Luke 10:25 (NKJV); And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

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1 Introduction This section of Scripture contrasts the desire to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and the demands of discipleship. In Luke chapters 9 and 10 as Jesus faces the last few months of ministry and begins the final journey to Calvary s cross, Jesus uses every moment to teach and reach. There are two main characters in this section of Scripture; a lawyer (nomikos) a teacher of the Law and a Samaritan. The lawyer becomes a type and a picture of the religious establishment, a person filled with knowledge; aware of the truths of God, yet have fails to enter into vital life and relationship with God. The Samaritan s were a despised race of half-breeds, left over from the Assyrian occupation of the Northern Kingdom. Half-Jew and half-gentile they were hated because of their rejection of God s revelation and because they had created their own religion borrowing from historic Judaism but also adopting pagan rites and practices. Two questions are asked by the lawyer, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? (v.25) and who is my neighbor? (v.29); both are important questions, both are vital if we are to go beyond the desire for discipleship and embrace the demands of discipleship. Testing The Teacher (v.25) Luke 10:25 (NKJV); And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Are we shocked that a lawyer would stand up and test Jesus? My father used to say; some men earn money, some inherit money, some are lawyers. I know you lawyers can with ease Twist words and meanings as you please. n John Gay Contrary to popular belief lawyers do not always lie. Lawyers sometimes tell the truth-- they'll do anything to win a case. In the time of Jesus it was not unusual for Rabbi s to enter into public discourse and debate. The question this scribe (lawyer) asked was no doubt asked frequently. The question is a good question. The problem is not in the question but rather in the motive of the person asking the question. As Warren Wiersbe said; It was a good question asked with a bad motive, because the lawyer hoped to trap our Lord. However Jesus trapped the lawyer! (TBEC Vol. 1; p.211). Luke notes that the lawyer stood up which means that Jesus and his disciples were sitting down. The lawyer s standing was in effect a challenging gesture. Big Question Number One: How can we have eternal life? (vv.25-28) Often people will ask questions in such a way that the answer is self-evident. What shall I do? The lawyer presupposes there is something he must do to inherit eternal life. 1

2 To many people salvation is based on doing good deeds, being a good person; acceptance by God is based on doing or being a good person. I suspect this person had some idea of God s love and God s grace, but his motive was not to truly discover the answer but rather to trap Jesus. Two other words are important in the question; inherit and eternal life. The expression eternal life (zoe aionios) meant life in the age to come. The term inherit (kleronomeo) was associated with the future kingdom of God (see C. Marvin Pate; Moody Gospel Commentary, p.235). John 6:28-29 (NKJV);28 Then they said to Him, What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. Notice how Jesus answers the man; Luke 10:26 (NKJV); He said to him, What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? He answers the question with two more questions! The Lord sends the lawyer back to the Law. Do you suppose Jesus did that because Jesus believed the Law could give you eternal life? We know the Law cannot save us. Galatians 2:16 (NKJV); knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. Galatians 2:21 (NKJV); I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. The Law reveals our true condition, we are law breakers. The law reveals our need for a Savior. There can be no conversion without conviction. The expression What is your reading of it might be translated What is your recitation speaking of the Jewish method of interpretation. Luke 10:27 (NKJV); So he answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. The lawyer gives the right answer. The real issue is not the answer, but rather the lawyer s lack of love for either God or his neighbor. The lawyer combines two well known passages on the subject of obeying the Law; Leviticus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 6:4-5. These books have as their themes; (Leviticus) holiness and sacrifice, the words of sacrifice permeate the book, blood, priest, holiness. The book of Deuteronomy has as its theme the restating of the Law, the Hebrew title, Debarim literally means words. These are the words of God given to Moses that focus on the Love of God and man s obedience. 2

