We love because He first loved us! A new perspective and beautiful story! A Change in perspective can allow one to see or miss truth. Perspective limits us, and at the same time can give us tremendous insight. This past month I’ve seen what a shift in perspective can do to a passage of God’s word. There is a passage that I had seen in a rather different perspective than previously before. The story is a familiar one. The perspective however, is new with a rather different outcome. I invite you to join me as we take a new look at an old story.
One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question, “Teacher what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
The man answered, “You must love the LORD your God with all your heart all your soul all your strength and all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself.”
“Right!” Jesus told him, “Do this and you will live.”
The man wanted to justify his actions so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus replied with a story: A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.
By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there but he also passed by on the other side.
Then a despised Samaritan came along and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins telling him, “Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.”
Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits? Jesus asked.
The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.” Luke 10:25-37 NLT
Many who read this blog will know this story. It seems to be one of the stories that is told by those who believe in this Christ and those who do not. The popularity of the story is in large part due to our perspective. Jesus is teaching a wonderful parable about being nice. This is how you should care for and treat others. We tell it to our children to ensure that they share. We tell it to our teens to get them involved in community service. We tell the story from the perspective of a moral tale. In my study however, I began to see something entirely different emerge something larger something deeper.
In order to see the new perspective, you need to first look at the passage leading into the story. The conversation into which the story is injected is a rather intense conversation. Jesus is being questioned by a religious expert we are told not for the sake of learning but to find fault. Jesus realizing this turns the question back on the expert. The expert wishing to display his expertise answers and answers correctly. He must love God entirely and must love his neighbor as he even loved himself.
The crowd at this point must have been very intrigued by the fact that the man’s answer had basically condemned himself. They would have probably known the man, and knew that he had not always loved his neighbor to this extent. We know that he must have realized this because he is quick to add a qualifying question. “Who then is my neighbor”? He had probably done a good job of loving certain people as long as they fit the category, he was safe.
Jesus however had an entirely different answer. An answer he delivered with a story. A story of a despised Samaritan. The story begins with a man who has been robbed, beaten, and left for dead. A man who is then ignored by both a Priest and a Temple Assistant. A man who is without hope until the one he despises comes to his rescue. Note that the man who helps doesn’t hate the man in the ditch. The man in the ditch hates the man who helps. He bandages his wounds and takes him to an inn where he pays the price for his recovery.
This is what Jesus Christ says what it means to be a neighbor. Jesus Christ had just eliminated any hope this man had of believing he had obtained eternal life by following those commands. He brings him to the point of hopelessness. He brings him to the point where he realizes that if this is true, then he needs a savior. It is here that I realized the incredible beauty of the story because it was here the perspective shifted.
I realized that as I listened to the story from the heart of the Religious Expert, by the time Christ finished, He had exposed to the entire crowd that I was naked and dead. I was the man in the ditch.
Christ had taken this man from his self-righteous pedestal and exposed him completely in front of this crowd. His motive was to prepare him for the day when Jesus himself would give His life to bandage his wounds and pay his price.
The complexity of the story overwhelmed me as I realized that I am the man in the ditch. The one for whom God came even when I despised him. The one whose wounds were healed and whose price was paid. I was amazed at the love of Jesus as He tells this man how He is going to love him. I was amazed at the beauty of the truth. We cannot become the Good Samaritan until we realize that we are the man in the ditch, and that we need the love and care of Christ. It is that love and care that will move us to love and care for others. The moral of the story will not change you. The grace and love of Christ in the story will change your life forever.
I realized as I looked at this beautiful story that this was also a reflection of the prodigal son. In the prodigal son, our journey begins when we realize that we are the son whose father has welcomed him home. Our journey ends when we begin to welcome others as he welcomed us. In the Good Samaritan, our journey begins when we realize that we are lying naked and hopeless in the ditch—and the one we despised has come for us. Our journey ends when we begin to do the same for others.
We love because he first loved us! A new perspective a beautiful story!
Christopherhigh.com 