Luke 10. 25-37 Showing the Father's love through compassionate action

 “Who is my neighbour.”  
We all know the "Story of the Good Samaritan" - but in order to get what it's saying , we need also to know the story of the story.    This lawyer – an expert in the Old Testament  and probably sympathetic to the Pharisee party – came to check Jesus out: “What qualifies me for eternal life?  What  do I need to do?" Jesus answers with a reasonable enough question, “What does the book say?”  The lawyer is easily within his specialist area: “Love God, (Deut 6:5)  love neighbour (Lev 19:18)...”  Then Jesus says , "OK,do that and you have eternal life.”  That's simple enough.  The man maybe feels embarrassed he's made such a big issue of asking a fairly obvious question. Maybe he wants to find exactly how far this command actually extends. There is a theological point he needs to clear up.  “Who is my neighbour?” 

What should my attitude be to those who are outside of the Jewish race?  What should my attitude be to Romans, Greeks, Samaritans, Africans?  There's actually quite a lot of personal and cultural baggage hiding behind that question.  “Who is my neighbour?”

Jesus answers this time by telling a story.  “Once there was  man who got beaten up and robbed going from Jerusalem to Jericho.  Along came a priest.”  Everyone who was listening (Pharisee scribe as well as working people) would get a good laugh at that: priests and Levites were seen as toffs and hypocrites who benefited from the law that forced everyone to bring sacrifices and offerings but didn't keep the law themselves. 

The parable of the Good Samaritan by Conti

But nobody would be laughing as the next part of the story unfolded: “a Samaritan came along and helped the injured man with extravagant unstinting generosity at his own expense!" A denarius would buy you twelve days worth of bed and breakfast: this was going to cost the Samaritan a lot of money!.  And there was a considerable risk to himself if the robbers were still around.  Everyone would be spluttering.  Jews don't have anything to do with Samaritans.  There had been ugly incidents – on one occasion a group of Samaritans had thrown bones into the Temple during the Passover... a clear insult.  A few years later it would erupt into  violence.  The Lawyer, with his question, “Who is my neighbour?” would have a real sense of shock and challenge at the idea that a hated and despised Samaritan could perform an act of love and kindness for a Jew.  In fact Jews were not supposed to receive works of love or mercy from non-Jews.  Samaritans were kind of seen as people who should be Jewish but had broken away.   This story pushes into strange and dangerous territory.

"Becoming a neighbour"
Jesus then brings the point home, with at question of his own.   “Who was (literally became) neighbour to the man who was the victim of the crime?”   The idea of a “neighbour” for the lawyer was something to debate and discuss: “Who is my neighbour” precisely defines the limits of who I've got to love!

In the OT a neighbour was “an associate” of any sort and could be a companion, friend, or family member.  It's vague, deliberately so; and its roots are active, not passive. The root of the Hebrew word means “to tend a flock, that is, pasture it.”    It's not so much a matter of defining “Who is my neighbour” as simply being a neighbour.

Rembrandt's "Good Samaritan"

The priest and the Levite, walking by on the other side (more likely because they were going home to dinner than because they were going to work: Jericho was where a  lot of the priests lived) showed a  complete lack of concern or love or compassion for the injured man.  But the Samaritan showed exactly what it is to be a neighbour, with his risky delay on the road, gentle first aid and costly financial help.  This is what it is to be a neighbour.  This is how we are meant to live as disciples. This is how followers of Jesus are meant to live, showing mercy not just to each other but to any lost hungry sheep.  Mercy to the last, the lost and the least is part of our call as Kingdom people. 

To someone who had asked “Who is my neighbour?” Jesus says “Who was this needy, broken guy's neighbour?”  Crestfallen and embarrassed, the lawyer sees he isn’t going to get the better of Jesus.  “I suppose,” he grudgingly admits, “the one who showed mercy (or compassion)”.  He can't bring himself to say "It was the Samaritan."

Put yourself in the situation of the guy who got beaten up.  How does he feel when he realises the man who is standing over him is a Samaritan?  Is he expecting another beating?  How does he feel about Samaritans when he is resting up in the inn (at the Samaritan’s expense?  

Compassion will take you out of your comfort zone,  into a  place where you yourself are needy and vulnerable.  It's really interesting that Jesus broke the conventions and shattered the stereotypes by sitting down beside a well in a Samaritan village, and asked a Samaritan woman to give him a drink! 

