diff --git a/content/bible_journal/luke_10:25-37.md b/content/bible_journal/luke_10:25-37.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..76edaaf --- /dev/null +++ b/content/bible_journal/luke_10:25-37.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ ++++ +title = "Luke 10:25–37" +date = "2022-12-07" ++++ + +### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk10.25-37) + +In this familiar story, an expert of the Law of Moses decides to test Jesus by +posing an important question. "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" (_v. +25_) Jesus responds by asking the lawyer to answer his own question, which he +does. And then Luke tells us that the lawer wanted to justify himself, he asks, +"Who is my neighbor?" (_v. 29_) This is a case of someone knowing what is the +right thing to do, but not willing to do it, not completely. + +Jesus exposes his hypocrisy by telling a story of a man who is robbed on the +road to Jericho. Both a priest and a Levite, respected members of the +community, see the man lying on the side of the road, but pass by and do not +help him. In their defense, they may have thought the man was dead and didnt +want to become unclean by touching a corpse. However, we have learned that God +is less concerned about ritual cleanliness than about kindness and mercy. Now, +by this point the audience would be expecting to hear what a lay Israelite +would do with this poor man, but Jesus throws a massive curveball by +introducing a Samaritan. Samaritans and Jews did not like each other in the +first century. To hear that this Samaritan would show the robbery victim such +extravagant kindness would be even more astonishing to the Jews in Jesus's day. + +So, which of the three characters was a neighbor to the man? The answer is +obvious, and you can hear the reluctance in the voice of the lawyer when he +answers. Then Jesus pins him down by telling him to go and live his life in the +same way: loving your neighbor extravagantly, even when they aren't part of +your in-group, even when it's inconvenient, even if you are effectively in +hostile territory. Beloved, this is simple to understand, but oh so hard to do. +Even if you are thinking, "I've done heroic things, and helped people out of +real trouble. I'm good!" I would challenge you to not to look only at your +successes, but at all the times you failed too. No one is consistent with this +kind of radical love, every moment of every day, with every single person they +come upon. + +* * * + +Help us to love everyone around us with the same love You have showed us.