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Meditation
On Saturdays, we consider a passage of Scripture. This is not a thread for theological debate, but for meditation. Here’s today’s passage:
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 [Jesus] 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.”
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
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 neighbor 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.”
back to top13 Comments to “Meditation”
Ah, here we see Jesus teaching on the essence of faith. To believe is not rite or ritual; it is to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.
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It’s interesting to me that Jesus doesn’t appear to challenge the Do Notion of inheriting eternal life.
What shall we make of that?
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In our affluent society, we’re not presented with opportunities like this often to show compassion. I can’t accept the idea that merely being pleasant to those we meet every day is enough. We have to look for opportunities to display active compassion.
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Mark Roth:
We should not infer from Lk. 10:28 that a person can “work” himself into salvation. Jesus answers a question about “what shall I do” with a story. (This could have been an actual event, though many treat it as a parable.) The story is about a person who would not have been allowed into the scribe’s synagogue. The Samaritan fulled the essence of the law while the lawyer strictly obeyed the letter. (As many Muslems do today.) Jesus said, if you can obey all the law, you live (v.28). But he had already broken the law.
(Try this to see if it takes.)
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Continued:
There are actually two methods of obtaining eternal life:
1. Absolute obedience.
2. Faith that God, through Christ, will forgive us of our sins and give us a new birth.
(Rom. 3.21f,) But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jusus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
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Continued again:
The essence of the story is not, “who is my neighbor”, but “who is exempted”. Jesus chose two men who had good excuses. To deal with a bloody man who might die would contaminate them ceremonially. They could justify their actions to themselves, but not before God. The Samaritan discovere a man who needed him, thus he had a claim on his love.
In Romans 13:10, Paul has given the Romans insight into righteousness. He cites from the law, then says. (v.10) “Love works no ill to it’s neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
The multiple posts are because I don’t trust the system to take everything.
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Is there a typo in the passage above? The word [Jesus] is inserted in brackets, but that is the lawyer talking.
It is fascinating to watch Jesus teach, especially the lawyers. The lawyer is trying to trip Jesus up and then quibbles about the definition of the word ‘neighbor’.
Jesus proceeds to demonstrate to this law scholar how people can spend their lives studying the law and miss the law, while a lowly Samaritan gets it.
Jesus puts the scholar to shame and at the same time gives him a lesson about Grace, i.e. unearned kindness. In much the same way, Jewish scholars would soon reject a lowly man from Galilee who was full of Grace and Truth.
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Is there a typo in the passage above? The word [Jesus] is inserted in brackets, but that is the lawyer talking.
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My posts aren’t getting through … maybe this one will.
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Is there a typo in the passage above? The word [Jesus] is inserted in brackets, but that is the lawyer talking. .
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It is fascinating to watch Jesus teach, especially the lawyers. The lawyer is trying to trip Jesus up and then quibbles about the definition of the word ‘neighbor’.
Jesus proceeds to demonstrate to this law scholar how people can spend their lives studying the law and miss the law, while a lowly Samaritan gets it.
Jesus puts the scholar to shame and at the same time gives him a lesson about Grace, i.e. unearned kindness. In much the same way, Jewish scholars would soon reject a lowly man from Galilee who was full of Grace and Truth.
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P.S. In the scriptural quote above in the topic paragraphs, the word Jesus is inserted incorrectly. The lawyer answered with the quotes from the law.
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Last Sunday, an elder preached on the bad Samaritan and the good Samaritan.
He made an observation that he thought the good Samaritan had been encountered by Jesus prior to the account in the story.
He said he would just bet that he was changed when Jesus was in Samaria (where/when he encountered the woman at the well.
It sounds plausible. Because that kind of care and generosity would come from a grateful, transformed heart.
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