“A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.” Benjamin Franklin

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 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 given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, 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 while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:25-37

If you ever have witnessed cats fighting over, well, anything, you know there is a lot of hissing, batting, clawing, hair-raising noise that often ends with a chase from one of the house to the other. Over a period of about two weeks, two of my cats were locked in battle over who would be the Alpha cat of the upstairs. In the end, the smallest (but the most bi-polar of the two) won the battle. Maisy is now queen of the upstairs, while Missy rules the downstairs. When one dares to venture into the territory of the other, you can be certain a battle will ensue. Most of the time our cats sleep away the day. But every so often all “heck” breaks loose – someone’s agenda must be secured.

The lawyer in our text had an agenda. He wanted to test Jesus on his theology. As such, he posed a question: “Teacher, what am I to do to inherit eternal life?” In good Rabbinical fashion, Jesus answers his question with a question: “What do you read in the law?” The lawyer, steeped in his understanding of Jewish law gives his version of the “Shema”, or at least some of it – the central teaching of Jewish worship and life: “Hear O Israel, the Lord Your G-d, the Lord is One: 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.”

Jesus replies: “You have answered rightly. Do this, and you will live.” But wanting to “justify” himself, he asked: “And who is my neighbor?” The lawyer probably expected Jesus to answer the same question as he did the first – to say something like, “You know what the Scriptures teach. Your neighbor is not only your kin in the next house but also the stranger, the sojourner, the orphan, the poor in your midst.” 

I will share with you the commentary by Thomas G. Long, Bandy Professor of Preaching and Coordinator of the Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology in his commentary “The Lawyer’s Second Question”:

But Jesus did not respond as expected. He did not congratulate the lawyer as a man of good standing. To the contrary, he buckled the lawyer’s knees and threw him into a ditch. He did so by telling a story, a parable. Jesus was, in effect, saying to the lawyer, “Imagine that you were heading down the old road from Jerusalem to Jericho and then a terrible thing happened to you. You fell into the hands of robbers who stripped you, beat you, and left you for half dead.” In short, the lawyer, who Luke says “stood up to test Jesus” and wanted “to justify himself,” now finds himself face down beside the road. No longer in the stance of righteousness, he is now in the posture of dire need. 

It is important to keep in view that the story Jesus told the lawyer was a parable, not an example story. If it were an example story, then the moral would be, “The Samaritan did a good deed, now go imitate him in your life.” To which the lawyer could no doubt have replied, “I already do. I care for my neighbor.” But what Jesus told was a parable, not an example story. And what the parable did was to generate an experience, to cause the lawyer to see himself for what he was, a man in deep trouble. And, in his trouble, none of his expected resources were of help — the priest didn’t help him and neither did the Levite. Only the Samaritan, the despised Samaritan, the one by whom the lawyer would not want even to be touched, only the Samaritan lifted him up, dressed his wounds, cared for his life, helped him move from a place of death to a place of life. To be rescued by the Samaritan – and this is the point – is like being a man who wants to “justify himself” but is instead rescued from distress by the grace of Jesus Christ.

By telling this parable, Jesus…invite(s) the lawyer to see himself in a new way, to see himself not as one who stands at a distance and defines the term “neighbor” objectively, but as someone who might himself need to be neighbored — as a wounded traveler in need of rescue, as a wandering and lost lamb unable to find his way home.”

Pastor Dave