A timeless question that provokes a timeless debate...

At the church where I serve, we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Won’t you be my neighbor”. During this series our hope and our prayer is to answer three specific questions. Our hope and prayer is that we would answer the question “Why should I be a neighbor?” “Who is my neighbor?” and “How should I be a neighbor?” Our hope and our prayer is to answer these questions in a way that enables and empowers us to live our day to day lives as a follower of Jesus in a way that is a neighbor to those that God has already placed in our spheres of influence who are far from God in a way that reveals and reflects Jesus to them.

Last week, we launched into this series by asking the question “Why should I be a neighbor?” In other words why should followers of Jesus be a neighbor to the people around them?” To answer this question, we spent our time together looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. And it was in this event from history that we discovered the timeless reality that we should be a neighbor because being a neighbor is to be what matters most to Jesus.

We ended our time together by recognizing that a natural question that could arise at this point could be “Well Dave, that sounds great, but who exactly am I supposed to consider as my neighbor. I mean are we talking about the people that live next door? Are we talking about that obnoxious guy or that girl who is so full of herself that sits next to me in class? Are we talking about my brownnosing coworker that I am always covering for because he does not get his work done? So who do I have to do this for? Who is my neighbor?”

So this week, as we continue in this series, I would like for us to answer the question “Who is my neighbor?” What is so fascinating about this question is that this question is not a new question. As a matter of fact this question was asked of Jesus during His life on earth. We see this question asked of Jesus in an event from history that is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. So let’s jump into this event from history, which Luke records for us in Luke 10:25:

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Luke brings us into this event from history by explaining that as Jesus was engaging in a conversation with His disciples about a short term mission trip that they had just returned from, a lawyer stood up and put Jesus to the test.  Now this lawyer, who were also known as a scribe, was an expert in the Mosaic Law, which is contained in the first five books of our Bibles today, which the Jewish people referred to as the Law or Torah.

When Luke says that this lawyer put Jesus to the test, he is revealing for us the reality that this lawyer was trying to trap Jesus with a question. This lawyer was setting a trap in hopes that Jesus would incorrectly answer the question in a way that would jeopardize Jesus status and credibility among the people. Luke then reveals the question that was posed to Jesus in order to trap Jesus: "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

The lawyer’s question, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: Jesus, what must I do so that I can experience eternal life in Heaven with God? What must I do to be right with God so that I can obtain a ticket to Heaven?” The reason why this question was a trap was due to the fact that there was great disagreement when it came to the answer to this question. And the lawyer believed that however Jesus answered this question, Jesus would end up offending someone.

Now here is a question to consider: Has anything changed? This morning is this not the question that is still asked today? And do not people argue and debate the answer to this question? Doesn’t the answer to this question still end up offending someone? Maybe this is a question that you have? Maybe you are wondering “What must I do to experience a relationship with God?  What must I do to be right with God so that I can obtain a ticket to Heaven?”

You see, regardless of whether or not you buy the whole Bible, Jesus, or church thing; regardless of how often you have attended church in the past; regardless of the fact that you may feel like you do not know and do not feel that you can ever know about whether or not the Bible or church is real or relevant; regardless of all the bad experiences that you may have had with Christians and churches, this is a question that resonates within us.

This is a question that will cause us to stop and think. Is there a God? And if there is a God, who is God? And if there is a God, how do I get right with God? However, while the lawyer thought that he had trapped Jesus, the lawyer was not prepared for what Jesus would do next, as we see in verse 26-28:

 And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" 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." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE."

Luke tells us that the lawyer responded to having the tables turned on him by Jesus by quoting from a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Deuteronomy. The lawyer quoted Deuteronomy 6:5, which was part of the Hebrew Schema, which was the Jewish people’s confession of faith. As we discovered last week, the schema would be recited by all Jewish people as part of their daily prayers and was committed to memory.

This answer would not have surprised those listening and would have seemed like the right response. The idea of loving God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind conveys a sense of total commitment. In our culture today, we would communicate this concept by saying that we should love God with our total being. In addition, this lawyer also quoted from another section of a letter in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Leviticus.

And in the lawyers answer, we see the lawyer reveal the reality that we were all created for relationships. We were created for relationships, vertically with God and horizontally with others in a community of love and acceptance. And because we were created in His image, we show our love for God by how we love others. That is why the message and teachings of Jesus and the Bible make it clear that we show our love for God when we love our neighbor. Conversely, we show a lack of intimacy with God when we are indifferent or hostile toward our neighbor.

Luke tells us that Jesus, hearing the lawyers answer to his own question, responded by affirming the lawyers answer. And in affirming the lawyers answer, Jesus quoted a section from a letter in the Old Testament of our Bible called the book of Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 20:11, the prophet Ezekiel reminded the Jewish people that the Lord had given the Jewish people His commandments to reveal His nature and character and the nature and character that the Jewish people needed to possess and display in order to live in relationship with Him.

And here we see Jesus quote this Old Testament passage as a command to the lawyer. Jesus basically says to the lawyer “You answered your own question correctly. Now make sure that you are living your life in obedience to your answer. To be right with God so that you can obtain a ticket to Heaven make sure that you are living your life in obedience to the Lord’s command to love the Lord with your total being and to love your neighbor as yourself, because you will show your love for the Lord by how you love your neighbor.” Now I want us to imagine ourselves in this event from history as this lawyer. Place yourself in his shoes. You have just tried to trap Jesus with a question in a way that would jeopardize Jesus status and credibility among the people. However, Jesus just turned the tables on you in a way that forced you to answer your own question and that made Jesus look even better in the eyes of the people. You are this lawyer. What would you be thinking at this point? How would you be feeling? How would you respond? We see the lawyer’s response in verse 29:

But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Luke tells us that the lawyer responded to having the tables turned on him by Jesus by asking Jesus a second question. "And who is my neighbor?" However, Luke reveals the true motives behind the lawyers question with the phrase wishing to justify himself. Now this phrase literally means to wish to vindicate himself.

You see, the lawyer recognized that Jesus had turned the tables on him. The lawyer recognized that his plan to trap Jesus had backfired. And the lawyer desperately desired to vindicate himself. So the lawyer doubled down in his attempt to trap Jesus.  The lawyer is basically saying “well Jesus if the Law says that I am supposed to love my neighbor as myself, who is my neighbor? And who is not my neighbor? Who do I have to love as I love myself? And who can I not love as I love myself?”

Once again the lawyer thought that he had trapped Jesus. The lawyer thought that he had trapped Jesus again because there was great disagreement when it came to the answer to this question. And the lawyer believed that however Jesus answered this question, Jesus would end up offending someone.

You see, in the Jewish culture of the first century, Jewish rabbis often taught that the Jewish people were to love their neighbor and hate their enemies. We see this in another account of Jesus life in the Bible called the book of Matthew in Matthew 5:43. In other words, Jewish people who were right with God were under obligation to love other people who were insiders that were right with God, but Jewish people did not have to love people who were outsiders who were not right with God.

So there was great debate when it came to who was an insider and who was an outsider. There was a great debate when it came to who was right with God and who was not right with God. There was great debate over who needed to be shown love and who did not need to be shown love.  There was great debate when it came to who should be considered a neighbor. And now Jesus was being forced by this lawyer to enter into this debate.

Tomorrow, we will see how Jesus entered into this debate...