Jesus Stories for Friday
The Good Book Club
Friday, March 2, Luke 10:21-42
At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’
Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.’
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 neighbour 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 neighbour?’
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 travelling 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 neighbour 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.’
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’
THOUGHTS FOR FRIDAY. Luke doesn’t say where, what town Jesus is in “at that same hour,” but we do know that in Luke chapter 10 Jesus is making his way down toward Jerusalem, and I expect he’s getting close, but not there yet. The lawyer, probably a young fellow right out of law school trying to impress himself with himself even more than he already is impressed with himself, tries to ask Jesus a clever one. Jesus, who never answers a question but nearly always responds to a question with a question, compliments the fellow on his answer. But the guy presses on with his cleverness, asking “who is my neighbor?” Jesus then tells (which the above may have been Luke’s lead-in introduction to Jesus’ parable) Parable of the Good Samaritan. A day of so ago I explained some things about the enormous hostility between Jews and Samaritans, so that should be clear enough.
One of the Bible’s most loved and famous stories, the parable itself is also quite clear and pointed. Who is the neighbor? In the kingdom of God, one’s neighbor is the one who does the right thing, the act of lovingkindness, which is chesed. In the kingdom of God, one's neighbor is the needy one whom you never before laid eyes on. In the kingdom of God, one’s neighbor is the one whom one despises, hates, utterly contemns, and so therefore the one whom one must treat with chesed, lovingkindness. It goes a little farther than that: treating with lovingkindness the one whom you hate most in the world may be your “specifically chosen Cross” as Bonhoeffer would say it, "because of your exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ." It is not possible to overstate this.
Here’s the home of Martha and Mary. We know them from other stories, including GospelJohn’s story of Jesus raising Lazarus and Jesus eating at the Bethany home of Martha and Mary, Lazarus’ sisters. The various evangelists’ (gospel writers) stories about the woman anointing Jesus’ feet at the supper table (which Luke tells before Jesus heads for Jerusalem) are also interwoven variously in the gospels, with different points to make. What’s Luke’s and Jesus’ point with this story? Stepping outside Luke’s story, would an itinerant preacher enroute to Jerusalem likely have been taken into the home of two single women? Maybe there’re things Luke doesn’t tell us? Like what? For us, is what Mary is doing (sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him) related in any way to God’s command to Peter, James and John on the mountain at the Transfiguration? What did God say there? This is my beloved Son: listen to him.
Okay, sorry, I have to relate this story. I heard it before there was an “internet” so it isn’t online gossip. An Episcopal bishop was taking members of his diocese on a coach tour of the Holy Land. Bishops sometimes do that, so do priests. On the tour bus one day, the driver stops at a crossroads at one corner of which an old building is tumbling to ruins.
The Palestinian tour guide announces, “This was the inn where the good Samaritan took the injured man.” To which the bishop rose and said, “That’s a parable, it’s just a story, there’s no such place, it never really happened.” Unfazed, the tour guide responding, “Well, if it HAD happened, this is where the good Samaritan would have brought the man.” Maybe so. Sometimes stories have substance, reality.