I am going through the gospels and looking at instances where people came to Jesus with a question or a request, and the answer they got was not what they were expecting. Makes me wonder if, when I think I haven’t received the answer to my prayer, the reality is I did. And I just did not recognize it.
A Teacher of the Law (Luke 10:25ff)
The question: Teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
The answer: (a) What does Scripture say, how do you read it?
The Lawyer replies: 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.
The answer: (b) There you go… Do this and you will live.
The follow up question: But who is my neighbor?
The final answer: (c) Let me tell you a story. A man on his way from Jerusalem was assaulted by robbers and left for dead… (the story of the good Samaritan). (d) Which of all those was a neighbor to that man?
Luke introduces this passage by telling us something about the attitude or the agenda of this Teacher of the Law (Luke 10:25a And behold, a certain lawyer stood up tempting him, and saying…) Now, we know that Luke interviewed eyewitnesses for all the stories he put in his gospel. So, he knew this background about this Lawyer. The fact that he was a Teacher of the Law meant he was an expert in it, and all that it required. It was his job to teach people about it.
We could give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was just quoting a common debate of the day between Rabbis, as to which commandments were more important than others. We know this was a point of discussion those days because, in another occasion, someone asks Jesus that very question. But here Luke sets the stage for us. That man came to Jesus with ulterior motives.
He wasn’t really looking for an answer. He just wanted to either trap Jesus and prove Him wrong on something or at least (as we see later) he was trying to justify himself. (In the eyes of whom? In the eyes of his students? Of his community?)
I wonder, have I have ever come to God with a dishonest or misguided prayer?
The give and take in this story again remind us that Jesus sees our hearts. We cannot keep anything hidden from Him. The man asks Jesus how to earn eternal life and Jesus’ reply is: “You tell me?”
This is indeed an unexpected answer. Knowing what we know about the crowds that followed Jesus, there was a huge audience there; and it was all there because of Jesus. They did not come to hear this Teacher of the Law preach. But that is precisely the opportunity Jesus gives him. In a sense, Jesus cedes to him the podium.
Have you ever asked God to give you a podium? Have you dreamed of having the chance to speak to a stadium full of people? Have you asked God to give you the chance to have that kind of impact?
Why?
Why do we crave the respect and admiration of the crowd? “Oh, but that’s not why I ask”, comes the answer. “I just want to do great things for the Kingdom of God.”
Really?
The Teacher of the Law replies to Jesus’ question precisely the way Jesus would: “Love God above all things, and my neighbor as myself.” That is what the Law required, in fact, what summarizes the entire law. This man was right. Was he ready to teach that whole crowd?
Luke 10:28-29 And he [Jesus] said to him, Thou hast answered right: this do and thou shalt live. But he, desirous of justifying himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
Ahh… so there wasn’t just that first question. Was this follow-up question still keeping in with his original plan to trip Jesus up? I don’t think so. I take Luke’s comment at face value: The man wanted to justify himself.
But to whom was he trying to justify himself? To the crowd? Not necessarily. We know the crowd automatically gave the Teachers of the Law, just like the Pharisees, the honor their position deserved.
To whom, then?
When you think about it, the Lawyer’s question is lame. Ok, sure, maybe there could be an argument about semantics going on among the Rabbis as to the exact meaning of that word “neighbor”, but if there was, it was an empty argument for the sake of argument. Because the One who issued that commandment was God. And when God says something so simply, so succinctly, He is on purpose putting it in plain language so that everyone can understand it.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14 For this commandment which I command thee this day is not too wonderful for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in the heavens, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to the heavens, and bring it to us, that we should hear it and do it? And it is not beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we should hear it and do it? For the word is very near to thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
We all know who our neighbor is.
And to prove it, Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan. And then, at the end, Jesus doesn’t give the answer. He proves that the man already knew the answer by making him acknowledge it.
Luke 10:36-37 [Jesus said] Which [now] of these three seems to thee to have been neighbour of him who fell into [the hands of] the robbers? And [the Lawyer] said, He that shewed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, Go, and do *thou* likewise.
I think that that man knew God requires mercy; and somewhere in his life there was a relationship in which he did not want to give that mercy. It was that choice of his that he wanted God to justify. But God will never do that.
Have I have ever come to God with a dishonest or misguided prayer? Blaming someone else for the problem… arguing why I am right and she is wrong… asking God to prove me right and fix that person because if it were all up to me, everything would be honky-dory.
Who do I think I am fooling?
This is the risk, the danger, of going to God in prayer: He already knows everything that is going on, especially everything that is going on inside me. But this is also the good news because if I go to Him, even with the wrong motivation, He is more than able to steer the conversation to the Truth.
All I have to do is listen.