Chapter 1

Thou shalt not skip this chapter!

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”

1 John 5:3

Let me tell you a story.

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷ He answered, “‘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, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”

²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”

³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25–37)

Commandments

When our boys were teenagers, we had a rule; they must be in by 10.00 pm. Of course, being teenagers, they rebelled against that, but their Mum was so cross if one was even a minute late. Years after they’d left home, our eldest said he now understood why we had a 10.00 pm curfew.

Whether it’s household rules or rules of the road, we need rules to live by, both for our own protection and so we can get along with one another.

Like any good parent, God, our Father, gave us the Ten Commandments, together with a host of other rules to live by. He did so, not because he is an authoritarian Father wanting to restrict us, but because, as a good parent, he loves us. The Ten Commandments are essentially rules about loving. The first few are about loving God; “have no other gods but me”… “don’t misuse the Lord’s name”... And the remainder are about loving others: do not murder, steal, commit adultery, want what others have, and do not tell lies about your neighbour. Note that loving God and loving others are connected. However, we should see these Commandments not as something God can use to catch us out but as something God has given us because he loves and cares for us. Look at the Commandments again. Living according to the commandments makes for harmonious living. Doing the things God tells us not to breaks and kills relationships.

In the Old Testament, we find a number of commandments; there are many more than ten. Sometime in Holy Week, just days before his death, Jesus was asked which commandments he thought were the greatest of them all. Perhaps rather surprisingly, Jesus did not quote any of the Ten but responded with, love God and love your neighbour.[1] These commandments to love are about building and sustaining good relationships.

Around the middle of Luke’s account of the Gospel, he tells us Jesus was asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”[2] That question was asked by an ‘expert in the law,’ a Pharisee. Jesus answers this question with a question. “What do you think?” he says. The Pharisee’s reply is, “To love God and love neighbour.” Seemingly, Jesus and the Pharisee had a similar understanding.

Both commands can be found in the Old Testament. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.” These words are from Deuteronomy 6:4 & 5. They form the opening words of the Shema. Shema is simply the Hebrew word for ‘hear,’ and it is the name given to the words Jews are obliged to say daily: in the morning when they get up and in the evening when they go to bed.^[3] Their day is enveloped within the word of God. Later, Jewish tradition developed the Shema, so that it included both Deuteronomy 11:13–29 and Numbers 15:37–41 with the emphasis on loving God.

The command to love one’s neighbour can be found in Leviticus 19:18, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Despite these two commands being found in different books of the scriptures, neither Jesus nor the Pharisees seem to be able to separate the commands to love God and love neighbour; the first is impossible without the second. We have noted already how this is reflected in the Ten Commandments given to Moses.

The apparent agreement between the Pharisee and Jesus turned out to be quite superficial. Indeed, the Pharisee was not trying to find agreement but to create division. He was not genuinely seeking to be taught by Jesus but trying to catch out Jesus. The man knew the answer to his question; Jesus even told him he had answered correctly. Nevertheless, Luke tells us that the Pharisee wanted to justify his questioning, and so the Pharisee asked Jesus a further question, “Who is my neighbour?” In asking this question, the Pharisee implies that there are some people to be loved - neighbours, and others who either should not be loved or that it matters little whether they are loved or not.

As with many other Old Testament Laws, the religious leaders were keen to ensure this law was kept. So, they needed to understand who their neighbours were; who were those that needed to be loved. They required a definition of the term ‘neighbour’. The teachers of the Law gave the term an extremely limited and narrow definition. Their interpretation is exactly what Jesus was referring to in his Sermon on the Mount, when he said, “You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’[4]

Despite the fact that there is no command in the Old Testament to hate, the traditional Jewish understanding of the Old Testament command distinguished between those regarded as neighbours and those who were enemies. By defining some people as enemies, and therefore, not neighbours, it removed any breach of the Law from those who sought to harm others or not love them as they loved themselves.

