Being a Good Samaritan
Photo of Gustave Dore’s The Good Samaritan.
Where do you find your justification? Do you seek to justify yourself, or do you find your justification from outside of yourself?
We cannot be justified apart from God’s help. There is not enough good that we can do to outweigh our brokenness and the things that we have thought, said, or done to sin against our holy God and against our neighbor.
In Luke’s gospel account a lawyer stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asked him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” The lawyer 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 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”
In response, the lawyer, desiring to justify himself, as one who was keeping the law, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-29, ESV).
This man was not looking to obey God or to honor God by loving his neighbor. He wanted to justify himself by making the case that it was okay to overlook loving people he did not consider his neighbor. The lawyer was looking for a loophole to justify his disobedience.
Secular marketing and business guru Seth Godin says that we have a relationship with others, for others, and to others. Godin writes, “With/for/to—Most of our interactions fall into one of these categories.” (Seth Godin).
As someone who knew the law of God, the lawyer was relinquishing his responsibility with the people of God by looking for a loophole in the law. The lawyer was abdicating his responsibility for keeping the law and his responsibility for loving God and his neighbor. The lawyer was relinquishing his responsibility to his neighbor, to God, and to his faith.
This is the case in the Parable of the Good Samaritan as well. The Priest and the Levite had a responsibility with their religious order to keep their Jewish faith. They had responsibility for keeping the law of God. The Priest and the Levite also had a responsibility to the man beaten beside the road—to care for the beaten man who was their neighbor.
Jesus told the Parable of the Good Samaritan to show the lawyer who his neighbor was and what his responsibilities were—with, for, and to—his neighbor. Jesus wanted to illustrate the futility of the lawyer’s attempt to justify himself.
May we love God and love our neighbor, recognizing that we cannot justify ourselves or our callous and self-serving disregard of our responsibility with, for, and to our neighbor.
A Collect for the Human Family: “O God, you made us in your own image, and you have redeemed us through your Son Jesus Christ: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
Begin the month with a #dailydevotional. I have created a #devotional book for each month, a devotional for every day of the year, and offering them for #free by subscribing. Get a link to #Grow365: #July2022—A #Daily Devotional here: robbiepruitt.com.
Photo of Gustave Dore’s The Good Samaritan.
