(Part 1 of 2 in a study of the Parable of the Good Samaritan)
“And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” 27 And he answered, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE.” 29 But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. 31 “And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 “Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 “But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, 34 and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 “On the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” 37 And he said, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”
What a striking contrast we have set before us in this 10th chapter of Luke’s gospel!
Jesus is rejoicing. The 35 teams of missionaries He has sent out ahead, have returned with reports of even demons obeying them when the name of Jesus was invoked. Jesus does not rebuke them for their exuberance but teaches them that having their names recorded in Heaven – in other words, that there is a place for them there – is a far greater cause for rejoicing than the temporary successes they have ministering on earth; even in the realm of miracles and exorcisms.
Then He praises the wisdom of the Father in choosing the ‘babes’ to whom to reveal Himself and His glory in this way rather than those the world deems wise and great.
And hasn’t God worked this way throughout history to make His truth and His glory known? Think of the patriarchs of the faith and their stories. You won’t have to do much digging; just go to the eleventh chapter of the letter to the Hebrews and find the names there of people who were the weak, the confused, the downtrodden, the dregs, the fumbling, the discontented, and see what mighty things God wrought through them.
And go to the first chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church, and count yourself in their number when he admonishes:
26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
Now here is the contrast I referred to in beginning. In verse 24 of Luke 10, speaking to His disciples and pointing out to them that they are especially blessed to be the ones in the historical context of seeing all these things take place in their generation, Jesus calls to their attention the fact that past prophets and kings, looking forward into a misty future, wished to see and hear these very things but were required to wait.
These are words repeated by Peter later in his first epistle:
“As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.” 1 Pet 1:10-12
And Jesus in the throes of His rejoicing is telling them, this is something to be excited about! This is cause for the greatest of rejoicing and of lifting praises to the Most High God, Father and Lord of Heaven and earth, that those things spoken of from times past and ‘seen’ as it were, from afar, are finally coming to pass, and they, His disciples, are the ones chosen to both see and hear and later to tell….
…here comes the contrast…
“And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the test…”
REDIRECT?
Now I’m sure there have been differing approaches to this passage by way of explanation as to why this man stood up and basically interrupted the proceedings in this way; with this question.
Let’s take a look first, at who he was and why he was even there.
The text says he was a lawyer. He was an expert in the Mosaic Law. He was a Scribe. We usually hear this group referred to in conjunction with the Pharisees. We hear or read that there were Pharisees and Scribes present where Jesus was teaching or healing.
Well, the Scribes were Pharisees. They were of that religious sect; that ruling party in Judaism. Not all Pharisees were Scribes, but all Scribes were Pharisees. They were, as I said, the experts in the Law. They were exceedingly diligent in the study and understanding of the Mosaic Law and they were the group most tenacious in seeing to the letter of the law and its administration.
It is interesting that in this account Luke doesn’t tell us whether there were others of this sect present, although there probably were since they dogged Jesus’ heels all over the Judean and Galilean countryside during the course of His earthly ministry.
But here Luke narrows the field down to just Jesus and His disciples, and this man; this lawyer, who seems to just jump in suddenly – and as someone in a court of law might declare, ‘out of order’ – in that he doesn’t seem to share or even recognize the joy of the moment or the gravity of what Jesus is saying to His followers.
The word ‘behold’ in verse 25, translated ‘just then’ in a couple of Bible versions, lets us know that this is an interruption.
What might Jesus have said next? Or what might Peter or one of the other disciples have said in response to being told that they were seeing and hearing those things the prophets of old searched diligently for?
We don’t know, because a certain lawyer stood up and said, ‘Teacher..’
Teacher! Rabbi, which means ‘master’ or ‘teacher’. It was a word used to honor their teachers when addressing them.
Sometimes I regret that we cannot hear the tone of voice being used when people are speaking in the Bible. In this case, we can’t know if the lawyer was saying it sarcastically or if he was truly being polite. It does seem later in this discourse that he gets a little testy, but probably at this point he is just observing traditional courtesies to get Jesus’ attention.
But does his question seem out of place to you? “Rabbi, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
What? Where did that come from? The question has nothing to do with the discourse in which the Teacher is engaged, does it? But Jesus doesn’t express any surprise at the question, because it was an often asked question among the Jewish scholars; a much debated issue.
The question of how to attain to eternal life was foremost in the minds of the Jews who had the Law, and trusted in the keeping of the Law of Moses to be pleasing to God and procure and maintain His blessing, but there was a disconnect in their minds between that and actually obtaining everlasting life. They knew there was life after this life, but how to get it?
So it was a sort of litmus test question for teachers who came and went, to find out where they stood on this issue that no one seemed to have a definitive answer for.
Perhaps the lawyer had heard Jesus back in verse 20, saying, ‘Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven’.
If he heard that, maybe his mind had been in a spin for the next several minutes. Did this teacher just indicate to these people that they will inherit eternal life? And how would He know? What man can tell another man that he will live everlastingly? Can it be that this teacher presumes to answer the question that has stumped the greatest minds of Israel for generations?
