesus said, “You tell me.” The guy knew the answer, love God and love your neighbor. So when Jesus said, “Do it!” he countered with “Who is my neighbor?” and Jesus’ reply was the parable of the Good Samaritan, second only in beauty and popularity to the Prodigal Son.

The Bible Teacher was gunning for Jesus. He hoped he would give the wrong answer to the eternal life question but he didn’t. Then with the second question, “Who is my neighbor?” he tried to make Him out as a Gentile lover, a Samaritan lover or a leper lover. He hoped Jesus would say, “Anybody in need is your neighbor - sinful Jews, Gentiles, Samaritans, lepers, etc.” That way prejudiced people, like prejudiced people today, would turn from him.

But Jesus turned the tables on him. He trapped the trapper. The Jews limited the word neighbor. It didn’t include Gentiles. They would not even stop and help a Gentile woman give birth. It didn’t include Samaritans, those half-breeds, part Jew and part Gentile, who lived between Judah and Israel. What Jesus does is sheer genius. He gives the truth, “Our neighbor is anyone in need!”, and demonstrates it by showing a Samaritan helping a Jew. (Implied) In the end the Scribe had to admit the Samaritan was the true neighbor.

Two great truths leap out of this parable. We are to reach out to help every person in need, which is the definition of the term “agape” (love). This parable shows us there are three ways to live, three approaches to life when it comes to others: (1) What’s Yours Is Mine And I’ll Take It - The Robbers, (2) What’s Mine Is Mine And I’ll Keep It - The Religious Pair that walked by, (3) What’s Mine Is Yours and You Can Have It - The Righteous Person’s response. Or more simply, there are…

1. Those who beat you up.

2. Those who pass you up.

3. Those who help you up.

THOSE WHO BEAT YOU UP

There are those who live by this philosophy, WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE AND I’LL TAKE IT. The world and the church are full of this. It is the mentality of the little punk with the big gun who takes what others have. We see Adolph Hitler as some kind of crazed philosopher, feeding on the teachings of Nietzsche about racial purity. But do you know he made elaborate plans to take Jewish art, diamonds, and gold, even the gold from their teeth? Maybe he was nothing but a punk, taking what wasn’t his.

You don’t have to be a Hitler or a street punk to steal. What about the American corporate business system that takes a man’s best years and then forces him into early retirement because it can hire somebody younger, cheaper.

WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE AND I’LL TAKE IT! What about the man or woman who leaves their husband or wife, after many years, with the lame lie, “I don’t love them anymore.”?

WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE AND I’LL TAKE IT. What about the person who listens to or helps spread gossip and takes the precious character and good name from someone

WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE AND I’LL TAKE IT. What about the able bodied person on welfare? What about the preacher who uses churches to further his career and steps on people to get to the top? What about the physician who charges way too much?

Illustration: A Sunday School Teacher read the parable of the Good Samaritan to her 8-year-old class and asked them what it meant. One little boy said, “It means that when I am in trouble somebody is supposed to help me.” He was right but he was also wrong. People are supposed to help us, but our main thought is how we ought to be helping others.

THOSE WHO PASS YOU UP

We see SELFISHNESS. The second approach to needy human beings is that of the Priest and Levite who passed by on the other side - WHAT’S MINE IS MINE AND I’LL KEEP IT. The priest, who in today’s vocabulary would be a preacher, and the levite who would be a worker in the church, saw the man and chose to keep going. They could have used any number of excuses. Perhaps they thought it might be a trap and were afraid. Perhaps they felt this man, being foolish enough to travel this dangerous road alone, carrying money, only got what he asked for. He made his bed - now he’s in it. Perhaps they were in a big hurry to get to the Jericho Baptist Church where the preacher had to preach a sermon on “Love in Action” and the levite had to teach a Sunday School lesson to youth on “Practical Christianity.”