A Question from a Lawyer
By Pastor Jim May
Don’t you just love to deal with lawyers? They are just fun people to be around. No – not really! Many of our experiences with lawyers have been, how shall I say it: Less than positive. I rank them right up there with going to the dentist. Now I can’t say that all of them are so bad because I have lawyers in my family and they are really good people. But lawyers do have a reputation for being hard to deal with. They are quite adept at getting people to say what they want them say. It’s very interesting to watch them in action as I did a few months ago while serving on a jury.
Lawyers have always been the brunt of many good jokes like:
What’s the difference between a lawyer and a vulture? The lawyer gets frequent flyer miles.
What do you get when you cross a bad politician with a crooked lawyer? Chelsea Clinton
If you have a bad lawyer, why not get a different one? Changing lawyers is like moving to a different deck chair on the Titanic.
How does a lawyer sleep? First they lie on one side and then on the other.
What’s the difference between a shame and a pity? If a busload of lawyers goes over a cliff, and there are no survivors, that’s known as a pity. If there were any empty seats before the bus went over the cliff, that’s a shame.
It’s just a part of life that all of us must at some point in our lives have dealings with lawyers and sometimes we are grateful that they are there because without them some of the problems we face would never be solved in our best interest.
In our passage of scripture for tonight we see a lawyer giving Jesus the 3rd degree in an effort to trap the Lord into saying something wrong, something that the religious leaders could use against him in a court of law.
Luke 10:25 says, “And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
Luke 10:26-29, "He [meaning Jesus] said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? [Tell me your private interpretation of what the Law says concerning how you can inherit eternal life] And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. [right away we can see that this lawyer deals only in legalities. It’s all about obeying the Law, and not about serving God with your heart and soul. He expected to get to Heaven just because he was a son of Abraham and knew the law, but he didn’t understand the Spirit of the Law, only the letter of the Law. He was attempting to justify himself as a leader among the Jews.] And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. [If you fulfill the requirements of the Law both in Spirit and by the letter you would live. But are you really doing so?] But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?"
The lawyer knew that he was caught in not telling the whole truth. The Word had spoken right to the heart of this lawyer and he knew that he wasn’t right in his interpretation. But true to form, he refused to confess his sin. Instead, he tried to come up with a lame excuse for his sin.
Jesus was longsuffering toward the lawyer so he then tried to teach the lawyer a lesson through the use of a parable that would show the lawyer the true meaning of the Law that the lawyer had just quoted to him, and to answer his question on who is his neighbor. Are your neighbors only the people of your own nation, the Jews? Are your neighbors only those who live close by and are your friends? Are not all men, regardless of where they live and who they are, your neighbors?
God wants none of us to go on in sin and darkness. He is ever trying to reach out to us to teach us the truth and way to eternal life. If we will only open our spiritual ears and open our hearts to hearing what the Word is trying to say.
Luke 10:30-37, "And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was about 40 miles long. Jerusalem was in the mountains, or the high country, while Jericho lay in the valley near the Jordan River and was in the lowlands.
When we take this picture into consideration we could say that this certain man was a representative man of all humanity that came down from the “high place” with God in the Garden of Eden, left God’s Holy Mountain . In Jerusalem we could find the temple where the Shekinah glory of God shone upon the mercy seat and where God communed with men. But leaving that great city would mean that we leave God’s glory behind for the only place that the Shekinah could be experienced was within the temple itself. That’s why all the Jews made the annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem at the time of the great feasts, especially the Passover Feast.
Leaving Jerusalem can be an example of man’s fall from the Garden and passing into the valley of despair and death, a place where he no longer communes with God in the same manner as before. From that moment on mankind has ever walked in the valley of death on his way to death and judgment.
The Jews measured their distance by a measurement called a “Parsas”. Each parsa was four miles in length. But they also had two sorts of miles. One was 2000 cubits long and the other was 1000 cubits long. Going down was easy, just like falling into sin, or backsliding. You could travel faster and cover ground quicker, thus it was a “short mile”. But coming back up the hill was much harder and took a lot longer. That was the “long mile”.
It’s easy to backslide or fall into sin, but it’s not so easy to make your way back to the foot of the cross. Every devil in hell will try to bar the path and it’s only by the mercy of God, reaching down to help us find the way, that we can get back to God at all.
Somewhere along this road, from Jerusalem to Jericho, was a place called “Adomim” which means, “a place of bloods”. It was called this because a lot of blood had been shed there by frequent attacks from thieves and robbers upon many who had traveled there. It was not a safe place to travel, especially when you traveled alone.