To demonstrate the father's love by showing compassion will  bring  you to abandon prejudice, resentment, fear and self-interest.  It will call you to become a neighbour to the last the lost and the least. 

"Go and do the same"
 Jesus doesn't really answer the question “Who is my neighbour?”  He is more interested in the question “how do I show love?”  That’s what the Samaritan teaches us.  And Jesus finishes the whole conversation off at exactly the place where the lawyer started it.  Remember he had begun by asking, “What must I do to have eternal life?”   Once the lawyer  had admitted that the person who became a neighbour, who tended the broken one,who showed love, was the Samaritan, Jesus said, “Go and do the same.” 

That's what you do to inherit eternal life: do what the Samaritan did.  This isn't something to have great long debates about: “is it really gospel work, to feed the hungry?  Is it really Gospel work to sit with someone who is lonely or  to wipe the face of a disabled adult?” Well, yes, it is. 

One practical illustration, from many: there are people who are teaching “birth life saving skills” to expectant mums and dads in the developing world. A lot of is is very simple: just recognising the danger signs when something isn't going right. The result?  Mums get to hospital or get  a midwife called out if there are complications; lives, and souls  are saved regularly as a result.

Or think abut a little Methodist church in an English village.  It was dwindling – almost closed down.  But there was a school in the village, and as often happens in villages as well as towns,there were  children turning up for school without having had any breakfast. The little group of ladies in the church had been thinking, “what can we do to serve our community?”  Then  they realised “We can make toast!”  A breakfast club was launched and as a result that wee church began to thrive and grow as its members served the community.

Demonstrating the Father’s love through character; demonstrating the Father's love through compassion.  It's the boring, ordinary stuff.  But it makes a difference.  It is part of discipleship and it is part of mission.  It's not something just to be talked about.   Go and do it.


© Gilmour Lilly September 2012

Matthew 5. 1-16 Showing God's love through "Godly character"

What does salt taste like?  How would you describe the taste of salt?  Basically, it tastes salty!  Salt isn't the same as potato crisps or roast beef or porridge or chow mein.  It adds something to food but it's different to food. Light does something to darkness because it is different to the darkness.  Jesus uses the images of salt and light to show that he expects us to be different from the world they live in. He is speaking about Christian character: an inner quality of our lives that is different from the world and makes a difference to the world we live in.

Being Different
What is the saltiness Jesus refers to here?  What is Christian character like?  Jesus describes it in verses Matthew 5. 1-12:  there are nine things about Christian character...

1. The first of these is so obvious you could almost miss it. Jesus says "Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the meek, blessed... blessed..."  "Blessed" means, "Made happy by God" (Michael Green).  It's real, joyful, glorious. It's the antidote for those who think religion is a sad, miserable affair. Joy, not complaining. But it's an "upside down" Mr Topsy-Turvy joy that isn't dependent the circumstances of this life but on how we respond to those circumstances. The beatitudes focus on those responses.
2. Blessed are the poor in spirit.  Dependence on God. You're in a good place, a joyful place, when you realise you have nothing to offer, that your own resources are not enough. I like some of the beatitudes in "The Message", but not all of hem.  So I'll use them when they are helpful. You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. Joy comes through Dependence not self-reliance. 
3. Blessed are those who mourn. Happy to be sad!  This is not about depression or restricted to those in bereavement although it offers hope to those in times of loss. It also speaks as Michael Green says, to tall who "have seen the depth of the world's suffering and their own sin and it ha broken their heart."  Repentance not denial
4. Blessed are the meek. "The Message" says, You're blessed when you're content with just who you are-no more, no less.  Those who make themselves small and are teachable. Humility not arrogance
5. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Many in impoverished Galilee would go hungry.  Hunger and even more so, thirst, is not something you can ignore.  It's not the same as suddenly feeling peckish between meals. There's a sense of urgency about real hunger and thirst. Normally we are hungry and thirsty for  "Some food, some water."  But here, the hunger is for all the food, the thirst is for all the water.   We need to be passionate for what is right. How desperately do we desire the Kingdom of God?  Urgency not apathy
6. Blessed are the merciful. God has mercifully welcomed us into his Kingdom, and forgiven all our sins. Jesus warns us over and again that we gamble that grace every time we fail to show forgiveness to someone else. Forgiving not legalism. Grace not law
7. Blessed are the pure in heart. "The Message" says You're blessed when you get your inside world-your mind and heart-put right. Free from lust; free from greed; free from resentment and showmanship; free from mixed motives. . Transparency not hypocrisy
8. Blessed are the peacemakers. "The Message" says You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight.  - uniting not dividing
9. Blessed are the Persecuted.  That's for all of us.  There is always a call to count the cost of following Jesus: it may be having to hear the constant trickle of anti-Christian humour; it may be that there are things our faith will not allow us to do. "The Message" says You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution.    Committed and paying the cost.  Courage not cowardice.

