A Question from Jesus
As I mentioned last week, Jesus asked a whole lot of questions throughout his ministry. Depending on the translation you read, and how you count a separate question, it could be over 300! Many of these were rhetorical. The answers were implied, or at least, were a jumping off point for a particular teaching that he would offer. But in other cases, they were genuine questions that were put to individuals and groups that were meant to cause them to consider and dig deep.
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus was asked about “inheriting eternal life” by an expert in the law. We don’t know if this was a genuine question or if it was asked as a way to pin down his teaching into a particular camp or even trap him in some way. All of these are ways that people dealt with Jesus throughout his life and ministry.
At first, Jesus doesn’t give a direct answer. In fact, he never really does give a direct answer.
The first thing Jesus does is to direct the teacher… back to God, and in particular, to the law (the Scriptures) that were given, that attest to God and God’s relationship with creation and humanity from the beginning. That’s a good place to start.
Of course, we humans are pretty good at taking words on a page and twisting them to our own agendas. Two people can take the same law or command (religious or secular) and spend hours debating multiple sides of it. While we need the scriptures, we need more than the scriptures. We need hearts that are open to God as we read the scriptures.
When the Teacher of the Law answers Jesus “correctly” – he still comes back with a further question. It would seem that he didn’t really like the answer he himself found in the scriptures. If I were guessing, I think he wanted a clarity that would make his life easier, so he wouldn’t have to maintain a living relationship with a living God, or the complicated and messy people around him. Even Jesus’ affirmation isn’t good enough for him.
And it’s to that second question that Jesus tells a story. A story that is both clear, and tremendously complicated. It’s the story we refer to as The Good Samaritan. It’s a lived-out answer to Jesus’ question – What is written in the Law? How do you read it?
The law is clear, that we are to love our neighbors. But we can choose to read it in ways that give us license not to love. It’s not just about what’s in the scriptures, it’s about what we choose to do with it. We can allow God’s Spirit to speak to us through the scriptures… or we can close our hearts and minds… and still read the scriptures. It’s the same words. But the end results of what happens in us and around us is very different.
Letting Jesus’ questions penetrate our hearts and minds is a step towards actually living out the scriptures in a faithful way. I’m excited to dig into them in the coming weeks with you.
Our first “Who touched me?” will be the question Jesus tosses out in the midst of a crowd, pressing in on him as he heads off to heal a little girl – from Mark 5:21-34 & Luke 8:40-56. Feel free to read the story ahead of time and familiarize yourself with it in preparation for Sunday. I’m looking forward to exploring the question this Sunday after a few Sundays away!
Welcoming You to Grow in Jesus,
Pastor Don