The Parable of the Beaten Jew: Part 5 -The Impossible Task

Imagine yourself as the lawyer at this point. Christ, the man you engaged in conversation with in order to condemn, has just condemned you by answering your questions; He has told you that you are helpless. And then, He gives you what is seemingly impossible instruction. Consider Christ's closing directive: He receives the answer from the lawyer that the Samaritan was his neighbor, the one who showed mercy, and then He tells him to "Go and do likewise." But if the lawyer, if we, are beaten, naked, and dying in a heap on the side of the road, how are we supposed to "go and do likewise", how can we imitate the Samaritan? How can we love our neighbor, how can we care for him in his need when we ourselves are helpless? Quite simply, WE CAN'T!

Now, then, let's go back and reconsider the question posed to us, the question that started me on this whole topic, the question that has been so horribly and incorrectly answered for so long. How do we answer the question, "How do we love our neighbor?"

In order for us to love our neighbor, before we can go and do likewise, our condition must change. We need to not be a lifeless wreck on the road, we need to get up. Can we do this ourselves? NO! WE ARE BEATEN, NAKED, AND DYING! HOW CAN WE PULL OURSELVES UP? HOW CAN WE TEND TO OUR OWN WOUNDS? WE CANNOT HELP OURSELVES! So, now we see this notion of loving ourselves as a pre-requisite for loving others for what it really is: a viscous, worldly lie!

Our first need is not, it cannot be, self love. Our first need is to be rescued from our lifeless condition, it is to be saved from death. We need our wounds mended, we need our bodies clothed, we need shelter, we need to be nursed to health, we need our debts paid. WE NEED!

So the world says that you can't love until you learn to love yourself, but the Scriptures say, Christ says, that you can't even know what love is until you realize you are unlovely and yet desperately need to be loved.

But, if the lawyer is the Beaten Jew, and you are the Beaten Jew, and if I am the Beaten Jew, and we are all needy and unlovely, where does love flow from? Who can supply this essential, life giving love?

Romans 5:6-8 For while we were weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one would scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Christ is the Samaritan. He has lifted us up off the side of the road. He has saved us from death. He has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. He has provided all that He has required. Unlovely, yet loved. Naked, beaten, dying, yet clothed, mended, and saved from death, and made able to "go and do likewise."

Looking again at the notion that loving others depends upon us first loving ourselves, it is important to point out that it is not simply a misdirected instruction or a product of misunderstanding. It is far more than that. Look back to one of our previously mentioned scriptures, and remember that in Matt 22:40 Christ said that upon these two commandments (Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself) depended, or "hung" in some translations, the whole Law. This is rather significant. The Law of Moses abounds in legislature regarding how to act toward and how to treat vulnerable and needy people within the society of Israel (Exodus 22:21, 23:9; Leviticus 19:33-36, 25:38 + 42; Deuteronomy 15:7-16, etc.) By establishing these and similar laws, God is telling His people that because He has been merciful to them, they in turn are to be merciful. In fact, the Law, when looked at as a whole, seems to be able to be summed up in God saying, "You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy." (Leviticus 19:2).

Consider now the fact that Christ said that the Law, being holy because our God is holy, hangs from Loving God, heart, soul and mind, and loving our neighbor. We, as the Beaten Jew, need to be given grace. Once that grace is received, it must then be displayed, it must be evidenced to those around us. The Law not only identified Israel as God's people, but it caused them to be a blessing to the nations. In this same way, if we love God, it is only because He first loved us. And if He has loved us, we are then able to love others, we are able to love our neighbor. And as we do that, out of obligation because we were first loved, we bear the image of the one that first loved us. When we love our neighbor, not as we love ourselves but rather how we have been loved, we bear the image of our redeemer. Loving our neighbor is about demonstrating the redeeming love that Christ has shown us; it is about pointing them to the one that can pull them off the side of the road.

Now, if we go with what the world says, that we love ourselves first, then others, what does that show them? If we say for a minute that we are at all lovely in and of ourselves, what we are truly telling the world around us, what we are proclaiming to our neighbor is that their help lies within themselves, that they do not need a savior, that they do not need the redeeming love of God in Christ. This is the exact opposite of love. Just as always, the world points us to death.