The religious leaders of the time will have understood the term ‘neighbour’ as referring to the Jews. The Greek word used that we translate as neighbour is plesion, meaning “nearby.” However, for the Jews, although they lived alongside Gentiles, they did not regard them as neighbours. The Romans who occupied Israel, ruling over the Jews, were certainly regarded as enemies. Anyone who did not follow Jewish religious practices or beliefs but believed in gods of their own making were similarly despised and hated by Jews. As we shall explore below, this included Samaritans.

So, when the Pharisee asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbour?” it was a test. He sought to discover whether Jesus’ interpretation of the Law was consistent with that of the learned Pharisees: how they understood what was written in scripture, deduced from reason, and found consistent with their tradition. Indeed, we might understand the Pharisee’s question, “Who is my neighbour?” as being designed to ascertain if Jesus was a neighbour or an enemy. If the latter, he could be confronted, challenged, and opposed.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus went on to put right the false teachings of the Pharisees, saying:

“I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”^[5]

In response to the Pharisee’s question about what is meant by the term ‘neighbour,’ Jesus told the story we read at the start of the chapter about how a man beaten upon on the road, whom some had left for dead, was shown compassion by a Samaritan, who helped him to recover and recuperate.

Parables

We all love a good story. Jesus liked to use stories; perhaps it is because good stories are memorable. Really good stories not only hold our attention but have a deeper meaning and teach us something about life. We call these stories parables.

The word parable comes from two words, ‘para’ meaning alongside, and ‘ballo’ meaning throw or cast. So, in the same way that a paramedic works alongside other medics such as doctors, a parable has a meaning that is cast or works alongside a story. To ‘cast’ alongside is a good expression to use when considering parables since it implies just one throw, or in the case of a parable, one parallel. Each parable has one message to convey.

Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan is possibly one of his most well-known. So, what is the parable, the meaning, that is cast alongside the story? Who were Samaritans, and why was this particular one good? Why is it important for us today? We will explore these questions below, but first, let us explore the question that the Pharisee initially asked Jesus.

Inheritance and eternal life

The encounter between the Pharisee and Jesus resulted from a simple question. The Pharisee asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”^[6] This was a standard rabbinic question to which there were stock answers. However, the questioner was really trying to tease out Jesus’ vision of Israel because he wanted to get Jesus to say something heretical about God’s plans for Israel and for the wider world.

For the teacher of the law, God is the God of Israel. The Pharisee would only have regarded fellow Jews as neighbours. First-century Israel was under the control of the Roman Empire. The Pharisees looked back to the glory days of King David when Israel was an influential player on the world stage, with formidable military power. They had a vision of, and sought, a future of a powerful Israel, militarily, politically, and economically. They saw Israel as the leading nation to which other nations would pay deference.

Jesus is clear that God is indeed the God of Israel, but that he is also the God of the whole world. The way that Jesus manages the conversation with the teacher of the law, and uses the parable he tells, makes it clear that a neighbour is anyone in need. The parable teaches that we should be neighbourly to everyone, whether or not they live close by, share the same racial heritage or cultural background.

We have seen that the commandments God gave human beings, particularly the commands to love (God and others), are about relationships. The question the teacher of the law asked Jesus is a question Jesus was also asked on another occasion, by a rich man.[7] In both cases, Jesus is concerned that the person’s relationships with God and others are right. The rich man told Jesus that he had kept all of the commandments since he was a boy. Jesus tells him he lacked one thing. The rich man put his love of money before his love of God. His love for God was not wholehearted. Jesus challenged him to give his money away to the poor, for it was preventing him from loving God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. The rich man found that a hard thing to do and is the only person recorded in scripture who, following a conversation with Jesus, went away sad. Jesus similarly challenged the teacher of the law, not by asking him to give away his wealth, but by helping him think about who were his neighbours, who were the people he should love.

