Who is my neighbor? Luke 10:29 (NKJV)
The Lawyer – Neighbors Series – Part 4
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7 | PART 8
“Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” This was the first question our Lawyer, in Luke 10, asked Jesus.
Eternal life was not something that the Jewish community talked about much. The Torah (the Jewish books of law comprising of the first five books of the Bible) barely mentions it. In fact, it is more concerned with how you live in the here and now. Redemption wasn’t about getting you into heaven but was a way to live a meaningful and impacting life now (heaven on earth, kingdom come). From the start, the Lawyer's question seems a little strange and even self-serving.
Besides that, the verb ‘do’ implies that the lawyer was looking for a single action, a checkbox list of the things he could DO to live forever. “The question presumes eternal life is a commodity to be inherited or purchased on the basis of a particular action rather than a gift given freely.” Amy-Jill Levine, “Short Stories by Jesus.”
A works based salvation, a quick way to the top, a short cut to get ahead – that's something I think we’ve all looked for in one way or another.
Jesus didn’t answer his question. Rather, he asked a question in return: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
God does not lead by demand and command. Yes, there are a few rules, as we’ll see below. But more than barking out orders, the Divine reveals and guides, manifests and awakens – he encourages us to cultivate our understanding, to think and seek wisdom. We’re not robots, and he doesn’t expect us to behave like one.
The Lawyer replied to Jesus question the same way any Jew would. He recited Deuteronomy 6 & Leviticus 19, “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.”
These were not new concepts. Way back in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and then later in Ezekiel, the Jews were directed to love others and be kind to their neighbors. And neighbor didn’t just mean the Jew next door… it included foreigners who were living among them, people outside of their own tradition, the vulnerable and the weak. They believed that ‘love of God and love of neighbor' was not only the highest teaching of the Torah but must also be manifested in action. Otherwise, the love they professed was merely empty words.
Clearly, the Lawyer knew this, and Jesus knew that he knew. The lawyer was looking for a different answer. He was seeking to justify his own internal value system. (How often do we approach God with this agenda? I know I do…).
When the lawyer asked Jesus, “who is my neighbor,” he was really asking: “who is NOT my neighbor.”
“He presumably wanted something on the order of: “A neighbor (hereinafter referred to as the party of the first part) is to be construed as meaning a person of Jewish descent whose legal residence is within a radius of no more than three statute miles from one's own legal residence unless there is another person of Jewish descent (hereinafter to be referred to as the party of the second part) living closer to the party of the first part than one is oneself, in which case the party of the second part is to be construed as neighbor to the party of the first part and one is oneself relieved of all responsibility of any sort or kind whatsoever. Instead, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), the point of which seems to be that your neighbor is to be construed as meaning anybody who needs you. The lawyer's response is left unrecorded.” Frederick Buechner, “Wishful Thinking.“
Your turn. Leave us your comments below.
Go to Part 5 – The Priest and The Levite »
[vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ pagination=”false” thumbnail_link=”custom_link” link_title_tag=”true” custom_links_target=”_blank” overlay_style=”title-category-visible” columns_gap=”5″ img_hover_style=”fade-out” image_ids=”20934,20935,20937″ custom_links=”https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239768002?pt=118656308&ct=blog%20footer&mt=8,https://www.pktfuel.com/dailyemail,https://www.pktfuel.com/support” img_height=”350″]