THE REFORMED WITNESS HOUR"Loving the Neighbor"Rev. Jai Mahtani(e-mail: Rev. Carl Haak) |
Dear
Radio Friends,
I am glad to be back with you,
and I am back with a question. My question to
you today is, in light of the last two messages on our love for strangers, have you been
more hospitable? For that is what hospitality
means: love for strangers. Have you shown that kind of love and compassion to
strangers who have crossed the pathway of your life in these past weeks?
You see, the Word of God
everywhere clearly instructs us that we must stand ready to show love to the neighbor. We are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul,
and strength; and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
For on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Our Lord Jesus Christ gave to us
a parable in Luke 10 that illustrates this truth in a very vivid way. Please open your Bibles to Luke 10 and notice with
me that the context of this parable is the question of the rich young ruler who came to
the Lord Jesus Christ asking, in verse 25, “Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?” And when Jesus asks him
what is written in the law, he points out the commandments of God. And Jesus said, “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.” But then notice verse 29: “But he, willing to justify himself, said
unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?”
Now, notice the response of our
Lord Jesus Christ, verses 30-37. In this
parable, the stranger is the man who was attacked on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho. The first passerby, deliberately identified in
verse 31, is a priest who turned the other way. The
second passerby (v. 32) was a Levite who also turned the other way. But the third one, a Samaritan (v. 33), when he
came where this stranger was lying on the ground and saw him, he had compassion on him and
he went to him and bound up his wounds and took care of him.
You see, very interestingly, the
man who was robbed, this one lying on the roadside, is simply introduced as a
“certain man.” It makes no
difference who he is. He is simply a
stranger. Clearly, Jesus, by means of the
parable, teaches us, as He taught the lawyer in verse 27, “Go and do likewise.” You see, there is a very important question to ask
when we consider this question of loving the neighbor.
Who is my neighbor?
The lawyer, we read, was asking
the question in verse 29 “to justify himself.”
Let it be stated clearly and emphatically. Important
as that question may be, we must be careful that we do not ask that question the way this
lawyer asked it — to justify ourselves. In
other words, because we do not know who our neighbor is, therefore we cannot really love
the stranger. That is what verse 29 tells us. He asked this question simply to justify himself. That is why in verse 30 we read “Jesus
answering, said.”
So we seek to understand the
conversation, the parable, to see what our Lord Jesus Christ is teaching this man and us.
We can even go back a little, to
verse 25. There was another wrong question. It began there already. This lawyer asked, “What shall I do to
inherit eternal life?” Notice that the
lawyer asked, seeking to tempt the Lord Jesus Christ, hoping that Christ would answer
contrary to the law and contrary to Moses. But
Jesus does not directly answer the question. Instead,
Jesus goes on to ask him a question: “What
is written in the law? You should know, since
you are a lawyer.” Then, when the lawyer
answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and
strength; and love thy neighbor as thyself,” Jesus says, “Well, thou hast
answered right. This do and thou shalt
live.”
Jesus is not teaching work
righteousness. He is not saying, “Now
earn your salvation because your salvation is rooted in the law, and when you obey the law
you will earn righteousness.” No, not at
all. The lawyer was stuck because Jesus did
not contradict the law. In fact, He made this
lawyer really look quite dumb. As a lawyer,
he should know the law. But, you see, it is
not that he does not know the law. But he
turns around now and says, “Yes, but I don’t know who my neighbor is.” You see the point?
It is excuse after excuse. One may
know the letter of the law, but it must be in the heart.
Jesus, then, goes right to the
heart and ask the right question. Do you know
what the right question to ask is? Not
“Who is my neighbor?” But, “To
whom shall I be a neighbor?” Notice
that, after giving the illustration in the parable, Jesus asks exactly that question in
verse 36 of Luke 10. “Which now of these
three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?” He turns the question around: “Who was neighbor to him who fell among the
thieves?” That is the right question to
ask. It is easy to excuse ourselves. Because there are so many people, I do not know
who to help. I mean, where do I begin, right? There are so many people around me. I do not have time in a day to help everybody. So, maybe, I end up helping nobody. Rather, ask yourself this question: “To whom can I be a neighbor?” Ask “who has God placed on the pathway of my
life? And who has a need that is so apparent
that I can help fulfill?” Not, “Who
is my neighbor,” but “to whom can I show true neighborliness by showing
kindness?” Then the answer to the
question “Who is my neighbor” is obvious: Everyone
whom God places on the pathway of your life is your neighbor.
Notice, even the lawyer
understood that and had to acknowledge it in response to Jesus’ question. In verse 37 he said, “He that showed mercy on
him” — the one who acted as a true neighbor.
Even he had to acknowledge that the answer to Jesus’ question was this
Samaritan who stooped so low, who was so willing to stop and show mercy on the one who was
in need. Jesus says, “Go and do thou
likewise.”
Now, before we consider the call
that we have to obey, let us take a few moments to look at this example. This is the example to follow. “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, and fell among thieves.” We are
told that Jerusalem is 2,600 feet above sea level, Jericho about 1,300 feet below sea
level. So, the road from Jerusalem (where the
temple was located) to the city of Jericho was rough.
It was rocky. It was winding. It was a rather dangerous road for travelers going
from Jerusalem to Jericho and back. You get
the picture. Verse 31 tells us “Any by
chance there came down a certain priest that way.”