This is a picture of fallen man, walking in the valley of death, and falling into the hands of the devil. It often took 2 or 3 days to make the journey to Jericho, but only 4 hours into the trip this man fell into the trap of robbers.
It doesn’t take long, from the time we walk away from God to go back into the world, that we find ourselves trapped by sin and unable to escape. Satan is always waiting. He is there to kill, steal and destroy you at every turn. He wants to dishonor you before God and man. He wants to mar the image of God in your being. He wants to see that the glory of God that is in you is forever removed. He wants to kill your soul in hell forever. You can’t walk away from God and not expect to be caught in Satan’s trap. The Bible says, “Be sure that your sin will find you out.”
The robbers stripped the man of his garments. Everything that made this traveler appear to be wealthy, and was used to cover his shame was taken away and he was left naked and destitute.
When Satan attacks the sinner, the covering of the righteousness of God is stripped away. No longer can a sinner appear before God clothed in righteousness. Instead, he must stand before God stripped, naked and bare that all of his sin will be revealed for all to see.
Satan’s first step is to steal your testimony. Your sin will be revealed to all who stand around and all men will know that you once served the Lord, but now you are a man who has been shamed and who has rebelled against righteousness. Your testimony is destroyed because of sin and shame.
Not only did the robbers strip this man, but they injured him greatly and left him for dead. Because of sin, mankind has been left to die in his sin. Satan has dealt him a mortal blow, wounding not only his pride and his spirit, but bringing to him the body of death as well.
Just as this man was lying by the side of the road, near death, unconscious and unaware of his true condition, so is man who has fallen into sin. He is not totally dead, but he is in no condition to help himself. Sinful man may be walking the face of the earth in a body of flesh that is slowly dying, but he is already dead spiritually, and helpless to change his condition.
But thank God, sinners are not totally dead, but have enough of the breath of life to hear the gospel and respond. Even in this condition, by the grace of God and the mercy of God, he can still be revived by the power of the Holy Ghost and the Blood of Jesus Christ. The power of the Resurrection can still bring the dead sinner back to life if he will only heed the call of God.
By chance, a priest came along. This priest had been at Jerusalem, doing his duty at the Temple. He was only one priest of many that would pass that way. This road to Jerusalem from Jericho was often traveled by many of the 24 groups of priests who regularly served in the temple at Jerusalem. According to Jewish history, 12 courses, or half of the priests that served in the temple lived in Jericho.
What a statement! To think that half of the priests, and many of the Levites, that served in the House of the Lord were constantly traveling the road, going back and forth between the temple and Jericho.
Can you see the implications? Men who were called, anointed, chosen and assigned to work in the Lord’s House constantly backsliding and coming back; constantly going into the world, and then coming back to serve in the church. It’s a picture of what is happening in the church still today. It’s no wonder then that we see so many priest, preachers, pastors and such who are being caught in sin. It’s nothing more than a job to them. There’s no true commitment to staying close to God. They are living with one foot in church and the other in the world. Many are hirelings and their shenanigans are doing great damage to the kingdom of God and the souls of men.
When the priest saw this man he crossed the road to the other side. Why did he do so? Was it because he didn’t care? Yes, that’s part of it. But there’s another reason that we often don’t hear about.
When the priest saw him, he looked as though he was dead. It was against the Law to touch a dead man lest he would be considered as unclean and unable to work in the temple for a time. He could not be defiled in such a manner and remain in the temple service. He was more concerned about the law than the condition of his fellowman.
Is that the way that we are too? Are we so concerned about being “holy” that we can’t relate to the sinners? Are we so caught up in being a “separate people unto God” that we can’t see the need of lost souls around us? Reaching out to the lost, helping the dying, and saving lives won’t destroy your righteousness. It will fulfill the call of God in your life.
The priest came by, representing the Moral law. Then came the Levite who represents the Ceremonial Law. The Levite looked upon him with pity, but offered no real assistance, not a comforting word or anything. He just looked, turned away and left, crossing the road as the priest had done before him.
We can see by these two men who represented the Law of Moses that no mercy could be found in the Law, only obedience and condemnation for disobedience. These men of the Law could not help this fallen man. The Law is deaf to repenting cries. It is blind to tears and unresponsive to pain and agony. All it can do is judge and pass on the sentence of death.
Then along comes a Samaritan. Remember that the Samaritans were disowned by the Jews but they were still Jews regardless.
Who can we compare this Samaritan to? I believe that he is a picture of Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, who came to travel this same path through the Valley of the Shadow of Death that all men have to travel. Jesus came down from that Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, took upon him the form of man and walked among men that he may feel what we feel, experience the pain and suffering that we feel, and yet be able to reach out and heal that pain and give life.