3 These texts were considered the heart, the core, of the Jewish religion. Micah 6:8 (NKJV); He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? Luke 10:28 (NKJV); And He said to him, You have answered rightly; do this and you will live. Jesus affirms the answer in principle. And adds do this and you will live. Practice what you preach. Jesus caused the lawyer to answer his own question and then asked him to practice what he preached! That is the rub. We have the demands of the Law but we fail to keep the Law. We are dead in our sin and disobedience to God s Law. I received a call on my radio program from a man who asked a similar question. How are we saved? Do we still have to keep the Ten commandments? He already had an answer to his own question. He wasn t calling for an answer, he was calling to promote his own answer. The man certainly did not understand either grace or the law. I asked him the question; So how are you doing? What do you mean? How are you doing keeping the Law? By the power of God, the presence of the Holy Spirit I am doing just fine. He claimed he was blameless. Those under the law compare their keeping of the law with others. Two campers got out of their tent and began to pour their morning coffee, when suddenly one them saw a huge black grizzly bear running their way. Look at that grizzly! he said. The other guy immediately dropped his cup and began to put on his tennis shoes. If you think you can outrun a grizzly, you re crazy, his friend said. I don t have to the smarter of the two called out over his shoulder as he sprinted away. All I have to do is outrun you! This lawyer in our story in spite of his desire to test Jesus at least came to the same conclusion most honest people come to when they seriously meditate on the Law I am not really doing this in real life. Big Question Number Two: Who is my neighbor? (vv.29-37) Luke 10:29 (NKJV); But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Why did the lawyer want to justify himself? Was the lawyer doing pretty good loving his family, his friends, his fellow lawyers, his fellow religious leaders? Who were his neighbors? By neighbor did Jesus mean their neighbors to the north, the Samaritans? Their neighbors to the south-the Egyptians? Their neighbors to the east? Apparently our lawyer friend started to feel a little uncomfortable about his own efforts in loving God and loving his neighbor and so he rationalizes he attempts to justify himself. This is the problem for those who believe you are saved by keeping the rules. What happens when you break the rules? The lawyer does what most lawyers do when they are losing their case define your terms! If the law is in your favor, argue the law. If the facts are in your favor, argue the facts. If neither the law or the facts are in your favor, argue. 3

4 The lawyer may have thought, Where do you draw the line? Is God restricting love to our neighbors in Israel? What about people of bad character? The Bible makes it clear, we may say we love God, but we cannot prove it. Our love for God in part is manifest by our love for one another. Our love towards others determines whether we have a healthy and authentic relationship with God. The Bible s logic is perfect; love the Lord your God with all that you have, when you have done that you will be able to love others as you love yourself. Love for God produces love for people. Loving God is difficult to see. Many people have said to me, I love God. It s people I can t stand. Love for people is subject to relational verification. Paul understood this. Galatians 5:14 (NKJV); For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law is summed up in a single command; love your neighbor as yourself. Does this mean we can earn salvation by being a good neighbor? No we can only love our neighbor if we love the Lord God with all that is within us and allow Him to work in our hearts. He cannot work in our hearts unless we have entered into relationship and fellowship with God through Christ! Religion is easy. Relationship is hard. Luke 10:30-31 (NKJV); Then Jesus answered and said: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. The events may have been ripped from the Jerusalem Journal. I have traveled this road. The road to Jericho is about 20 miles long, dropping some 3600 hundred feet in elevation. You go down to Jericho. It was widely known as the bloody way because it was a perfect place to ambush people. Why would a person travel a dangerous road alone? Because he was dumb like you and me. Do you ever go down dumb roads and do dumb things? Waiting to ambush us is the enemy of our souls Satan. Did Jesus just make this story up? Was he relating an actual story that really occurred? Did Jesus simply make up a story to make the Jews look bad and the Samaritans look good? The religious leaders could have easily said, You just made that up. This could never happen in a million years. Those who listened to Jesus story hear it as an actual event. Perhaps the worst thing we can do with this story is turn it into an allegory and make everything stand for something. Wiersbe: The victim becomes the lost sinner who is half-dead (alive physically, dead spiritually), helplessly left on the road of life. The priest and the Levite represent the Law and the sacrifices, neither of which can save the sinner. The Samaritan is Jesus Christ who saves the man, pays the bill, and promises to come again. The inn stands for the local church where believers are cared for, and the two pence are the two ordinances, baptism and communion. If you take this approach to Scripture, you can 4