Both the rich man and the Pharisee wanted eternal life. However, it is arguably a fundamental misunderstanding that they asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The question implies that eternal life is somehow obtained through what a person does. Such an idea is completely contrary to the Gospel and would mean that Jesus died on the cross for nothing. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily. ”[8]

If only it were possible to keep all of God’s laws perfectly. Of course, that is not possible. Just like in any game of football, it is impossible to keep all the rules; there is always a foul or an offside. It is similarly impossible to keep all of God’s laws perfectly. The Apostle Paul recognised this when he wrote, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”[9] The Apostle John also wrote that “if we claim we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”[10] Importantly, if it were possible to gain eternal life through what a person does, then eternal life would be within a person’s own abilities or behaviours to grasp, rather than it being a free gift of God.

In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that it is by faith in Jesus Christ that people are justified or put right with God. Indeed, once Jesus was asked, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus replied, “The work God wants you to do is this, to believe in the One he sent.”^[11] To believe in the One whom God has sent is to believe in Jesus Christ, that he died for us on the cross at Calvary and rose to new life three days later.

Paul puts it like this in his letter to the Romans; “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement.”^[12] The Apostle John expresses it this way; “He [Jesus Christ] is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”^[13] The Apostle Peter speaks not of Jesus’ death but resurrection, writing,

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”^[14]

Both the rich man and the teacher of the law spoke of inheritance, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” they asked. That suggests that they understood eternal life not only as some kind of reward for good works but as something to look forward to, to be received in the future.

Eternal life is certainly something to look forward to, but it is also something to enjoy in the present. The inexpressible and glorious joy that Peter speaks about is something to experience now. Having eternal life is certainly about being saved and living with God once earthly life is over. However, it is also about knowing God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ in the here and now. It also means allowing the Holy Spirit to work in and through us, so our lives on earth are transformed into a new way of living, loving God and others. Eternal life is a life that begins as soon as we make a declaration of faith to God. Knowing God and knowing Jesus is something that can happen now. This is what John the Baptist said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.”^[15] And Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.”^[16] And John wrote. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”^[17]

Eternal life implies not only an infinite time but also a quality of life, formed and shaped from a life lived with God. In the garden before his arrest, Jesus prayed, “Now this is eternal life: that they [people] may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”[18] Eternal life is knowing God, in a personal sense, a relational sense; intimately knowing as in a parental or marital relationship, not just an acquaintance.

Jesus went on in his prayer to pray for all believers, then and down through the ages. What he said emphasises this deep and close relationship; “I pray that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”^[19]

So, in his encounter with the Pharisee, Jesus turns the conversation into a discussion about loving God and loving neighbour, focusing on the present.

An inheritance is something that is gifted. There is nothing we can do to get an inheritance. There will be many examples where someone has been kind, generous and supportive of another but not been included in that person’s will. Conversely, there will be many who have been gifted something in a will who have done little or nothing for the deceased. Many people leave sums to charities in their wills, simply out of love and to support the work of the charity, even if they have not directly benefitted themselves.

This type of inheritance refers to property or goods, yet the scriptures in both Old and New Testaments use the term theologically to express the concept of receiving an irrevocable gift from God: sometimes material, but usually of spiritual blessings and promises.

The focus of the concept of inheritance in the Old Testament, where the term is mentioned over two hundred times, is the gift of the land of Canaan bequeathed to Abraham and his descendants as an eternal possession.[20] We read in the book of Joshua how each family in Israel was allotted its own inheritance as an indisputable possession. As the Biblical history of Israel unfolded, so the promised inheritance extended to the whole world; “For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.”[21]

The privileged position of Israel as God’s chosen people placed them at the centre of God’s plans for blessing. However, during the intertestamental period (about 430 BC – 5 BC), Israel was dominated by Persian, Greek, and Roman powers. Consequently, the reality of this inheritance was no more than a distant possibility. It was at this time that the focus of the inheritance on national status and power shifted to a more personal blessing of a future life with God. Gaining such an inheritance, or share in the world to come, became a major aspiration of the Jews, but they understood it would not be for all. Some would inherit, and others would not. Hence, by the first century, it was quite common for rabbis to be asked the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