Jesus, like us, was a stranger and a traveler through this world. This wasn’t his home, anymore than it is ours. He was on a journey, coming down from the Holy Mountain of God in Heaven, to walk down the road to the valley to seek and save those who are lost. That was his only reason for traveling the road.
The Samaritan knew the Law. He was raised as a Jew, but he also had compassion. He knew that the Law was more than just letter; it was fulfilled through love; love for God and Love for man. He was fulfilling the Law of Righteousness and moved to serve those who were in need.
The Samaritan saw the injured man and had compassion upon him, just as Jesus saw the lost condition of man and had compassion upon him.
Notice what the Samaritan did. He took the first step to help the helpless man, lying as though he were dead. He bound up his wounds, poured in a mixture of oil and wine to both cleanse the wounds and begin the restoration, or healing process.
When Jesus had finished his temptation in the wilderness for 40 days, he went back into Galilee and began his earthly ministry in earnest. Shortly thereafter he went back to his hometown, Nazareth, entered into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he always did and there he began to preach these words:
Luke 4:18-21, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."
The Lord came down the Jericho road where I lay dead in sin, and there he found me, had compassion on me, and he made the first step toward bringing me home.
There’s a little song that says:
He poured in the oil and the wine
The kind that restoreth my soul
He found me bleeding and dying on the Jericho Road
And He poured in the oil and the wine.
It is by the oil, the anointing of the Holy Ghost and the wine, the precious blood of Jesus Christ that our mortal wounds are healed. Not only does the oil and the wine heal the body, but it restores the soul as well.
What a beautiful picture of Christ this Good Samaritan was.
The Samaritan lifted the wounded man out of the miry clay of the ditch by the side of the road and set him upon his own beast of burden.
In effect this is a picture of Christ who lifts us up and then tells us to rest upon his provision for our sin. Jesus bore our burdens, bore our sins upon the cross and now we can rest upon him.
The good Samaritan did more than just lift up the wounded man, treat his wounds and give him a ride. He brought him to a place where his future needs could be met as well, and at the Samaritan’s expense.
The Lord lifts us up and he has gone to prepare a place for us as well. He supplies our every need. He gives us gifts that we could never pay for. It’s all gifts of love and compassion.
Isaiah 55:1, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."
Having seen to the needs, and supplied the means by which the wounded man could survive and overcome his troubles, the Samaritan then departed on his journey.
In the same fashion Jesus came from Heaven, lifted us up, give us all the things that we need for a successful life in him, then departed back to Heaven, having finished his work.
The Samaritan left two Roman coins to cover the expenses of the wounded man, but promised much more if it were needed when he returned.
We can relate these coins to the Old and the New Testaments which were left for us to learn from and grow by. They could also represent the earnest, or downpayment, of the Holy Spirit who would be sent to lead us to victory over sin and death. Jesus promised us that he would come again, and in that day we shall receive our full inheritance.
Then Jesus turned back to the lawyer with a question that pierced to the heart of the matter. He asked, “Which of the three was a true neighbor to the wounded man?”
Well, even a lawyer has some common sense so he answered the only way he could, “The Samaritan did.” He didn’t want to confess that, but he was forced to, or lie and be in danger of the judgment. He didn’t want to confess that a Samaritan had done what was right while it was clear that the Priest and Levite of Israel were both at fault. It just went against the grain to confess all this, but he was forced to confess the truth.
And now we come to the point of the matter. Jesus told that lawyer, if you want to obtain eternal life, then you have to go out and be a servant just like this Samaritan. Forget that he was an outcast of Jewish society. Forget that he is a sworn enemy of Jerusalem. Forget that you are not supposed to associate with him at all. If you want to make Heaven your home, then you better learn to copy him.
There was no other way to get eternal life given to the lawyer, and I can imagine that his mind was spinning trying to find a loophole in the law that Jesus had just given. There’s no other way to deliverance and eternal life except through Christ.
Just as Jesus, as represented in the Samaritan, gave his all for lost humanity, so are we called to give our all to the service of the Lord in his kingdom for the salvation of lost souls.
It’s not enough to see them lost and dying. It’s not enough to just pass by and look at them. We need to pour in the oil and the wine, let them know about Jesus who can bear their burden of sin, and then lead them to the place where they can get the Word and the water to continue to grow in the Lord.
Do you love your neighbor as yourself? If so, then you must be about the Father’s business, telling them about Jesus and good news of the gospel.
