Ask Yourself Some Great Christian Questions!

5th Sunday after Pentecost, 7/10/22 Luke 10:25-37 Ask Yourself Some Great Christian Questions! Asking the right questions is an effective and efficient way of arriving at the truth. For that reason, asking the right questions is at the heart of our country’s judicial system. Some of you have served on a jury in a court case. Even if you haven’t, I’m sure all of you have watched a television drama portrayal of a court case, even if those portrayals only somewhat resemble what actually occurs in a courtroom. The prosecuting and defending attorneys ask the witnesses questions which are directly aimed at arriving at the truth about what was said or done pertinent to the case. Both attorneys spend a great deal of time and effort in researching the facts of the case in order to ask questions in just the right way. On this day in the life of Jesus as recorded by St. Luke, an expert in the law—a Jewish attorney—appeared before Jesus to ask him a question which, no doubt, he had pondered for some time. This wasn’t an innocent question, and we’ll talk about that in a moment. In response, Jesus asks the expert in the law his own question. Actually, two of them. And, at first blush, they don’t appear to be all that profound as far as questions go, but Jesus is the master at asking questions to arrive at the truth. Actually, they were profound, Christian questions, because they ultimately led the man to question what he thought was true about himself and what he thought was true about his God. In doing so, Jesus was leading him to spiritual truth. Did he ever arrive there? We don’t know. The great Christian questions presented here in our text beg us to ask them of ourselves. So, let’s not miss this opportunity. Ask yourself some great Christian questions. And as you do, may our Lord Jesus lead you to see the truth about yourself and about him as your Savior. Luke opens our text by introducing us to a man who was an expert in the law. What might not be obvious to us would have been plainly obvious to any Jewish person reading these words. This man was a Jewish attorney who was an expert in Jewish law, meaning that his business was to know what was in the first five books of our Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In those books the Lord had given the Jews not only the ceremonial law—what sacrifices to bring, etc., but also the civil law—the laws which regulated Jewish life. Luke tells us that he stood up to test Jesus. We wish we had more information about his motives and what he wanted to accomplish with his question. The best we can conclude is that he, in some way, wanted to challenge Jesus’ teachings or to discredit him. And his question was, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” You might be of the opinion that his question is nonsensical, since an inheritance is a gift, not something you earn. But it’s also true that wills often reward certain parties for their exemplary service to the deceased. Either way, his question is one that billions of people have asked and still do. Instead of answering it himself, Jesus responds by asking the man not just one question, but two. “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” Like a master teacher, Jesus begins with the known and will work towards the unknown. He leads the attorney into his area of expertise—the Law. And the attorney answers immediately and correctly, “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, love your neighbor as yourself.” He nailed it. This is what the Law of God requires of every human being. Jesus affirmed his answer. “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.” This could have been the end of the conversation. The two of them had just exchanged important truths from God’s holy word. Nothing more to say. But this “easy” exchange had made the attorney look foolish. In fact, the truths that he recited to Jesus were known by every Jewish person. They were inscribed on the doorframes of Jewish houses. They were written on small pieces of parchment, placed in small leather pouches called phylacteries, and tied to the heads of Jewish males. This exchange of elementary Jewish truths had made him, an expert in the law, look foolish. And so, Luke informs us, “But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” Notice that he doesn’t ask anything about love for God. Love for God isn’t easy to see because it’s a matter of the heart. But love for your neighbor—now that’s something that’s almost always quite visible and audible. His question sounds simple, but it’s freighted with meaning. The attorney can’t argue the case that God doesn’t require love for your neighbor, but, like a good attorney, he can argue about who is your neighbor. In other words, what are the limitations? And that’s when Jesus relates this masterful parable. A man—most certainly a Jewish man—was traveling a stretch of road from Jerusalem to Jericho, which was known in Bible times to be dangerous because of the presence of robbers. This man fell victim to some. They robbed him, stripped him, beat him, and left him nearly dead. His life completely depended on someone stopping to help him. And along come two likely helpers. The first was a priest. He served in the Temple in Jerusalem, offering sacrifices to the people. Another of his duties was to teach God’s law to his fellow Jews, including the command to love your neighbor as yourself. But he avoided the man completely, passing by on the other side. Soon afterward came a Levite. As a Levite, he worked in the Temple, assisting the priests with the sacrifices, providing music, performing cleaning and maintenance, assisting worshippers much as our modern ushers do. But he, too, passed by on the other side. The Jewish people listening to Jesus might have had a hard time believing what they had just heard. Jews not helping their fellow Jew? Unthinkable! But the details become even more absurd. A Samaritan is traveling on that road. He notices the man and has pity on him. The Greek word is intense. He has compassion on him. His guts go out to him. He stops to help him. That’s incredulous! Jews and Samaritans hate each other. Jews avoided all contact with Samaritans. A Jew who helped a Samaritan would be scorned for helping the enemy. But this Samaritan doesn’t even consider the way Jews would have responded to him if he were in need. Instead, he goes out of his way to help the man. He pours wine and oil on the man’s wounds—an antiseptic and an ointment—and applies bandages—likely strips of his own clothing. Then he puts the man on his donkey while he walks and leads it. He heads to the nearest inn and, instead of just dropping him off, he stays with him and takes care of him. In the morning, when he needs to continue his journey, he gives the innkeeper two denarii—the equivalent of two days’ wages for the average worker. Quickly calculate that amount in your head. One commentator stated that it was enough to keep him there for two months! From a Samaritan for a Jew?! Absurd! Jesus has one more question: “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” And the expert in the law has one more answer, “The one who had mercy on him.” And then comes the clincher. Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” I’m guessing the attorney left Jesus in silence. He came to Jesus convinced he was keeping the law and, therefore, would inherit eternal life. He left Jesus confronted with the fact that he could never do what God demands. And that leads us to some great Christian questions. First, who do you think you are? The expert in the law thought he was a stellar example of a child of God. He prided himself on his own good works. He was certain God was pleased with him. Second, what do you think you have? The expert in the law thought he had life with God based on his record of keeping the law. He had no trust in God; he didn’t need God. He trusted himself. But he was wrong, dead wrong. Truth be told, we struggle with the same misconceptions. We want to be treated as we deserve; look at all the good we do! And, we want to treat others the way they deserve. That means we want to limit who our neighbor is. That way, we don’t have to love those who make life difficult for us; they don’t deserve it. We can ignore people who think and believe differently than we do, just like the Jews and Samaritans did. We’ll set limits on whom we love and how much we will love them. And we’ll reserve the right to despise some people. And all the while, we’ll be certain we’re going to heaven. Who do you think you are and what do you think you have? In a stunning way, Jesus was the Samaritan in this parable. He, and he alone, loves the way this Samaritan did. Jesus was a neighbor to every sinner. He loved every sinner and he showed it by sacrificing himself for every sinner. He did so for me. For you. He was the neighbor that I’m not. And now, by the grace of God, he has transformed you and me. His love has drilled through the sinful surface of our loveless hearts and his love now fills us. It has transformed us into the people he loves—people who love God and love our neighbors. Who do we think we are? Children of God by faith in Jesus. What do we think we have? Eternal life in heaven as God’s gift to us, won for us by Jesus. So now, go. Go and ask one more great Christian question: “Whose neighbor am I?” Go, and find a neighbor to love. Amen.