LIFE: Focus outward. Luke 10
Notes
Transcript
Scripture
Scripture
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “ ‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Introduction
Introduction
I hate skits. Brother in prison story....
But this story is so familiar. It is one that we can become innoculated with and miss what Jesus is trying to do.
Background
Background
Let’s set the stage a little for this unique story to Luke’s gospel. This story interrupts the story that is before it almost as if the person who comes to challenge Jesus is kind of butting in. Just before here there is this real high moment where the disciples are sent out for the first time by Jesus and without him to live out ministry. It is the firstfruits of what will came later when he is gone. They come back amazed at the power of God working through them as they were faithful to Jesus teaching. There is some great interaction and teaching with them and Jesus and promise of what is to come. The juxtaposition is the disciples living out the gospel and then those that do not....
keeping that in mind as our lawyer or expert in the law seems to stumble into the scene. And if this interaction sounds familiar for us, it is because there are many interactions that are of this nature in the scripture. This line of questioning would be extremely common for the concerns of the Jewish people. There would have been Jewish law experts following them around trying to catch Jesus or challenge him so this makes sense.
And if we think about the story of the good samaritan with priests and levites that pass by on the other side of the road....it is possible that this lawyer or expert, is a priest that is off duty.
So the lawyer interrupts and asks a question:
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus returns a question with a question: “What is written in the law? and how do you read it?
The lawyer quotes Deuteronomy shema (Love the Lord, your God with all your heart soul, strength, and mind) combined with Leviticus 18, a wise combination of the the OT here to talk about the weight of commandments given to the Jewish people. The expert says it boils down to loving God and loving neighbor.
Jesus answers you have answered correctly, “do this and you will live”
Lawyer is not done though....ah but who is your neighbor.
Jesus and the good samaritan.
Dude left for dead, two pass by on other side of the road, a samaritan shows all the love.
Jesus asks, who do you think was a neighbor?
Two questions for us today:
How do you read it?
How are you living it?
How do you read it?
How do you read it?
The first question is our question for the day. The question God asks for us and you will soon see how it flows into the second question. But first, how do you read it.
Jesus first question is to give the lawyer an opportunity to share what the scripture says about eternal life here. He is an expert in the law. There are some preachers and teachers that want to cause a divide between the Torah and the law and what Jesus teaches but that is not a healthy approach. Here Jesus even affirms that the law and the interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures is pointing to the right answer....even if there is a wrong application that comes after.
How you read it is important. Scripture and accurate interpretation is important. How we understand the triune God is important.
Orthodoxy is a term the church has used to talk about this idea. Orthodoxy which means right doctrine, is a foundational step. What we believe, how we read it, is very important. That is why at FMC you will hear teaching that is passionately pursuing integrity to the scripture. Teaching and correcting as we go.
How you read it…is important. Here is the thing....how you read it cannot just be your individual take. It can’t be this place of hyper-individual subjective interpretation.
3 Points very quickly here:
you need to read it
you can read it....don’t hear me wrong here. I am not saying that you do not have access to God through Scripture on your own.
But do it in community and do it with tradition and with the Church. If you don’t then Jesus becomes who you want him to be…or worse, he becomes you
This question flows into the second inferred question from Jesus
How are you living it?
How are you living it?
The good samaritan parable is Jesus’ inferred question about application. If he were to ask another one it is, this....if you know how to read it, “how are you living it?”
Jesus parable captures all of the tension. Describing religious people that know the answer passing by the robber....then the person that the Jews would definitely pass by if he were hurt, a Samaritan stops. See the lawyer is wondering who is my neighbor. The leviticus reference earlier talked about the law for Israelities to serve and love neighbor Israelite. He is wondering, if someone is near dead in a ditch who must we stop to help. Jesus flips it and shows a Samaritan, who the lawyer likely would not stop for had the roles been reversed, stop.
The samaritan goes full ridiculous too. He likely uses his own clothes to cloth the man. Then leaves an open tab at the hotel for the guy. Opening himself to a huge threat of extortion.
Let me make a quick point here:
People who know they are fully loved by God are free to love foolishly, lavishly, and without expectation of reciprocity.
Jesus asks the lawyer and the tension is palpable…which of these was a neighbor?
The lawyer can’t or won’t call him a samaritan but knows the answer:
“The one who had mercy on him.”
Joel Green has a great comment here:
“Who is my neighbor?”—not so much to determine to whom he must show love, but so as to calculate the identity of those to whom he need not show love. By the end of the story, Jesus has transformed the focus of the original question; in fact, Jesus’ apparent attempt to answer the lawyer’s question turns out to be a negation of that question’s premise. Neighbor love knows no boundaries. -Joel B. Green
Green, Joel B.. The Gospel of Luke (p. 632). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
Jesus says, go and do likewise.
I wonder this morning if we might all be honest for a second, how often do we know the right answer but fall short of walking in it?
Or do we chose our neighbors:
by ethnicity
by politics
by socio-economic status
if people look like us or talk like us
by our faith, do we stop short of loving those that have a different faith than us?
Example: LGBTQ… how will the church love and swerve people
Let me bring a few things for us on the way out:
Scripture is not a life instruction manual
Scripture is not a life instruction manual
Too often we approach this book as something to give us answers. We open it for the answers.
“God did not give the Bible so we could master him or it; God gave the Bible so we could live it, so we could be mastered by it. The moment we think we’ve mastered it, we have failed to be readers of the Bible.” ― Scot McKnight
The lawyer was looking for mastery.
Right belief must translate to Christ-centered living
Right belief must translate to Christ-centered living
Orthodoxy must translate to living it out. Or let me say it this way:
The litmus test for whether we have right belief is Christ-centered living.
In the moments where we do not live for Christ, it is an indicator that there is something wrong!
Self-justification is a fruit of oppression
Self-justification is a fruit of oppression
Alright, this is where we get uncomfortable.
What do I mean by this? Oppression defined as exercising power unjustly. This lawyer, knowingly or unknowingly, was looking for justification of his own view. To be right over Jesus, to be right about neighbor, to be right about choosing his neighbor.
I am not telling you to not be right. But self-justification is from a place of insecurity. Self-justification is more concerned with being right than loving other people.
Let me give you an example:
In my last church I served during a difficult time:
Families ripped apart by politics
Racial tensions
Let me give you another example:
I want to be right all the time. Ask Lauren. And sometimes when she tells me she is feeling something....something that I have caused or a place that I have fallen short. 9 out of 10 times I try to convince her she has misread the situation. That is me abusing power to raise myself up over another.
self-justification is a fruit of oppression and an indicator of a broken heart.
Listen church. the person who loves God and is loved by God is free to love neighbor foolishly, lavishly, and without expectation of reciprocity
Closing:
This passage is not about missions. I think it gets misread that way often. I think there is a specific way we should approach missions individually and corporately. Opening an open tab for a homeless person is probably not the answer. It is probably unloving to do so. We need to seek appropriate and specific answers for individuals and seek long term transformational healing for persons.
This passage is about the lawyer, the religious person, and their functionality of their faith. How they are focused outward.
We have no idea how the lawyer responds. I think it is stylistically that way....