We can only love because we have first been loved. Indeed, we must love because we have first been loved. And in doing so we bear the image of the only hope for a world that is dead on the side of the road; we bear the image of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Son of God. We go to be a blessing to the nations, to point the world to the one that can save it, and to participate in God's work of redemption because we have been redeemed. This is what has been demonstrated to us, the Beaten Jew, by our Neighbor. Go and do likewise.


Fin

The Parable of the Beaten Jew: Part 4 - Role Reversal

The scriptures tell us that the lawyer was, "seeking to justify himself," when he asked the famous, and still asked question, "Who is my neighbor?" Christ's answer comes in the form of the well known parable commonly known as that of the Good Samaritan. While I won't quote the entire parable, allow me to summarize it for you (the entire text is found starting in verse 30 of Luke, chapter 10. Worth looking at as you read this....). A certain Jewish fellow sets out walking along the Road to Jericho, well known for being a hot-spot for muggers, thieves, etc. As the man goes about his way, he is attacked by a group of thieves, robbed, stripped naked, beaten, and left for dead. As he lay there dying, a priest happens to walk by, but offers no help. Some time later, a Levite, another Jew, walks by, but he, too, offers no aid to his dying countryman. Finally, a Samaritan, a member of a race hated by the Jews, a product of Gentile blood mingling with that of the Jews, comes his way. However, unlike the Priest and the Levite, and despite the fact he was the sworn enemy of the Jewish people, he stopped and anointed the beaten Jew's wounds with oil and bandaged them up. He placed the dying man on the back of his donkey and brought him to the closest inn. He paid the inn keeper, in advance, the cost of lodging and whatever means necessary for nursing the Jew back to health, and promised to return and repay any further expenses. At the end of His parable, Christ again turns the lawyer's question back to him. "Which of those three proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" The lawyer gives what is obviously the correct answer, "The one who showed him mercy." To this, Christ simply replies, "Go and do like wise." This parable is commonly understood and explained as instruction on how to love your neighbor, using the Samaritan as the prime example. "Be like the Samaritan," you may have heard at one time or another. And while this is true, I believe we are missing something when we see it for only that. It is an aspect, but is it the main aspect? Is that what we are supposed to get out of this parable?

Let's look at the parable in light of the original question. The original question, "who is my neighbor?," introduces two parties: "me [my]" and "my neighbor". The answer pretty plainly identifies one of these parties: "Which of the three proved to be a neighbor....?" "The one who showed him mercy," the Samaritan. The Samaritan is the neighbor; So who is the "my"?

One of the primary tools of a parable is character identification. The one telling the parable would purposefully include a character or object within the context of his parable that the specific hearer(s) could identify with; something to pull the hearer into the story and make the lesson personal. First, remember here who Christ was speaking to: a lawyer, educated in the Law of Moses, accompanied, no doubt, by some Pharisee companions, who were not only educated in Mosaic Law, but were considered (at very least by themselves) the holiest, most Jewish of the Jews. Now, let's again look at the parable.

In the parable we see five major characters: The Jew, the Thieves, the Priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan. Let us first consider the Thieves. Not much discussion needed here; for obvious reasons no one, not to mention lawyers and Pharisees, would want to identify themselves with a band of murderous thieves. Second, the Priest. Now, the priest doesn't maintain any of the nastiness of the thieves, however he is a very specific character; neither the lawyer nor any of the Pharisees was a priest. Thirdly, we have the Levite. Nothing too distinct about him, but he possesses one undesirable feature, which he and the Priest actually share: they both passed by the man in need. Remember, one of the major aspects of Godliness in Old Testament Law is to give aid to the needy. For those such as this lawyer and his Pharisee friends, to not stop and help the dying Jew, to pass by on the other side of the road would be most unflattering. It might have even been considered to be Law breaking. Next, fourthly, we have the Samaritan. Now, no Jew, lawyer, Pharisee, or other wise, would for one minute dream about even pretending for a second to be a Samaritan. Notice the lawyer's answer to Christ's question about who proved to be a neighbor. He answered, "the one who showed him mercy." He wouldn't even speak the name "Samaritan". So, we've eliminated the thieves, the Priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan. That leaves us with only one person.

