By
Rev. Juliet Schimpf
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Broadcast
Notes
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LINK to CFRA broadcast of
Sunday, September 13th, 2015)
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Today's Program is sponsored by the generous support of Sandy
Davidson. Thank you, Sandy for your kind contribution to this Ministry!
"How To Love Your Neighbour"
(The Parable of the Good Samaritan)
1. UNCERTAINTY
OVER CLARITY
2. CEREMONY OVER CHARITY
3. VANITY
OVER HUMILITY
4. GENEROSITY
OVER SCARCITY
1, UNCERTAINTY
OVER CLARITY
(AMBIGUITY OVER SIMPLICITY)
Luke 10
v.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?”
* The expert in the law was not a
lawyer but, rather, a theologian. Expert
in the Old Testament Law.
* He stood up to show respect to Jesus,
a Rabbi, but his heart was not right….he stood up to test Jesus!
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’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”
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 neighbor?”
·
In Hebrew, “neighbour” means “one who
is close”
·
Jews:
define and redefine
·
for Jews: “neighbour” meant “fellow-Jews” and
“ceremonially clean”
2. CEREMONY OVER CHARITY
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.
·
The
Jericho Road is the 17 mile road that connects Jerusalem to Jericho.
·
That
road drops 3600 feet in those seventeen miles.
·
It
is a steep, winding,
descending, remote road that for centuries has been a place of robberies.
·
2300
feet above sea level
·
this
was a foolhardy and reckless traveller
·
people
rarely travelled this road alone with valuable goods
·
it
was known to be dangerous; bandits about
31 A priest happened to
be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other
side.
·
the priest would’ve wanted
to avoid contact with a possible corpse for fear of incurring ceremonial
uncleanness (Numbers 19:11-19).
·
a priest would know the Old
Testament Law, he would know that Leviticus 19:34 says
that if you see a stranger in need, you do whatever it takes to meet his
need. Why he would even know Exodus chapter 23 verses 4 and 5 that says
if you even find your enemy's donkey in a ditch, you make sure you rescue the
man's donkey, let alone the man. And he would have taught this and he
would have known this. He would have also known Psalm
37:21 that
the righteous is gracious and gives. A priest...a priest would even know
the wonderful words of the prophet Micah. And what did the prophet Micah
say? He said on behalf of God, "He has told you, O man," Micah
6:8, "what is good. What does the
Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with
your God." He would have known that. He would have known what
God expected of him. He would have known that judgment would be merciless
to the one who didn't give mercy.
3. VANITY OVER HUMILITY
(SAFETY OVER RESPONSIBILITY)
32 So too, a Levite,
when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
·
A Levite was a lesser official of the
temple
C. S. LEWIS: “HUMILITY IS NOT
THINKING LESS OF YOURSELF. IT IS
THINKING OF YOURSELF LESS.”
* VAIN EXCUSES:
“I don’t have time!”
“I’m busy!”
“I could get hurt!”
“SAFETY FIRST”
“There’s nothing in it for me!”
EZRA TAFT BENSON “PRIDE IS
CONCERNED WITH WHO IS RIGHT. HUMILITY IS
CONCERNED WITH WHAT IS RIGHT.”
4. GENEROSITY
OVER SCARCITY
Margaret Thatcher: “No one would’ve remembered the good
Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money as well!”
33 But a
Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he
took pity on him.
Samaritans
·
descended
from the tribes whim whom Sargon II of Assyria and his successors re-peopled
Samaria after the fall of the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC
·
they were not
Jews by race
·
but they
adopted Jewish forms of worship….but only read he first 5 books of O.T.
·
considered to
be “half-breads”
IT’S AS IF JESUS TOLD A STORY: A
MAN WAS PASSED ON GORE STREEET……THE BAPTIST WALKED RIGHT BY BECAUSE HE WAS LATE
FOR BIBLE STUDY……THE PENTECOSTAL WALKED RIGHT BY BECAUSE HE WAS BUSY GETTING TO
THE HEALING RETREAT…..THE MUSLIM WALKED BY AND STOPPED…..
34 He went to him and
bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
·
The Samaritan would not have had
bandages on his person. He would have
likely torn his own clothes and sacrificed his own clothing.
34 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[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.’
·
Two denarii would have been the
equivalent of two days’ wages.
36 “Which of these three
do you think was a neighbor 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.”
·
The expert in the law had such disdain
for the Samaritan that he couldn’t even call him that. He said, “The one….”
Billy graham: “God judges, the holy spirit convicts, and I love.”
Prayer:
And now, may the God of all comfort fill you with love; to love your neighbour well; to love them wide and to love them deep. AMEN.
Rev.
Juliet Schimpf
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To listen to the above broadcast, click on the
following link:
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