5 make the Bible say almost anything you please, and you are sure to miss the messages God wants you to get (TBEC; Vol.1; p.212) Some years ago CBS anchorman and reporter Hugh Rudd was mugged outside his New York City apartment complex. He lay conscious, eyes open, but he was unable to move. All he could do was moan and mumble, though he was aware of his surroundings. Rudd lay from 2:30 until dawn at the doorstep watching life pass by. Returning theatergoers walked past him into the building. The milkman came and left. No one even stopped to see what was wrong despite his pathetic attempts to ask for help. His experience is as old as history (R. Kent Hughes). In Jesus story the first man to discover our poor victim on the Jericho road is a professional member of the clergy. Jericho was one of the main country spots were priests lived. The priest was probably returning from or going to perform holy Temple service. If the man was dead, if the priest touched the dead man, it would have rendered the priest ceremonially unclean for seven days (see Lev.21:1). Rather than risk being defiled, he passed on the other side of the road. I can t afford to take seven days off from work. I have to think about my schedule. I have to think about the demands in my life. Think about it. In order to preserve his legal status of cleanliness, he heartlessly transgressed the entire second table of the Law. In practicing his religion, he broke the Law. Luke 10:32 (NKJV); Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. Levites did not enjoy the same ministry status as priests though they were highly privileged. The Levites were the temple liturgists. It was their job to oversee all the temple rituals and services. The language of the passage; when he arrived at the place, came and looked indicates an up close and personal look. Then he passed by on the other side. I am sure the people listening were not expecting the story to turn out this way. They expected a wonderful Israelite layperson to come along and save the day. A lot of people were upset and disenchanted with the professional clergy. They expected Jesus to make a hero out of an ordinary Jew it would be a slap on the establishment, but many maybe even most would applaud it. Luke 10:33 (NKJV); But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. You re kidding. You re joking. In the earlier chapter both James and John offered to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans (cf.9:54). The bitter racial hatred went back over 400 years and centered on the issue of racial purity. Many Jews retained their purity by refusing to intermarry with Gentiles during the Babylonian captivity. Others married the Assyrian invaders. In Jewish eyes, Samaritans were compromised mongrels. The Samaritans had built a rival Temple on Mount Gerizim only to have it destroyed by the Maccabeans several generations earlier. In Jesus day, the hatred was ingrained and 5

6 utterly entrenched. The rabbi s would say, Let no man eat the bread of the Cuthites (Samaritans) for he who eats their bread is as he who eats swine s flesh. The ultimate insult came in the poisonous prayer and do not remember the Cuthites in the Resurrection. Add to this that Jewish travelers were constantly murdered in Samaria, and Samaritans would sneak on the Temple Mount and bring human bones (thus defiling the Temple) to introduce this Samaritan as the hero of the story and not the villain most Jews even half dead would have said let me die. I would rather die than accept help from...or give help to... But the Samaritan s pity, compassion, generosity, was extraordinary. He applied first century first aid with oil and wine. In humility he gave his donkey to the Jew, elevating the Jew to the position the Samaritan enjoyed and walked, and then gave the Inn keeper two silver coins denarii (two days wage) or enough food and lodging for several days. The power of the story, the driving impetus of love love for God manifest in love for each other; the Samaritan demonstrated love. Someone has wisely said that if we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each enough sorrow and suffering to disarm all our hostility. The priest and the Levite would have prayed the Shema every day in the morning and at night they had prayed the prayer before they ever came upon their fellow half-dead Jew. That very morning they had prayed; Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NKJV); Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. They would have prayed the prayer before they went to bed that night. Their neglect of their neighbor was sandwiched between their pious declarations of love for God. Do we do that? The moral or the immoral of the story would have caused the lawyers head to swim. There were no secular lawyers because the Jewish Law was the Law of the land. He knows the Mosiac law, he knows Torah. He was wearing a phylactery on his forehead ( a small, black calfskin box that contained the words of the Shema); symbolic obedience to the challenge immediately following the Shema; These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you sit up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads (Deut.6:6-8). The radical teaching of Jesus which included loving your neighbor as your self made perfect sense but made it painfully clear that the lawyer fell short way short. Luke 10:36 (NKJV); So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? Luke 10:37 (NKJV);37 And he said, He who showed mercy on him. Then Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise. The hated Samaritan, not the priest, not the Levite (and by implication) not the lawyer the Samaritan actually kept the Law. He loved those who came his way as himself and 6

