Mostly Dead

Mostly Dead?

Anyone with a kid knows what it’s like to listen to excuses. All of us make them everyday. We justify why we don’t spend time exercising, eating healthy, giving our all at work, remaining faithful to our spouse in thought and deed…  I don’t have time to exercise…  There’s nothing wrong with one cookie… I’ll show my boss… It doesn’t hurt to flirt just a little…

In Luke 10:25-37, the story of The Good Samaritan, an expert in Jewish law (i.e. the Torah, which typically not only refers to the first five books of the Bible, but also to the 300+ rules the Jews attribute to Moses that don’t exist in the Old Testament) comes to Jesus “to test” Him and asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

For a Jew the answer to the “eternal life” question was simple: 1) be a son or daughter of Abraham (i.e. be a Jew), and 2) obey the Torah/Law. This expert wasn’t really looking for correction regarding his theological world-view - instead he was looking to drag Jesus into what the “expert” thought were deep waters where he could sink Jesus.

Jesus broke from what was considered “civilized behavior” in conversation. Rather than responding to the question with His answer (which would cause Him to inadvertently affirm the “expert’s” premise), Jesus didn’t “play nice” and instead responded with a question of His own, “What is written in the law?”

Jesus didn’t just have a 100th degree black belt in Bible - Jesus is the eternal Logos, i.e. the Word incarnate. Jesus didn’t ask the expert in Oral Torah (the 300+ unwritten Jewish traditions that were never inspired by God) “What does Torah say?” No, instead Jesus asked Him “What is WRITTEN in the law.”

See, if the ultimate authority on God, relationships, worship, righteousness, and LIFE were a collection of sayings that are left to be interpreted by anyone who comes along with an overbearing personality to call himself an expert… then things would be incredibly JACKED UP! This was the state of religion in Jesus’ day... and ours today.

On one end of the spectrum is the religious “expert” who has a bunch of traditions and stuff memorized - ready to clash with anyone who doesn’t share their view so they can prove how smart they are and how ignorant the rest of the world is.  On the other end of the spectrum is Immanuel, i.e. God with us, Jesus - Who owes us nothing yet came to earth to rescue us from our self-made predicament of eternal torment due to our choice to rebel against and ignore our Creator.

So Jesus responds, “What is WRITTEN…” The law expert responds not with his primary weapon of choice (ORAL tradition), but with Scripture from Deuteronomy and Numbers - which can be summed up as love God 100% and love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus’ response: “Bingo!” (Okay, that’s a loose translation)... “Do this and you will live.” The “expert” was on the receiving end of a theological and cultural WHOOPIN! The expert didn’t see it coming and the next thing he knew Jesus has HIM in deep waters. So the “expert” fires off a pathetic question in utter desperation, “Oh yeah, well who is my neighbor huh?” This response is the modern day equivalent of our saying “I know you are, but what am I?” or, “I’m telling your mom!”

So Jesus paints a word picture with the story of The Good Samaritan. In the story two religious guys walk past a guy who is beaten and “half dead” (I can’t help but think of the scene from The Princess Bride where Billy Crystal (as Miracle Max) is trying to revive Wesley "all dead or MOSTLY dead?" - every time I read the part about being “half dead!”). They do this because they don’t want to become unclean on the way to the temple where “real” worship and ministry happens. Then, along comes a guy whom the “expert” would have understood to be a filthy rat - a Samaritan! Those theological charlatans who pieced together their view of God from Judaism, Eastern religions, personal experience, and cultural “norms.”

When Jesus asks the expert, “Which of these three (Priest, Levite, or Samaritan)do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert has no choice but to respond according to what he had already said God’s standard is for “eternal life,” and responds “The one who had mercy on him.”

Remember, the point of the story and parable is that we (like the “expert”) love to make excuses for not living up to God’s standard. Jesus isn’t telling us to do more stuff or try to save the world (His job and He said “it is finished”), but rather to do everything from faith - because anything that does not come from faith is sin (Rom 14:23).

When you hear this story do you begin to create complex scenarios to justify your actions, “Well, what if there were 10 people and I had to choose one because you can’t help everybody?” Or “When does help become enabling someone?”

The questions we ask are deeper than those superficial probes. We’re trying to drag Jesus into deep waters of tradition, personal opinion, and subjectivity. But Jesus always responds with “What is WRITTEN?”

Jesus strips away all of our B.S. and causes all of us to answer the heart question first because at the end of the day we either want to love God 100% and love our neighbor -OR- like the “expert” we want to justify ourselves (10:29), we want to defer responsibility because of our plans for life and ministry are of the utmost importance. So we, like the Priest and the Levite are guilty in God's eyes of neglecting our neighbor because of our innate sin and selfishness - and we want to justify ourselves before God.

Jesus pointed out to the “expert” that you can’t truly love God despite all your religious activities, mission trips, tithing, church meetings, Bible studies, Christian music, podcast sermons, etc., if you have no compassion and love for the people whom God has brought - and will continue to bring - into your life.

So Jesus’ final answer remains unchanged because it is WRITTEN, “The one who had mercy... Go and do likewise.”

Any further debate internally or externally falls into the category of sin.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,"

Philippians 2:3

Blessings,

-Kevin