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Luke 10:25-37 (NIV)
So I want to pick up today where we left off yesterday. It’s the end of the parable of the Good Samaritan. And – as all good rabbi do – Jesus answers a question with a question.
You ever wonder why they did this? Do you ever ponder or think about why you believe what you believe? Often we believe something because we were taught to believe it. But when you discover or learn something on your own, you often feel more strongly the ownership of that which you have learned, it becomes more personal a belief to you. And, you believe it not because someone told it to you, but because you have discovered it for yourself.
Hmmm, if you ask me a question and I just give you the answer, yeah, sure, you learn something. But if I turn your hand, and take your question and answer it with a question that leads you to form the answer – where does that take you? Pretty sure I just saw lightbulbs turn on all over. That’s the intent of the parable. To get the teacher of the law to answer the question himself and reveal what was truly in his heart.
Jesus was asked the question, who is my neighbor. To which Jesus answers by telling this parable. Then He asks the leader the very same question. He reposes the question back to the teacher of the law, who is the neighbor in this story. And of course, he had no choice but to answer the very way he did – and if we look at Jesus’ response we might come to the conclusion that the leader’s response was sincere.
The leader responds by answering it is the one who showed mercy. Jesus – then commends him to go and do likewise.
Like the law expert who asked Jesus the question in this passage, we may wonder whom exactly does God expect us to love? It can be overwhelming to see so many problems in our world today. We may be tempted to believe “I can’t possibly make a difference.” We may be tempted to throw our hands up in despair and give up. The truth of it all is, on our own we cannot make a difference. Without the Holy Spirit living in us and through us we cannot do anything. Jesus told us that He could do nothing apart from the Father. At the end of this parable and in his response to the teacher of the law, Jesus makes it clear that our neighbor is the person in front of us.
Andy Stanley says it like this, “Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.”
As you go about your day to day life, even this very moment, what are you thinking about? What are you paying attention to? Can you answer at least one of those two questions? Are you looking for people who might need a word of hope? A phone call, instant message, FB comment, FaceTime call, IM Video chat is all it takes.
Here’s the reality of our lives. Often, we get distracted from the needs and the hearts of the people around us. We might be at the cashier’s register of the store, at the gas pump putting gas in a vehicle next to someone, there could be someone dying on the inside at the next table, standing in line near us. Are we conscious of these people? Or are we distracted thinking about ourselves and what we need to hurry and do next? Or maybe we are just too busy looking at our phones.
Here’s todays short thought. If we are going to be about loving others we first have to become more Christlike in that we are looking at others through His eyes. And to do that, we have to know Him – not know about Him, but we have to know Jesus.