Draft

Jesus talks to an excellent, brilliant, world renown theoretical  Bible teacher

Text: Luke  10:25-37

 25On 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?"

 27He 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'[c]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[d]"

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

 29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

 30In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins[e] 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 neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

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

      Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise.

key Verse 37.

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

      Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise.

Introducing this semester plan

This semester anchor verse: John 17:3

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Our aim

Know God through looking at his Son so that we can have life through Jesus and know God who sent his Son to us

Today’s passage is Luke 10. This is a conversation between Jesus and the expert in the law. By looking at how Jesus interacts with this man we can know who Jesus is. And knowing Jesus we can know the Father who sent his Son to us.

Let’s pray

Dear Lord, teach us. Help us to look at you today and grant us grace to know you.

May the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart be pleasing to you. My rock and my savior. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Here is our plan. We will look at Jesus’ interaction with the expert of the law.

There are two segments with similar patterns.

Question by the expert  (Q1)

Followed by Jesus’ question (Q2)

The answer by the expert and Jesus’ response.(A and R)

1. First QQAR

Teacher’s  noble sounding question (25)

• The expert law is not a lawyer but who is the expert of the Bible. In our modern day term, he is an excellent Bible teacher.
• Motivation

• Test him
• Fail him
• Kill him

Jesus’  First Question (26)

• Please see Jesus’ grace here. Jesus knowing his motives, ask the expert to give his opinion.

Expert’’s brilliant answer (27)

• Reduced 7000 commands into two commands

• Love God and love neighbors as yourself
• Jesus said that he was absolutely correct.
• Jesus’ demand -Do this and you will live (28)

• There is one problem. This expert cannot od what he know.
• Love the Lord

• It requires all of our heart
• all of soul
• all of mind
• all of strength
• When is the last time you love one person with that devotion.

• e.g. A wide receiver running all his strength, looking at the ball with all of his soul, mind and strength and catching that ball. Wow, this is his pure worship of the ball
• We can know who we are when we have some or on vacation. What moves you and what overwhelms you? Is God’s grace or something esle?

• We love God with all our strength and all of heart and all our mind and soul. We also love ourselves as we love God.

• The law demands us to love our neighbors as we love God and as ourselves

• This expert could not do so
• So he wanted to find the loop hole of  the law

• Do just mininum and get away
• e.g. What is on the exam? and study only what will be on the exam.
• The fiddler on the roof, the main character asks his wife, “Do you love me?” The wife answers, “I married you.” That is not loving her husband. Her answer is absolutely correct but not enough.

2. Second QQAR

The expert to want to justify himself and asked, “Who is my neighbor?”

It is ironic because he knows the law.

Lev 19 defines your neighbor as your own people and aliens living among you.

In order to ask a question, Jesus tells a story (30-35)

• Showing his grace

• Tells the best story to a man who tried to kill him

• Who are  the main characters?

• A priest
• A Levite
• Samaritan

• Who is the hero of the story?

• A Samaritan
• A very unlikely person to help this Jewish person who had been robbed and lying half dead.
• It is so unlikely that it is almost like George Bush helped by Bin Ladden.

• Jesus gives the best to the Bible teachers. It is God’s grace for us. We can be the worst sinners but pours out his grace for us.

• to Necodemus -John 3
• To this expert who tried to kill him -Luke 10
• To Pharisees and the teachers of the law who were very upset with Jesus because he welcomed the sinners and tax collectors. Jesus gave them three parables (A parable of the lost sheep, a parable of the lost coin and the parable of the lost sons) -Luke 15. Not just one stories but three stories.

• Shows God’s heart for us

• dangerous

• So the Priests and Levites avoided this man
• They passed by on the other side.
• Some said that touching the man will make them dirty and unclean.
• I think that’s not the main reason. They were smart guys. They know the cost of taking care of this man.

• costly
• time consuming
• unconditional healing

Jesus’ second question (36)

Teacher’s answer (37a)

The man who had mercy on him.

He was correct did not say that his neighbor was a Samaritian.

Jesus’ plea for the Bible teacher (37b)

Go and do likewise

The expert  cannot do this

• Knowing and doing are not the same

• Correct knowledge will not save us
• Hearing and put the word of God will save us.
• e.g. my diet and exercises story

• Hear the word and put them into practice principle -HP principle
• Dig down deep and build the house that will last

Go and do likewise is Jesus’ story.

Jesus is the Samaritan man.

• He is so different from us
• He has mercy on us.
• Jesus came and he is going to Jerusalem
• Jesus knows us and sees our motives but still loves us
• He pours out his life for us
• His grace is costly. It costed his life. Jesus is no hurry. He will stay with us until we are healed.

Knowing this Jesus is our live

Summary:  How can we do what we know?

Know God’s grace and mercy for us

Ex. Paul in 1 Tim 1

By knowing this we can know God’s love for us who sent his Son for us and go out do likewise imitating our LORD Jesus.

We are not following rules but we are learning God’s mercy and do mercy compelled actions. In this way we can really know God’s heart for us.

The story has no resolution. After hearing this we need to learn and practice what we learn.

The story has possibly two endings

• Justify our cold hearts.
• Justified by Jesus’ mercy and learn to follow Jesus.

• We are helpless but Jesus is merciful and loves us and encourage us to do the same thing Jesus has done for us.

Read the key verse together.

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

      Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise.

As we do Communion. Let’s remember Jesus whose body was broken for us and shed his blood for us.

Let’s remember Jesus who gives us the best even though he knows our hearts.

Let’s thank God and receive his power so that we can do what we know by his grace and mercy.