Hey, maybe we’re being hard on the lawyer in accusing him of interrupting; maybe he wasn’t hearing any of it because of his preoccupation with this pressing and important issue…and he just needs to know…
“Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
DO?
Now there is another contrast to be made here, and I take you to Acts chapter 2 in order to demonstrate it.
It is the day of Pentecost following the death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord, and as promised He has sent the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to His newborn church.
Peter has just delivered this great sermon which ends on a note that in most of today’s churches would have ensured he never got invited back to preach.
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36)
But instead of taking offense, this very large gathering of people from many points all around the regions surrounding Israel and even from far away, is as one, cut to the quick with conviction.
“Now when they heard this they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’.” (vs 37-38)
What we’re seeing here is true conviction of sin. Peter wasn’t speaking figuratively when he said, ‘whom you crucified’. Many of these men in this crowd were the very ones who about 50 days previously, and in these very streets, had concurred with and witnessed and even participated in the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. They had all been hearing stories about this man rising from the dead and being seen in various places afterward, and now with this new evidence before them they are ‘pierced to the heart’ with guilt!
What have we done? What can we do? This was a desperate crowd and they were at wit’s end! “Brethren”. Did you catch that? When Peter and the others exit the upper room onto the city streets, speaking in tongues and praising God, these guys were laughing at them. “These men are drunk!”
Not now! “Brethren, what shall we do?”
Church, I’ve said this before and I will continue to say it because I think it is the part of the Gospel that has largely disappeared from many a pulpit in evangelical Christianity today. Men and women are saved into the kingdom of Heaven when and only when they become aware that they are lost and helpless to do anything about it. They must be told that they are sinners under the wrath of God and destined for a Devil’s hell if they do not turn from sin to the Living and True God through faith in the shed blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
When the church jettisons the sin issue and employs the world’s marketing devices to draw people in, all she ends up with is congregations of hell-bound church goers – and it is purely by the merciful grace of a loving God that a few of them find eternal life somewhere along the process.
The first example of preaching in the newborn church was a preaching of specific guilt and a call for repentance, before ever a promise was made of an indwelling Holy Spirit, forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
But these men were convicted and repentant, and out of that rose the heart-felt and desperate question, ‘What shall we do?’
Here is the contrast. There is none of that in our text in Luke 10.
This was cold. This was emotionless. This was insincere. This was a test. “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
The Acts 2 crowd asked the same question, but it sprung from a sense of urgency and helplessness. This man’s question, worded so much the same, was designed to illicit a response from a teacher that, if He was able to give one that sounded doable, maybe this lawyer would give it a try.
But don’t look for conviction in this heart. Don’t wait for any noise that sounds at all like repentance or sorrow for sin. He’s got the Law down pat and he does what he needs to do to be righteous; all he wants is for someone to show him the right door. I’m here to collect what’s due; just tell me the trick and I’m there.
WHAT’S YOUR TAKE?
If Jesus had seen any humility in this man; any sign of repentance for sin, do you think He would have given the lawyer a response that would have been framed in grace and forgiveness?
Sure! Listen to His declaration in John 5:24-25
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”
Did He tell anyone to do anything there? No! Hear and believe and live. So why didn’t Jesus give a like response to the Luke 10 lawyer?
I’ll tell you. Because the man’s trust was in himself and his keeping of the Mosaic Law, so Jesus took him to his place of dependence for the answer.
Notice though, that He doesn’t just answer the question and go back to speaking with His disciples. He answers the question with a question, putting it back on the lawyer to answer from what he already knew.
WHAT DOES THE FOREHEAD SAY?
“What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?”
The guy is a lawyer, right? He’s a Scribe. He knows the Mosaic Law inside and out. These scholars all had their take on the Law and spent their time discussing and debating its finer points. So Jesus defers to the man’s knowledge. “What’s your take on the Law of Moses? What does it say there about being acceptable to God”
Now I want you to know that this man was almost certainly wearing the answer on his forehead.
Listen to Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
- The second part of the lawyer’s response came from Leviticus 19:18 “..you shall love your neighbor as yourself –
The Jews by Jesus’ day had taken these instructions very literally, and these devout religious elite wore small boxes made of cowhide on their forehead and often on their wrists, that contained these words rattled off by this lawyer in response to Jesus’ challenge.
In fact, they repeated the passage twice a day, in the morning and at night, in obedience to Moses’ instruction to remember them when they lay down and when they rose up. Hence the question of Jesus, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” He was, in effect, saying, you repeat it twice a day and wear it on your forehead; answer your own question!
27 And he answered, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”
Now when Jesus came back with “You have answered correctly”, do you think He was pulling the man’s chain? No, I don’t think Jesus ever pulled anyone’s chain. I don’t believe Jesus ever gave a snide or sarcastic or disingenuous response to anyone. I think love motivated everything He said or did, whether His responses were framed in teaching, reproof, correction or training in righteousness.
The man had answered correctly, for we know that love is the fulfilling of the Law, confirmed for us by Paul in Romans 13:8 and Galatians 5:14. and manifested perfectly on the cross of Christ, where God demonstrated His own love for us in that while we were helpless, sinful enemies of God, Christ died for us. (ref. Romans 5:8-10)
So the confirmation is, ‘Yes, you have answered correctly’. What should have knocked the wind out of this lawyer though, is that Jesus followed with a quote from Leviticus 18:5, “Do this and you will live”.
