Windows & Doors - Week Six : 09 March 2017

Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan is set within the life-story of an expert in the law of God – making it complicated. On the surface it looks as though Jesus is dealing with two different issues: salvation and the kind of love that please God. Jesus shows how both are intertwined.

Stand to read 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.' 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."

 Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan is set within the life-story of a lawyer asking about the Kingdom of God that we might set the parable within our own life-story, to see what we know of God’s kingdom.

Making it painfully personal, we are intended to see ourselves in light of Jesus point: D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “We are not meant to control our Christianity; our Christianity is rather meant to control us.”

To see how being a Christian and the kind of love that pleases God are intertwined, we need to first see how – like this lawyer – we seek to control our Christianity. Then see that true Christianity is that which moves us from controlling our Christianity to our Christianity controlling us.