See, when we look at the whole parable as a parable, we see that there is only one person that the lawyer and his Pharisee friends, that the hearers of the parable can possibly relate to. Remember the question: "Who is my neighbor?" Who was the Samaritan a neighbor to? The hearers of this parable, the lawyer, the Pharisees, you, me, are the Beaten Jew. We need to see that we are the ones beaten, bloodied, naked, unable, and dying on the side of the road. We are in desperate need of help. And this, of course, changes everything....

To be Concluded....

The Parable of the Beaten Jew: Part 3 - The Commandment Affirmed and the Lawyer on Trial

We see these commandments affirmed as the greatest two in a similar situation documented in Luke chapter 10. Here, a lawyer asks Christ a question, not truly looking for an answer, but testing Him to find a point of guilt. Now, the lawyer is not a lawyer as we know lawyers today. He was an expert in not just any law, but God's law. And so the question comes in vs 25, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" I absolutely love what Christ does here. In what is just a plain brilliant move, He turns the question back on the lawyer, taking control of the conversation and totally diffusing the situation. "What is written in the Law?" Christ tests the lawyer's knowledge. "How do you read it?" He tests the lawyer's wisdom. What Christ has done here is put the lawyer on the stand. The lawyer was now the one being examined by the jury. If he answered correctly, he would prove his knowledge of the scriptures in front of the Pharisees and other lawyers (which were no doubt with him. Wolves always travel in packs), but, if Christ affirmed what He said, then he would have done nothing but show that Christ was in agreement with the scriptures and guilty of nothing. If the lawyer answered incorrectly, then he would show himself to be a fool to his peers, and would not only have nothing to hold against Christ, but would, no doubt, also earn himself a severe exegetical beating as well. The lawyer who sought to test and accuse Christ now found himself tested and quite likely accused by Christ Himself. (Brilliant!) The lawyer answers, really, in the only way he can. "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." Upon receiving this answer from the lawyer, Christ replies, "You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live." This is so good! This guy sets out to make Christ look like a heretic and a blasphemer, but ends up being dismissed by Christ with approval and instruction! But the proud lawyer, knowing that he has just been crushed by Jesus, seeks to justify himself and save a little face.

To be Continued....

The Parable of the Beaten Jew: Part 2 - The Greatest Commandment(s)

The context in which Christ identifies the great commandment in Matthew 22:37 is actually very interesting. Christ was in Jerusalem for the last time; He was preparing for the Passover, He was preparing to die. He had just come away from an encounter with a group of Sadducees in which He blasted them on points concerning the resurrection. The Pharisees had caught wind of this, got together and conspired to test Christ, to try to find something to accuse Him with, and confronted Him themselves. And so they posed the question, "Which is the great commandment in the Law?". Christ, fully aware of their schemes, answers by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first commandment." So far, Christ has given them nothing to argue with. The question is answered, but Christ does not stop their; He continues by quoting Leviticus 19:18, identifying a second great commandment, "And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Christ has given the Pharisees more than they asked for, in more ways than one. See, the Pharisees knew the answer to the question already, but Christ, by going on to the second great commandment, builds up to a qualifier that stabs at the very heart of the Pharisees. In vs. 40 of Matthew 22, Christ says this, "On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." The term "Law and the Prophets" is a reference to the Hebrew abbreviation "TaNaK" (Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim - The Law, The Prophets, The Writings), which was used to denote the entire Old Testament. Now, the Pharisees whole thing was that they were the authority on the OT. What Christ is saying here is that the Pharisees know nothing about the scriptures if they do not grasp the true meaning of the great commandment, which He also points out as being inseparable from the second. And, based on how Christ answered the Pharisees elsewhere and spoke of their conduct toward others (the attempted stoning of the prostitute, the example of the Pharisee and the Publican), I believe we can infer that Christ was, at very least, implying that the Pharisees had no grasp on loving their neighbor; that their actions, their "piety" were nothing as they had no foundation of understanding. The Pharisees' "what" had the wrong "why" behind it. What we also see, more explicitly, is that there is an undeniable connection between loving our neighbor and loving God. Notice their is no mention of loving self.

To be Continued....