5/4/17 – Deuteronomy 2:24-37, Deuteronomy 3, Deuteronomy 4:1-14 Luke 10:25-42, Luke 11:1-4 Psalm 41:7-13
Luke 10:29
But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”
Notice Luke calls out the reason for asking the question “desiring to justify himself”. Many questions are asked like that – we want an answer that will affirm where we already are, rather than challenge us to change.
Notice what Jesus does. He doesn’t say anything about the reason for the question – he gives a challenging answer in reply in the form of the story of the Good Samaritan. This is a misunderstood story. Jesus is playing off a prejudice but the pint of the story is not that the Samaritan is good, it’s that he helps someone that he’d be expected not to help. He goes above and beyond for someone that in other circumstances he’d not get on with. In over words, we love everyone like ourselves.
Jesus then ends with a pointed statement. Go and do likewise.
There’s no way at the end of us that the asked of the question could justify himself after that. And the same for us. Can we really say we treat everyone in that way? It’s a sobering challenge.
