This week we
are looking at an event from history that is recorded
in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible
called the gospel of Luke. 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.
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
revealed the question that was posed to Jesus in order to trap Jesus: "Teacher,
what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
Now this
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 with God in Heaven? 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.
Instead of
providing an answer to the lawyers’ question, Jesus, sensing the lawyer’s
insincerity, responded by turning the tables on the lawyer. Jesus basically
said to the lawyer “What do you think? What do you think God said about how we
can experience eternal life with God in Heaven?” Luke tells us that the lawyer,
unable to resist the temptation to show off how much he knew about God, 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.
Jesus, upon 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.
Jesus quoted this Old Testament passage as a command to
the lawyer. Jesus basically said 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 Luke 10:29:
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
revealed the true motive 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. The lawyer desperately
desired to vindicate himself. And the lawyer desperately wanted to demonstrate
how smart he was and how much he knew about God. So the lawyer doubled down in
his attempts 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. 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. And now Jesus
was being forced by this lawyer to enter into this debate. Luke then reveals
for us how Jesus entered into this debate in verse 30-32:
Jesus replied and said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went
away leaving him half dead. "And by chance a priest was going down on that
road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. "Likewise a
Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other
side.
Luke tells us that, once again, Jesus replied to the
lawyers question by not directly answering his question. Instead, Jesus told a
parable. Now a parable is an earthly story that is
designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. Jesus began this parable by
explaining that as a Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. To
fully understand the context of this parable, however, we first need to
understand something about the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.
You see,
the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was a dangerous road frequented by robbers.
The road descended 3,000 feet over 17 miles. This road would be very similar to
traveling from Golden Valley to Bullhead City. There were many places along the
road where robbers could hide in wait of unwary travelers and attack them by
surprise.
Jesus
then explained that the Jewish man who was on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho
was attacked by robbers who robbed him, beat him, stripped him naked and left
him half dead on the side of the road. The robbers left this man on the side of
the road to die of exposure or attack from wild animals after taking everything
that this man possessed.
However,
by chance a priest happened to be traveling on the road to Jericho when he came
upon this half dead man lying on the side of the road. This priest was a Jewish religious leader who was a direct descendant of
Aaron who had the position, privilege and responsibility to lead the Jewish
people in following the Jewish sacrificial system. This religious person would
have been considered right with God and would have been the insider of
insiders. In our culture today, this man would have been like a Senior Pastor
of a church.
Yet, when this insider of insiders saw his fellow Jewish
man beaten, naked, and left half dead on the side of the road, he responded by
moving to the other side of the road. This insider of insiders responded by
distancing himself and walking right past his fellow Jew to instead continue on
to Jericho.
Jesus then explained that just by chance, a Levite
happened to be traveling on the road to Jericho
when he came upon this half dead man lying on the side of the road. This Levite
was a Jewish religious leader who was
the priest’s assistant and was responsible for the less important tasks at the
Temple. In our culture today, this man would have been like an Associate Pastor
of a church.
Yet, when this insider saw his fellow Jewish man beaten,
naked, and left half dead on the side of the road, he also responded by moving
to the other side of the road. This insider also responded by distancing
himself and walking right past his fellow Jew to instead continue on to
Jericho.
Now I want us to imagine ourselves in this event from
history in the crowd listening to Jesus as He had this confrontation with this
lawyer. I want us to place ourselves in this scene for a minute. If you were
there in the crowd listening, would you think that these insiders were very
loving to their fellow insider? If you were there in the crowd listening, would
you think that these insiders were acting like insiders when it came to having
a relationship with God?
Or, if you were there in the crowd listening, would you
think that these insiders were acting like outsiders when it came to having a
relationship with God? How would you have responded to what these insiders did
when it came to their fellow insider? You would have been disappointed in them,
wouldn’t you?
Jesus then continued His parable by introducing a third
character. A third character we will meet on Friday…
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