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