7 thus showed he was the person who loved the Lord God with all his heart. Go and do likewise was the answer the only answer the impossible answer unless one truly loves the Lord with all heart, soul, mind and strength and body. The bandits saw the man as an easy to target to rob. The priest and Levite saw him as a nuisance to avoid. The Samaritan saw him as a neighbor to love. How do you see people? Are you convicted? I know I am. What is Jesus point? Wherever people need us, we can be neighbors, we can show compassion, generosity, sacrifice, love, mercy. Don t miss the main point. How you treat people is a reflection of your real relationship with God. The lawyer was an expert in the Law. The lawyer knew God required His people to show mercy even to strangers and enemies (see Ex.23:4-5; Lev. 19:33-34; Micah 6:8). The lawyer wanted to discuss neighbor in a general way, but Jesus forced him to consider a specific man in need. How easy it is for us to talk about abstract ideals and fail to help solve concrete problems. We can discuss things like poverty and job opportunities and yet never personally help feed a hungry family or help somebody find a job. Of course, the lawyer wanted to make the issue somewhat complex and philosophical, but Jesus made it simple and practical. He moved it from duty to love, from debating to doing. To be sure, our Lord was not condemning discussions or debates; He was only warning us not to use these things as excuses for doing. Committees are not always committed (Wiersbe;TBEC; Vol. 1; p.212). Conclusion What are we to make of this passage? We Christians have our own phylacteries too bumper stickers Honk if you love Jesus; we have T-shirts and flying fish. We claim to know Jesus. We claim Christ is in our hearts. We claim that even though this world is dead, we claim to be alive. We claim Jesus the only person who truly loved God with all his heart and being and neighbor as himself. But if we really have Jesus in our hearts, we will be merciful to our neighbors, to our wives, husbands, children, and those we meet upon the road of life. Jesus said, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matt.5:7). Jesus did not suggest we could merit God s mercy my engaging in acts of mercy, but rather we engage in acts of mercy because God has expressed His mercy toward us! Showing mercy to one s neighbor is evidence of having received mercy. Scripture s call to love our neighbor as ourselves gives us a way of testing our relationship with God. So how are you doing? This is not a call to perfection only Jesus is perfect. But it is a call to consider whether there is evidence that we love God. Are we merciful? Are we compassionate? Or are we content to simply pass by? The real losers were was the priest and the Levite. They lost because they failed to get involved. They lost the opportunity to become better men and good stewards of what God had given to them. They lost the opportunity to become a force for good in a very bad world. They made their choice by choosing not to be an influence for good, they chose to perpetuate apathy and indifference. 7

8 What did the Samaritan do? His choice became a source of inspiration so much so we call anyone a good Samaritan who sacrificially shows love and mercy for no other reason than it is the right thing to do. I can t help but think about my friend Franklin Graham and Samaritan s Purse. Samaritan s Purse provides disaster relief, medical care, food, clothing, shelter all over the world. Samaritans purse is motivated by a love for God, compassion for the world s poorest people, and a desire to bring the gospel to those who are among the most difficult to reach. 8