Going the Other Way

A law expert came to Jesus asking about how to go to heaven. Surprisingly, (at least to me it is) Jesus didn't mention anything about receiving Him as Savior and Lord but pointed to two commandments in the Old Testament---loving God with all, and loving your neighbor as yourself. Loving God with our "all" means we leave nothing for anything else except our neighbors, which is an inseparable part of loving God with our all. 

Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash.

The law expert thought he didn't have any problem with the first command, but he had some doubts about doing the second one (didn't realize loving God and neighbor cannot be separated). The passage [Luke 10.25 and on] says this lawyer sought to "justify himself." Or, he sought to look the other way instead of loving his fellow. So he asked, "Who is my neighbor?"

I think we all know the story. 

I'm amused how Jesus chose, of all people, two very religious folks (even men of God--a temple leader and a worshiper) to highlight a bad example, and a Samaritan (most repugnant to Jews) to exemplify a good trait. 

Anyway, the point is, often we're more like the priest and the Levite than the good Samaritan, though we can't see ourselves being so, just because we're church people, active in church, born again, serving God, worshiping God intensely and all that. We think these things keep us from being like the priest and Levite, not realizing that like them, we often prefer to look the other way and yet think we're better than Samaritans because we know God and worship Him. We think our church and born-again religion make us look good to God, especially if we have church programs for the poor.

But the Samaritan in the parable had no church (or synagogue) that had a program for the poor. He dug from his own pocket right on the spot, taking out no small amount, not a pittance, but something substantial. I say this because it covered an initial Php 1,200 inn fee (he gave 2 denarii to the innkeeper, and a denarius is equal to a day's labor wage back then, which is Php 600 today, just to give us an idea), and promised to give more when he returned. 

The innkeeper agreed, which said a lot about the Samaritan's character. The innkeeper trusted in  his word, probably because he'd known him a considerable length of time. He knew this Samaritan to be well trusted and liberal when it came to money. Question is, who among us would be ready to shell out Php 1,500 for a helpless stranger in the street? Fifty pesos probably, or a hundred, and that will make us feel "generous" already. We can easily give that amount in church, though, to impress people or the pastor and the treasurer, something which the priest and Levite would also have easily done. Jesus said they loved being seen publicly in their religiosity. 

Remember too, how Samaritans didn't know God. They were a product of diverse pagan peoples that Shalmaneser king of Assyria put there in Samaria after he exiled all Israel (northern) to Assyria, never to return [2 Kings 17]. They didn't know how to worship God or recognize the one true God. Jesus told the Samaritan woman, "You Samaritans worship what you do not know," and Samaritans believed God should be worshiped only on certain places (this mountain or that mountain), as most church people today worship God nowhere else except in their church buildings.

The good Samaritan didn't have the type of spirituality that Jews thought was acceptable to God but he knew in his heart the right thing to do in crucial times, especially when giving away money was involved. He may not be well acquainted with the Word of God but he obeyed the law that the Holy Spirit wrote in his heart. 

14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) [Romans 2.14-15]

Paul told the Roman believers that it's not those who just hear the law that will be declared righteous but those who obey it [Romans 2.13].  We may not be under the law because of Christ in us, but Jesus said he never intended to abolish the law but to fulfill it, and in fact simplified it for believers into loving God with our all and loving neighbor as ourselves.

Many times, we look down on people we think are not born again, who do not go to church, who do not read the bible or do not know our church lingo, like shouting "Amen!" or "Praise the Lord!" We don't see them being as spiritual as we are, so we have biases against them. We see some of them not as churchy as we are or as busy in church and we think they're idlers or backsliders.

Sometimes, we see pastors not as busy or hardworking as we are and think they don't have a heart for God, church planting, missions or whatever. We want people to make a lot of noise about their ministry, to announce, promote, brag or take pride in themselves and what they do, and we find something wrong if they don't do so. Thus, often we identify more with the priest and Levites who love the best seats in the synagogues and to be seen by men when doing things for God, than with the good Samaritan who quietly did the right thing in his heart in a remote and isolated place where only bandits and robbers frequented. 

Jesus did not promote himself or his ministry. Instead, the Holy Spirit did all the promotion in supernatural ways so that people from everywhere talked about him, sought him and pursued after him.

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. [1 John 2.16]

SURRENDERING TO JESUS 

Ask forgiveness and repent of your sins. Believe God's forgiveness. It is promised in the bible. Receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your sole Savior and Lord. Then be assured of heaven, not because of anything you have or do (not your good deeds or religion or church), but because of God's grace and mercy through what Jesus Christ did on the cross. 

In Jesus alone is salvation. Jesus is: 

"‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” [Acts 4] 

Surrender to Him by intently studying the bible daily (ask guidance from the Holy Spirit) and applying in life everything you learn. And then pray that God lead you to the right person who'd disciple you, one who is totally surrendered to Jesus and living His Word in the bible.

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