And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 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 neighbour as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he 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 and 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.’ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Comment: If we think that Jesus was simple, simplistic and didn’t understand people then we are fooling ourselves! Let’s look at a couple of phrases in this summary of the conversation between a lawyer (with no suggestion that he was dumb) and the God-man Jesus. 1. “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” I read recently that the Chinese Premier Xi and Putin while talking about how they could extend their lives to stay ‘god-like’ in charge of their countries, had been lip-read. I don’t know that others would wish that for them but the question is one that we all should and I think do think about from time to time – what happens when we die. The questioner was serious, I believe in spite of the usage of the word ‘testing’ in the text! 2. “What is written in the Law? Both the lawyer and Jesus knew the answer to that question. Jesus answered that with “do this, and you will live.” No doubt Jesus was hinting at ‘doing it perfectly’, knowing that this should make the lawyer think more deeply. 3. The lawyer skipped the first commandment and tried to excuse himself, I suspect, by asking, “And who is my neighbour?” 4. Jesus doesn’t answer the question as important as it is! Instead Jesus told a story in which the ‘goodie’ was a person whom the Jews looked down upon as a ‘gentile nobody’! 5. Jesus answered the question with another question! “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” Jesus question was very easy to answer, even for us, and the Lawyer got it right! 6. “Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” – do we?
Isaiah 1: 16-17 – Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. – ‘Who is my neighbour?’ Is that the right question to ask?
Prayer: Please help me to keep my eyes out for those to whom I can be a neighbour.
As I read it! 