And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” And 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 answered correctly; do this and you will live.” But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
It struck me the other day as curious that his question was about the second commandment, not the first. Its phrasing suggests that he thinks he's already pretty good with "loving his neighbor", and wants to be sure he has the parameters right. (Or he wanted to find out where Jesus stood on his theological spectrum, and didn't really care about the answer.)
It's easy to think you love God when you say the proper things and think the proper thoughts at the proper prescribed times. But since we can't see God, are we sure we haven't left some things out? "All your strength" might turn out to be pretty expansive. Why not ask for clarification?
I wonder if the lawyer was self-sure, or afraid to ask. (Or if he was just testing Jesus, and didn't really care about the answer.)
Of course if he started to realize he wasn't doing such a bang-up job on the lesser commandment, maybe he'd become a bit less confident about how he was doing with the greater one.
2 comments:
This is one of the most misunderstood of all the parables. The lawyer isn't asking "Who should I be a neighbor to?" He is asking "Who is being neighbor to me?" Jesus' answer is "Good Samaritans are your neighbors. People who treat you in a neighborly way have earned the right to be called neighbors. Those who don't treat you well are not entitles to the name "neighbor", even if they belong to your usual in-group."
He is asking who he is obligated to love. As to "earned the right to be called neighbors": You need to include the larger context of Jesus' teachings, including Luke 6:32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them." The Good Samaritan is lovable,true. But if only the lovable are neighbors, what use is that?
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