Life. All. Neighbor.
Luke 10:25-37
And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
Life. The question is, “What do I do to have eternal life?” It’s a deep question, one that hasn’t stopped being asked. What do we have to do here on earth to be able to live forever? Some people’s perceptions of living eternally is finding the elusive fountain of youth and being forever immortal in the best human shape possible. Others want to know what’s coming after death and how they can guarantee a good life “on the other side.” But the person who asked Jesus this question was first a Jew, but also a lawyer. And he was testing Jesus. The thing was, Jesus knew it. Jesus could have answered so many ways. This man was asking Life himself about eternal life (1))! The hope of life after death is only found within Jesus. He is the resurrection and the life (2). And by knowing him, we know God– and that is eternal life (3). But instead of saying all of that to this man who was testing him, Jesus answered back with a question– what have you been told (in the Law)?
All. And the man answered correctly. Jesus literally said that the man was right, that if he did that, he would live! But that was the catch. The man knew the Law, he knew the words of God, but he didn’t follow them. If he did, he would have truly seen Jesus and would have actually had the life it talked about (4)! Instead, he was looking at it selfishly, focusing on himself (v. 29) and not on God (v. 27). This was his answer that he was too blind to see: “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” It’s one of the pinnacle points of Scripture that was taught to God’s people: give ALL of yourself to God (5). Our love for God isn’t giving him a portion of ourselves. It’s not even giving all of a part of ourselves. We can’t give God all of our hearts and keep what’s in our minds for ourselves. We can’t love God with all our soul and use our strength on things that aren’t of him. If we love him, we need to love him wholeheartedly, devoting our whole soul to loving him, using all of our strength for him, and giving him the entirety of our thoughts. Everything. That’s what God asks. Because that’s what He gave for us– and more.
Neighbor. But the well-learned man didn’t stop there. He actually put two key Scriptures together by also quoting from Leviticus (6): “You shall love your neighbor as yourself…” This is what he was focused on. He figured he knew all about loving God, though if he did, loving others would come naturally. So when Jesus explained very clearly that our neighbor would be anyone, even a Samaritan, the man didn’t continue to try to justify himself. He didn’t even acknowledge that it was a Samaritan who showed mercy in Jesus’s story, instead calling him, “the one who showed him mercy.” It doesn’t seem to be the ending he was looking for to the challenge he threw at Jesus about eternal life. Eternal life seemed to be something to be earned in a different way, alone and as an accomplishment. But as Jesus patiently explained to this man for whom he came to die, loving God and loving others is more than words on a page. It’s something that we do no matter what, even if there’s a half-dead man in our path, like the man the Samaritan found. Because loving each other brings us from death to life (7). It’s a powerful love– the love that is better than earthly life (8) and if we stay in his love, and do likewise, we will have eternal life (9).
Jesus personally died to give us eternal life. We give him all of ourselves, as he gave all of himself. And we love our neighbor, because Jesus didn’t just come for just one kind of person– he came for all of us.
(1) - John 14:6
(2) - John 11:25
(3) - John 17:3
(4) - John 5:40
(5) - Deuteronomy 6:5
(6) - Leviticus 19:18
(7) - 1 John 3:14
(8) - Psalm 63:3
(9) - Jude :21
