So Must We
By: Jack Wyman
There’s always one in any crowd.
The one who knows more and wants others to know how much he knows. Intellectual show-offs. Proud of their own erudition and dismissive of others, they wear their superiority in an obvious and condescending way.
On this day, amidst this crowd, he spoke up. He’s identified as “an expert in religious law.” (Luke 10:25) Few things are more insufferable or dangerous than a supposed comprehensive knowledge of religion. But there he was, the authority.
Luke tells us that this expert “stood up to test Jesus” (emphasis added). To challenge him. Perhaps to corner or to trick the Messiah. To leave him speechless in the presence of such dazzling brilliance. That was quite an undertaking, but the expert felt up to it.
“Teacher,” he asked Jesus, “what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Here was plenty of potential for a misstep, thought the expert. Jesus answered with a question of his own. “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
The lawyer may have been unprepared for this sudden parry. Still, he knew the law well and immediately recited it:
“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27) He smiled smugly.
“Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” Settled.
The lawyer was stunned. That’s it? Nothing more? So simple an answer to such a profound question? This was an embarrassment! Seeking to justify himself and to further prove his cleverness, the legal scholar asked Jesus:
“And who is my neighbor?” Ah! This will get him. This will draw him into a trap. This will entangle him in all manner of racial, theological, and cultural weeds. But Jesus pivots. He avoids legal exposition and argument and turns instead to a practical illustration.
Jesus answers with a story. In doing this, the Lord reminds us that the Bible is the world’s greatest storybook, and he is its greatest storyteller. The parable he tells is one of history’s most poignant and memorable. Its descriptions are riveting, its principle timeless.
The man beaten and robbed along the craggy and forbidding road to Jericho is a Jew. He is left for dead. A priest happens along. When he sees the bruised and bloody man on the side of the road, he crosses to the other side and hurriedly passes by.
The priest, a very religious man, has seen the stranger in need of help, but has other priorities. Besides, stopping could be dangerous. Those robbers may be lying in wait. Involvement here could be risky. It might be costly. It’s going to take time, require sacrifice, and make him late.
Soon, a temple assistant, just as preoccupied, comes upon the wounded man. The temple assistant stopped and looked at the man lying near death. Then he warily looked around for potential danger. He, too, crossed quickly to the opposite side and went on his way.
Jesus pauses. His story takes a sudden turn.
It was a “despised Samaritan” along this road to Jericho who becomes the compassionate rescuer, the charitable benefactor, and the courageous hero of Jesus’ parable. In this story, Jesus was ironic and surprising, as he so often was in his teaching and his actions. With him, the unexpected was the whole point. The generous kindness of this Samaritan in caring for a Jewish stranger in need is a centerpiece example.
Jesus looked at the legal expert and smiled. “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” The man softly and humbly answered, “The one who showed him mercy.” “Yes,” says Jesus, “now go and do the same.” (Luke 10:36-37)
There is always the practical application.
Case made and closed. Answer given. Lesson taught. Truth illustrated and proclaimed. Not just for that time, but for all time, for all people, and for every circumstance and situation. A man shunned by those of a different race and nationality is held up to you and me as the premier example of what it means to be a true neighbor. What it means to be a good citizen and, more than these, what it means to be a genuine Christian.
In their letters, the apostles Paul, James, and Peter write abundantly about the fact that faith without works is dead. Throughout their theological and doctrinal arguments, they all come back to the same central point that Christianity is more than a set of beliefs; it is a way of life.
A profession of faith in Jesus Christ in the absence of its true and life-changing possession and daily practice is meaningless. It becomes a contradiction that, in the end, must perish under the weight of its own hypocrisy.
The parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates the transcending love of God. His love triumphs over every barrier, suspicion, and hatred sinful man has ever erected to separate people from each other. Its tender truth reminds us that we cannot love God without also loving and caring for those made in his image.
The good and religious people passed by. Only the Samaritan traveler stopped.
When times are tough; when conditions are frightening and the future unsettling, we are tempted to turn inward and forget those who are suffering in distant lands. They are not like us, we argue. They don’t count as much as we count. You and I must remember, as Christians and as Americans, that to whom much is given, much is required.
God is the supreme globalist. The divine internationalist. His Son’s last command to His Church was to take His Gospel to every person in every nation throughout the entire world. The love of God alone can tear down every wall of oppression, injustice, and prejudice.
God loves and cares about the world he made.
So must we.
To order Jack Wyman’s book, “Everything Else: Stories of Life, Faith and Our World”, go to amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors or barnesandnoble.com. It is also available on Kindle and eBooks.
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