Folks, there is an infinite span of difference between saying what’s right and doing it. We can quote scripture verses all day long that have to do with what must be done to please God, but in the effort of doing them, especially the sustained, unbroken, effective doing of them, we will ultimately only be brought to the cold hard reality that by the works of flesh shall no man be justified. In other words, WE CAN’T!
Say it to yourself! “You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself”
Really? First of all, notice all those ‘and’s. Love God with your heart, soul, strength and mind all at once? How about I love Him with my mind today and then with my strength I’ll go out and do something for Him tomorrow? Nope, it’s your heart ‘and’ your soul ‘and’ your strength ‘and’ your mind. Can anyone do that? Can anyone love God purely and consistently and perfectly with every fiber of their being 24/7?
No, of course not.
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 Jn 4:10
And in verse 19 “We love because He first loved us”.
Apart from Him we haven’t the capacity to love. Not even God, never mind our neighbor. Love my neighbor as myself? Preposterous! I won’t insult your intelligence by going into all the ways we prove daily that we love ourselves more than those near us on a given day.
By the way, I will toss in here that the word ‘neighbor’ has to do with nearness, borders, vicinity, it simply means anyone who is spatially near; which makes the lawyer’s next response doubly sad.
COULD I REPHRASE THAT?
When Jesus said, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live”, the only honest, forthright response this man or any man could or should ever give is, “I CAN’T!”
“Jesus, every day I wake up and I repeat these words, and before I’m performing my duties in the Temple for five minutes in some way or another I’ve broken it. I’ve proved to myself and others that I can’t! Jesus, it seems to me that the Law was given to us along with the command to obey, just to prove to us that we can’t obey. What must I do to be saved?”
Now on the one hand I have to say we’re beholden to this lawyer for his response, self-righteous as it was, because without it we might not have gotten this wonderful tale of the Good Samaritan in our Bible.
But this is the point in this account where he tipped his hand and showed his true colors. “But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’”
We couldn’t hear the tone of voice when he jumped up and said, “Teacher”, but we can kind of hear it here, can’t we? “And who is my neighbor?”
What’s THAT supposed to accomplish? Does he think to stump Jesus as though if Jesus can’t clearly define what a neighbor is that lets him off the hook for loving them?
What if Jesus had said, “Ok, forget your neighbor, just love God perfectly all the time and you’ll get the free pass”? I wonder what the lawyer would have said to that.
Instead, Jesus graciously offers this parable to showcase the unbridgeable chasm between legalism and grace; social indifference and compassion, religious orthodoxy and spontaneous love.
We’ll take a look at the parable when next we meet, Lord willing.
For now let me close with this final point, and I have to take you to Romans 10:5 to make it.
“For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.
In all the New Testament epistles, this is the only place this particular word is found that translates to ‘righteousness’. In every other case the word employed refers, not to God’s character, when it says ‘the righteousness of God’, but to the state of right standing before God through faith – or, the righteousness that comes from, is imputed to a person by God.
Here in Romans 10:5, the word used refers to a self-righteousness; a right standing that would be obtained to by self-effort through the keeping of the Law.
Romans 10:5 says that the teaching of Moses is that if anyone would put their trust in the Law to save them, then they must obey that Law to the letter, without faltering or failing, all the time, all their life.
Well, we know that cannot be done.
But this lawyer didn’t know that, nor did many of the religious people of Jesus’ day, nor do many people today…even in the church.
I’m sure Jesus would have loved to have been able to give this man an answer of grace. If the lawyer’s response had been “I can’t”, I think perhaps Jesus would have said, “You are not far from the kingdom”.
But He had to respond to the man according to the Law because as Moses was quoted in Romans 10, “The man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness”.
So Jesus said, “Do this and you shall live”. Was He then teaching that a person can have eternal life by keeping this law of God? No. He was confirming the Law as right, and giving the man the opportunity to perhaps go away and in the course of his day to day tedium, finally come to the realization that he cannot live because he cannot do it.
Jump down to the end of the parable, in verse 37, and see that in response to Jesus’ question about who proved to be a neighbor the lawyer says, ‘the one who showed mercy toward him’, Jesus, even then, says nothing more than ‘Go and do the same’.
Well, of course He was teaching the man that compassion is more valuable than religious orthodoxy. We’ll talk more about that next time. But again, take note that Jesus was still unable to give this lawyer an answer from grace. “Go and do the same”. Would that earn the man eternal life? That was the original question, remember.
No, it would not. But all the legalist has is law (whether in ancient times or in today’s church). If he is to trust in it, he must do it. And in the end he will either die in his sin and spend eternity in the Devil’s hell, separated from God, or he will one day, by God’s redeeming grace and mercy have his eyes opened to look at his life and concede that he is a sinner, incapable of ‘doing it’, and with the humility and desperation exhibited by the Acts 2 Jerusalem crowd, finally ask in sincerity, “What shall I do to be saved?” in which case our loving God will be faster than lightning to answer with grace.
Hear, believe, live.