No doubt, Jesus had a different understanding. He had been teaching about those who believe in him and have faith in God the Father being born again.[22] By the power of the Holy Spirit, the believer is reborn into the family of God. John emphasises this in the opening sentences of his account of the Gospel; “to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God… born of God.”[23] John also writes about being children of God in his first letter. There, he states, “Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.”[24] John then goes on to write about loving others, including, “let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”[25] That may help us understand why Jesus, in response to the Pharisee, encouraged him to reflect on who was his neighbour.

The inheritance the children of God are given is an eternal and joyful existence with God that begins the moment we have faith in him. The early Christians did not swap the Old Testament understanding of inheriting the world for some kind of otherworldly existence beyond the grave. Rather, they understood it as God’s Kingdom coming to earth, transforming the lives of his people and the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies of the whole earth being filled with the glory of God[26] as the waters cover the sea.[27]

It is because of faith and what God has lovingly done for us through Jesus Christ, not because we somehow deserve it by what we have done, but simply through grace, we seek to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves. The Apostle John is clear about how faith, love, Christian action and salvation are intricately and intimately connected.

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³ In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, ⁴ for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. ⁵ Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”^[28]

Points for reflection

1. What kind of relationship do you think God desires with the people he has created? Is it an authoritarian one where there are rules, reprimands and rewards, or one of developing a compassionate, caring and forgiving relationship?

2. How does it feel to be regarded as a ‘child of God’ by God himself?

3. Psalm 119: 1–2a, 33–41 [ESV]

Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the Lord!

^2a Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,

who seek him with their whole heart.

³³Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes;

and I will keep it to the end.

³⁴ Give me understanding, that I may keep your law

and observe it with my whole heart.

³⁵ Lead me in the path of your commandments,

for I delight in it.

³⁶ Incline my heart to your testimonies,

and not to selfish gain!

³⁷ Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;

and give me life in your ways.

³⁸ Confirm to your servant your promise,

that you may be feared.

³⁹ Turn away the reproach that I dread,

for your rules are good.

⁴⁰ Behold, I long for your precepts;

in your righteousness give me life.

⁴¹ Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord,

your salvation according to your promise.

Prayer

Father God, as the Psalmist writes, “Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart towards your statutes and not towards selfish gain.”^[29]

I thank you that you love me so much that you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, into the world and that he died so my sin would be forgiven. I thank you that by his death and resurrection, the gate of heaven is open to all believers. I thank you that through faith in him, you enable me to be born again by the power of your Holy Spirit and counted worthy to be your child and receive your inheritance of eternal life. Help me to love you and to love others as Christ loves us. In the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen.

[1] Matthew 22:34–40 & Mark 12:28–31

[2] Luke 10:30

[3] Deuteronomy 6:7

[4] Leviticus 19:18

[5] Matthew 5: 43–48 (ESV)

[6] Luke 10:25

[7] Luke 18:18

[8] Galatians 2:21 from The Message, Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 2002, 2018

[9] Romans 3:23

[10] 1 John 1:8

[11][11] John 6:28–29

[12] Romans 3:25

[13] 1 John 2:2

[14] 1 Peter 1:3–9

[15] John 3:36

[16] John 5:24

[17] 1 John 5:13

[18] John 17:3

[19] John 17:21

[20] Genesis 12:7

[21] Isaiah 54:3 Also see Psalm 2:8 and Daniel 7:14

[22] John 3:3

[23] John 1:12–13

[24] 1 John 3:10

[25] 1 John 3:18

[26] Psalm 72:19

[27] Isaiah 11:9

[28] 1 John 5:1–5

[29] Psalm 119: 34–36