That, then, is what kingdom salt tastes like. That's the spectrum of kingdom light
Salt is a preservative, a cleansing agent that stops things from going bad.  Salt needs to be different - but in the place where it is needed.  Light needs to be shining, contrasting with the darkness - and in the place where it can be seen.

Making a difference
The light (our light) has to shine before men so that they can see our good works and give glory to our Father in Heaven.  

That's the way it was with Daniel.  He was taken as a teenage lad from Judea to a foreign, heathen country, Babylon.  Because he was intelligent and from a good family, he was picked out for a privileged life as a trainee government official. It was like getting an all-expenses paid place at University, only the food came from the Royal kitchens.  Daniel and his friends wanted to be true to God, and were not keen to eat unclean meat, so they got permission to eat only vegetables.  It made them different; they had to have courage and self-sacrifice. But after a trial period they looked healthier than the other students, so the steward looking after them was impressed. As they studied and worked and held on to what they believed - showing Godly character - the King was impressed too, and Daniel became a senior official in Babylon. When he was an older man, a law was passed that nobody could pray except to the King, Darius. Daniel went out every morning onto his balcony and prayed, aloud and in public... and was thrown into the den of lions. He was humble, he was totally committed, courageous, and made a significant difference to the world he lived in under different rulers.

That's the way it was with Paul.  He was arrested in Philippi on trumped up charges; and spent the night singing God's praises. When God intervened and an earthquake demolished the prison, Paul, and the other prisoners, instead of running away, stayed put. As a result of what happened, the prison warden became a Christian.  Later, Paul was arrested again and eventually ended up under house arrest in Rome.  He wrote from there "I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ." (Phil 1:12f) Every day a detail of soldiers would be sent to make sure Paul didn't escape. Word got around!   Speaking to people whose partners were not believers, Paul says (1Cor 7.16) "how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?"  Within our home life, our business life, at school or wherever we are, we can make a difference for Jesus, we can earn the right to speak about him, as we show the father's love through Godly Character.

Staying Different.
Salt that isn't salty is useless. When the salt leeches out of rock-salt, what are you left with? Just grit. It's good for nothing. Salt needs to be in something that isn't salt - but to stay different.  How can we stay different? How can we get and keep the character of disciples that makes a difference in our world?
1. Absorb God's Word.  We need to take time and read some Scriptures over and over again until they become part of us: passages like Psalm 23, 1 Cor 13, Galatians 5... and this!  Meditating on this passage over the last three weeks has had a profound influence in my life.
2. Agree with God's Word. That's about faith. We need to agree with God, that this is a good way to be.  The Kingdom does belong to the poor in spirit and to those whose commitment brings persecution; the meek shall inherit the earth; when we are mourning the Comforter comes. When we are hungry for God's Kingdom, we shall be filled.  When we are merciful we receive mercy; Peacemakers are known as God's kids. The pure in Spirit will see God.  And these attitudes - dependence, humility, forgiveness, bring joy!
3. Admit your need.  You can't live like this. It's frustrating! Right? God's word says, "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse."(1 John 1. 9)  There is freedom simply in admitting we ache a problem.
4. Ask.  Ask the Lord to form these qualities in your life.
5. Abide. Jesus says "He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit"  (John 15. 5) To show the love of a heavenly father, we need to hang out with our Father. To show the character of Jesus, we need to spend time with him.  To have the fruit of the Spirit, we need to allow the Spirit to flow through us, to soak in him.  It is in abiding, in presence, that healing comes for the wounds and sins that mar the Father's image in us.
6. Act! Faith in the word, time with Jesus, letting the Lord deal with the inner obstacles, doesn't take responsibility away from us. We need to co-operate with the Word and the Spirit, put our faith into practise and act different!



© Gilmour Lilly September 2012