Showing Off?

What did the lawyer set out to do?

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

Luke says the lawyer was testing Jesus, but to me he sounds like a smart-alec student wanting to look good in front of the class.

He knew the answer to his question and received appropriate credit for being wise.

But that wasn't enough for him, was it?

He wanted to know who his neighbor was.

Maybe it is not such a dumb question.  If Jesus had not explained it with the famous parable of the Good Samaritan, who would we see as our neighbor?

Would we see the immigrants as our neighbors?  Or how about the Ukrainians, the Russians, the iSraelis or the Palestinians??

To love your neighbor as yourself is hard.

What makes it hard is seeing everyone as your neighbor.  

Jesus said we should love our enemies and that is what makes follow Him so difficult.  We don'd want to let people get away with murder, literally and figuratively.

So, how do we show them love, and why would we?

This is the battle we are in today.  Everywhere, people are looking for blame for every evil act, and yet we all hear the voice of Jesus saying we should turn the other cheek.

Maybe the lawyer's question was not so  much a test as it was a statement of our universal problem.

We humans make life miserable for one another at times.

More to come...