Go and Do Likewise

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him (Iesous), saying, good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life."  Luke 10:25

The patronizing question of the lawyer wore a thin veil of respect that contained an arrogant disregard for the person of the Iesous.  We are informed by the text that the lawyer stood up and asked the Iesous what should he "do to inherit eternal life?"  The manner and bearing of the lawyer revealed that his inquiry was filled with acrimony.  He wanted to challenge the Iesous before the watching crowd in order to entrap and embarrass  and create a dismissive air toward the Iesous in the hearts of the auditors.

The Iesous did not take the incredulous bait, but he took it and used it as a point of departure for a more compelling and poignant discussion.  The lawyer is placed on the defensive by his intended victim (Iesous) and asked a point of law.  The lawyer is asked, "What is written in the law?"  how readest thou?"  The astute lawyer answers the question in a manner that was consistent with his obvious training.  He said:  "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength  and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself."

The lawyer is commended by the Iesous for his academic training, but not for his insight that was sorely lacking.  He knew the Scripture as a formula, but not with compelling spiritual insight.  There was no real affect involved in the lawyer's recital of the Scripture.  The Iesous said to the lawyer that if he would 'do' this he would live.  But this answer from the Iesous was not enough for the lawyer he wanted more. The lawyer wanted to 'justify' himself.  That is, he wanted the Iesous to know that he was ok just as he was.

He therefore asked the Iesous:  "And who is my neighbor?"  It is at this point that the Iesous introduces the didactic narrative of  'a certain Samaritan.'  The Scripture never says 'the good Samaritan.'  This narrative of the certain Samaritan would certainly catch the attention of the lawyer.  The Iesous tells the story of the man who was savagely and brutally beaten and overcome by a group of professional thieves.  The man's brutal treatment did not end there for as he lay on the side of the road a priest, and a levite saw him and left him there in his terrible condition.  The priest, and the levite in the story shared the attitude of the lawyer.  The lawyer who questioned the Iesous was in this story.  The Iesous revealed the lawyer's attitude and then cautions the lawyer to go and become like the certain Samaritan.

The statement to go and do likewise rocked the world of the lawyer.  The astute and compelling story of the Iesous cracked the cosmic egg of the lawyer.  Most certainly there was a certain amount of cognitive dissonance. His world of rabbinic logic and abstract arguments had been undone by the Word made flesh.

Real people have real needs, and those needs may be dismissed by the merely cognitive and reduced to 'nothing buts.'  But that is not the approach of God.  God sees people as those who are in need of loving care by loving hands.  Race and ethnicity have no place in the society of God's love for people.  We are so divided by artificial boundaries by the social planners.

The love of God is at work in a world that is desperate with compelling need. Self-satisfied religion has no place in the society of God.  Religion often times is so proud of its lifeless orthodoxy.  God is involved in life and he challenges us to go and do likewise.  Blessings to you.  

For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow his blog and visit his website.