Let Your Heart Move Your Hands to Care 心動手動的關懷行動 5-18-08

Luke 10:25-37

INTRODUCTION

I admit I am a rather timid person. Sometimes I can be clueless when an accident strikes. I remember the first time I was involved in a car accident. Someone hit my car from the back. The impact was so big that I thought my car would be over. I just sat there shaking for a few seconds before I knew what to do next. Later when I called my insurance company to report the accident I realized that I was really in shock. The agent asked me about the color of the car and I really could not recall it. Fortunately, I received a settlement without any problem. That incidence reminded me of the slogan of an insurance company, which says “Like a good neighbor, XX is there.” How nice it would be if I had a good neighbor standing right by me when I was in the accident. He calmed me down and gave me step-by-step instruction of how to handle the situation. Wouldn’t you like to have a good neighbor when you are caught up in some sort of trouble?

EXEGESIS

The parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 is about the story of a good neighbor. The whole story from vv. 25 to 37 can easily be broken down into two sections with a clear structure:

I II

Question 25 29

Counter-question 26 36 (Parable vv. 30-35)

Response 27 37a

Command 28 37b

Let us dive into the story. It all started in v. 25 when we are told that an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. This expert is someone who knows the Mosaic Law thoroughly and is responsible for teaching people about the law. Luke states very clearly about his intent 動機when he brought up his question to Jesus. He is not coming in humility to ask for opinion but he wants to test Jesus and see if He gets the right answer. He asks Jesus what a person must do to inherit eternal life. His question in essence is about what a person must achieve in order to get right with God so that he can live forever in peace with Him.

How would you react to a question like this? We may quote the book of Romans and argue with this expert that a person is safe by grace through faith, not by works. But Jesus shows His wisdom in His reply. He presents a counter-question in v. 26: “Since you know the Law so well can you tell me what the Law says and how you interpret it?” The expert’s response in the next verse summarizes the Law in two major commands – love God and His people. He derives his answer from Deut. 6:5, which says “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” and Lev. 19:18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” In another instance when Jesus was being tested with the question of the biggest commandment He responded in Matt. 22:37-39 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus praises the expert for his right answer but He charges him with a command. “If you think you can achieve eternal life by doing something then do what you just said.” Does Jesus really suggest that a person can obtain eternal life by obeying the Law? Let us hold on to this question for now. But at this point we may think that the conversation would end right there. But it does not.

In the second section of the story we go right back to the formula. The expert begins by asking another question. In v. 29 Luke tells us that the expert wants to “justify himself,” which is to say that he wants to prove himself to be right. He asks Jesus who his neighbors are. On the surface it looks like he wants to know Jesus’ definition of neighbors so that he can love them as himself to fulfill the requirement of the Law. But deep down inside he is more eager to know who he can exclude from his list of neighbors so that he has no legal obligation to love them. It is like when you go back to your hometown the first time to celebrate the Chinese New Year after coming to U.S. for many years. You old parents tell you that you have to prepare some red envelope money for your relatives. Naturally you will ask: who are my relatives? Your parents may say, “Well, after all these years this cousin and that cousin of yours are married and have kids.” At that moment you feel very glad that they all have one kid in each of their families and you have 3 of your own. My point is, once you have defined who your relatives are anyone else outside that circle will not get your red envelope. You see, the purpose of the Law is to clearly spell out what one should and should not do. But if you stick to the wordings of it but fail to notice the spirit behind it then you would get nervous all day. Law always asks “what is the bare minimum I have to do to satisfy the requirement?” But it seldom asks “what more can I do?” When you buy things from a store and the merchant tells you that the sales tax is 7 % you will pay him the amount required. No one will pay more.

To further define what Jesus means by neighbor He tells a parable. A man traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho encountered some robbers. They beat him up and left him half-dead on the side of the road. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is about 17 miles in distance but it runs down a deep descent of 3,000 feet through a desolate country. To the listeners they are familiar with the surrounding there. The possibility of a lone traveler being robbed on this road is realistic. Then Jesus describes the reaction of a priest and a Levite when they saw the injured man. They followed the same pattern in vv. 31 to 32: they came to the place, they saw the man but they passed by on the other side. Jesus does not explain why the priest and the Levite did not stop and help the traveler. One possibility is that they were concerned about contracting ceremonial impurity by touching a dead person. Therefore, the best way to avoid such possible inconvenience was to keep a distance. Whether or not that was the reason we are not sure. But one thing is obvious: both the priest and the Levite did not offer any help to the injured person.

At this point the introduction of the Samaritan as the new character may be shocking to the audience for a few reasons. Since the priest is a member of the tribe of Levite and the Levite is one of the twelve tribes of Israel the audience may have expected the next character would simply be an ordinary Jew. There are also other contrasting characteristics when we compare the priest and the Levite with the Samaritan. They are Jews respected by others but he is a half-breed Jews despised by the Jews. The Samaritans were descendents as a result of mixed marriages between Jews and non-Jewish people after Israel went into exile. They hold sacred duties in the temple but he is likely a traveling merchant. But what distinguishes between the Samaritan and the other two persons is not their nationality or profession but how they reacted to the injured man. They came to the place, they saw the man but they passed by on the other side. This Samaritan also came to the place, and he saw the man but v. 33 tells us that “he took pity of him.” The expression literally means “to be moved as to one’s bowel.” The bowel was thought to be the seat for one’s love and compassion. The same word is used in the Gospels to describe Jesus when He saw the needy. Jesus describes the Samaritan did all he could on the spot by treating the wounds of the injured man. But he understood that leaving a treated patient on the road side would not do much good because he could not walk by himself, he did not have enough clothing on, and he had no food or water. He put him on his own animal and took him to an inn. He even made an arrangement with the innkeeper to make sure that the injured man will be well cared for.

