April 15 – Reading Luke 10:25-37

Read and believe in Jesus.

“And who is my neighbor?”  Luke 10:29

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The Gospel according to Luke 10:25-37

Review – Jesus sent out 72 disciples to towns on His way to Jerusalem, to prepare them for His coming. The 72 return, with joy. Woe to the cities in Galilee that He ministered in for 3 years, and who remained indifferent. REJOICE THAT YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN!

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Vss. 10:25-29.

Perhaps this next section takes place in a synagogue on the Sabbath.  We see a “lawyer” (a Scribe, expert in The Law) STAND UP to speak.  It’s as if Jesus has been teaching, and he stands up to argue.

To TEST Jesus, this knowledgeable man asks, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

He had no interest in eternal life, only to catch Jesus in His words.

Jesus turns it back on him.  After all, he IS an educated man. “What is written in the Law?  How do YOU read it?”

The man answers quickly, proving that indeed he DOES know the law of Moses. “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.”  (Deuteronomy 6:24-25.)

The scribe must have preened when Jesus said, “You have answered correctly.”

Then to answer the man’s original question, which HE had probably forgotten all about, Jesus continued, “Do this and you shall live.”

This pompous scribe just could not let Jesus have the last word.  Maybe standing a little straighter, the lawyer looked around at the listeners and said with a smirk. “And WHO is my neighbor?”

(Jesus will answer the lawyer’s query in true debater’s form, with another question, forcing him to a begrudging answer. Then Jesus will speak AGAIN to this lawyer’s initial question.)

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Vss. 10:30-37

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho…” Jesus began.

As soon as the people realized Jesus was going to tell a story, they settled back to listen. Probably even the contentious lawyer sat down.  All of them were familiar with that dangerous road through the Judean wilderness.

“… and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.”

Several nodded, clicking their tongues. Yep.

“Now by chance,” Jesus continued, “…a priest was going down that road.

You could feel the listeners’ tension rise. A priest? That poor man was … bloody! The priest couldn’t touch him without becoming ceremonially ‘unclean!’

“When the priest saw him, he passed by on the other side of the road.”

They nodded.  It was tragic, but it was the way of things.

Jesus continued. “So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.”

The listeners were uncomfortable, but, well, a Levite had to also stay ceremonially clean to minister in the Temple. It was a sad situation. They looked at their hands in their laps.

“But a Samaritan…”

Heads flew up.  What?  How dare Jesus speak of a despised half-breed Samaritan!

“…as the Samaritan journeyed, he came to where the man was, and when he saw him … he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 

“And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back’.”

Grumbling began among Jesus’ listeners; outrage mingled perhaps with a touch of guilt?  No one spoke.

Jesus looked to the pretentious lawyer and said, “Which of these three, do YOU think, proved to be a ‘neighbor’ to the man who fell among the robbers?”

Hardly able to get the words out, the learned man said, “The one who showed mercy.”

Jesus leaned back, softly answering the man’s FIRST question about what he should do to have eternal life.  “You go and do likewise.”

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Wow.