After Jesus finished His parable He presented a counter-question to the expert in v. 36 just like He did earlier. Rather than answering the expert’s question of “who is my neighbor?” Jesus shifted the focus and asked “who acts like a neighbor?” The answer was very obvious. Moments ago the expert challenged Jesus with the definition of the type of neighbor whom he should love. He could have spent all day analyzing whether the injured man in the parable possessed the neighbor characteristics that deserved his love. But that is not the issue. Notice that Jesus did not give any detail description about the injured man. He was just an ordinary man who had need. The Samaritan did not check his ID, asked him what his hometown was, or whether he ate rice or noodle. What matters is whether those who see him act like a neighbor. The expert can surely identify himself with the priest and the Levite when it comes to the knowledge of the Law. What Jesus challenges is not how much one knows about the Law but how much one performs the requirements of the Law.

APPLICATION

The same is true when we come to the notion of loving our neighbors. No matter how you much knowledge you have about the Bible but if you cannot apply it in action your knowledge may mean nothing to the needy. 1 John 3:17-18 reads “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” Our love for God whom we cannot see is reflected in our love toward the people whom we can see.

In the passage we studied today Jesus challenges us to love our neighbors. I am sure we are very clear who our neighbors are through what we saw in the news these past few days. I am talking about those who suffered from the Sichuan earthquake. What can we do to help in disaster like this? I believe this passage also motivates us to touch the wounded and bind the injured. I am sure that if we were in Sichuan right now many of us would step out and help the needy people.

I just read a news article from our local newspaper this past Friday about the work of Melody Zhang. She works for an adoption agency called Children’s Hope International. A few months ago she came back to St. Louis and shared about her work among the orphans at our church. When she heard about the earthquake in Sichuan she bought diapers, baby formula and medicine and went to the affected areas right away. She does not only help the orphans in the orphanages but also those who became orphans as a result of the earthquake. Amid all the devastation she saw people with unspeakable care for others. I would just share two things she mentioned. She said that “people are opening their houses to strangers and offering their personal cars for relief work.” When she visited a sports stadium at a place where 10,000 victims were staying she met a family of five people: 2 children, 2 adults and an elderly person. Later she learned that the five of them were from different families. They knew that perhaps the only way to survive under such desperate situation was to turn neighbors into a family. If you want to know more about Melody’s work in Sichuan I can give you the web link.

What applies to the need faraway should apply to the need close to home as well for there are needy people everywhere. God puts you in St. Louis and in this church for a purpose. We can start practicing caring for people from the people we meet with around us. Do you know the people sitting around you? They are the neighbors God puts around you. If you do not even know their names how can you love and care for them. At one time a coworker challenged us to shake hands with ten people on Sunday. We should keep doing that. But at the same time I admit that it is human nature for us to mingle only with the people we know and feel comfortable with. We should try to break that barrier. But the fact is that caring is a mutual thing, and someone has to take the initiative. If you don’t think that there is enough people to say hi to you on Sunday then why don’t you say hi to others first? Of course caring is more than just saying “how are you.” Let me share my limited experience with you. When people talk to me I try to pay attention to what they say, and very often they will share prayer needs too. I will remember their needs in my prayer. Then the next time when I see the same person I will try to recall what he shared with me last time and I will ask if there is any update. It is as simple as that! People know that you care for them if you would just remember what they say to you.

Fellowship group is a good place to start with. The fact is, if you cannot care for 10 or 20 people in your own fellowship group how can you care for the 200 or so people in the whole church? If you notice that someone did not show up on Friday or Sunday you can give him a call. Once I called up a family on Sunday evening that missed the service that day. The husband told me that I was the third person who called. That was a beautiful thing.

There are also some special groups of people in our church like the elderly people and the single parents that demand particular care. I am constantly in contact with the elderly people and so I may speak for them a little. They have more free time during the day than most of us. But they may need someone to talk to. Most of them don’t drive and so they welcome help if they need to see the doctor or go somewhere else. We need people who are more flexible during daytime to help.

The single parents are those whose spouses are not around for some reason – deceased, divorce or simply work in a different city. I do not have any bias toward the ladies but I believe it is the single mothers who need more care than the single fathers. Pastor Chou mentioned to me more than once that every fall when he thinks of the fallen leaves he always thinks of the single mothers. If they do not pay people to rake the leaves then most likely they have to do it themselves. I praise the Lord that some fellowship groups organize team effort to help single mothers collect the leaves. Although we may have some very handy single mothers around us often times they can use some advices on broken cars or household repair needs. But caution and wisdom are needed when you help a single mother. Brothers, please listen to my warning: don’t ever go to a single mother’s home by yourself. Bring your wife or another brother along. Don’t let your caring heart become a source of temptation. Besides the physical single parents there are also the spiritual single parents where the spouse is not a believer. They need a support group of a few people of the same gender who can share her feelings and pray for her constantly.

CONCLUSION

If you pay careful attention to our passage today you may discover that the whole teaching revolve around the word “do.” The law expert asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responded by challenging him to do what is said in the Law – loves God wholeheartedly and loves his neighbors. In the parable the priest and the Levite did not do what they should to help the injured man. In contrast, the Samaritan did what was required by the Law. As a conclusion, Jesus once again commanded the expert to do what a neighbor should. What would you do today to show the people around you that you are a good neighbor? He came, he saw, he cared and he helped.