Notice that when he saw this man on the ground, apparently hurt and bloodied, he
simply passed by on the other side. Why? He was probably busy with religious duties. He had to hurry on to the temple, I am sure. After all, he was not a policeman. He was not about to do some ambulatory service. He had a ministry of mercy! But his ministry of mercy was related to
sacrifices on the altar. He had to do
official work. He did not have time for such
distractions, to go and help this stranger. The
other priests might say to him, “Come on, you know we had a meeting scheduled for
such-and-such a time. We had official work to
do!” Then what will he answer? How could he tell them that he stopped by to help
this poor man? They might laugh at him. They might tell him it is none of his business. Oh, no. He
had to attend to his duties.
Whatever his reason, verse 32
tells us “And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him,
and passed by on the other side.” He was
a Levite. If he touched a dead body he would
be defiled, as the Old Testament ceremonial laws said.
He must have so excused himself. Or
maybe he thought, “Well, I had better get out of here.
Those robbers might turn around and attack me instead.”
Whatever the reason, I point
this out because, I say to you, oftentimes our thinking is more or less the same. In fact, many times I am approached by others
asking me, “Well, then, Pastor Mahtani, are you saying that we should simply stop on
the road and give a ride to anybody who asks for a ride?
Are you saying that we should put ourselves and our family at danger?” Those are legitimate questions that come up. Are we supposed to go out and help people in this
world where we might, ourselves, be endangering our own lives? My answer to you, radio friends, is: we must not justify ourselves. Of course we have to make sure of our safety and
the safety of our family. Of course we have
to use common sense. And of course we should
be careful that we do not necessarily put ourselves into places that are unsafe. I think, if I today pass by someone who needs a
ride, and if I fear to stop because I think that this might endanger my family, do you
know what I would do? I would remember this
parable and I would think, “Wait a minute. There
is at least something I can do to help this person and yet not put myself and my family at
risk. Maybe I call 911. Maybe I call for help. Maybe I stop but I roll down the window just a
little bit. Maybe I do something to show
concern and love for this person who is in need.”
But if there is clearly someone who is lying on the street dying, or someone who is
clearly in trouble, I must be willing to consider prayerfully, “Am I simply
justifying myself? I should at least stop
and pray, O God, is this one whom You have
placed in my path to help?”
Whatever the case, here this
certain Samaritan came, and when he saw this man on the ground in pain, “He had
compassion, went to him, bound his wounds, pouring in oil and wine.” We are not told whether this certain man was a Jew
or not. Most probably he was. From a natural point of view, there was every
reason for this Samaritan to pass him by. After
all, there was mutual hatred and enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans. And those fellow Jews (one a priest and the other
a Levite) did not even stop. But, of all
things, this Samaritan was willing to turn around and help this man who, I say, probably
was a Jew. He carefully bound up the
man’s wounds, cleansing them with oil and wine.
He then set the man on his donkey, and brought him to a safe place, to an inn, and
even stayed overnight to take care of him. Not
that he did not have errands to run. He had
to leave the next day because he had work to do. In
fact, even at the risk to his own person, and putting aside his own busy schedule, he was
willing to sacrifice even his own money and time to help this man who was completely a
stranger, for he took him as a neighbor to whom he could show neighborliness.
Further, verse 35 tells us,
“On the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host,
and said unto him, Take care of him.” You
see, he even assumed the financial responsibility for this overnight stay. He did not say, “Well, see, I’ve taken
all my time and energy to help you. Now you
pay for it. Now you have to repay me.” No, his heart was to give, his heart was to show
kindness and compassion to this man in need. And
in fact he said to the innkeeper, “Whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again,
I will repay thee.”
That shows us another thing. He was not just going to leave this man at the
inn, he was even going to return on the way back to see whether or not this man who had
been injured was completely healed. He was
going to do some follow-up work. He was going
to treat this man as a neighbor to whom he could show true neighborliness. This man, whether Jew or not makes no difference,
was a stranger to this Samaritan. But the
Samaritan was a true neighbor. He showed true
neighborliness to this man who was in need.
Now, the last part of this
parable. Jesus says to this lawyer, and
surely also to us: “Go and do thou
likewise.”
As we pointed out earlier, Jesus
first elicited a response to the question (v. 36), “Which now of these three,
thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him?” And
the lawyer said in verse 37, “He that shewed mercy on him.” Yes, mercy. Did
you notice that, beloved? Mercy. That is what Jesus zeroed in on — that
attribute or that virtue of love that is shown to those who are in need. That mercy by which God Himself has elevated us to
the state of blessedness when He saw us in our misery.
The point is, before Jesus issued the command, He made the man think. Who was neighbor to him? You excuse yourself saying, “Who is my
neighbor?” I ask you: “Who showed himself a real neighbor to the
poor man who was robbed?”
Then Jesus said, when He had
made the point clear (and I trust that the point is made abundantly clear to you now),
“Go and do likewise.” In other
words, “Go be a neighbor who is in need. Don’t
ask, Who is my neighbor? That is the wrong
question to ask. Don’t ask, What must I
do to inherit eternal life? Eternal life is a
gift. It is not something to be merited. Rather ask, To whom should I be a neighbor? And thus show that eternal life is indeed abiding
in you!” For that eternal life that God
has given to us is manifested in this, that we now have the love of God shed abroad in our
hearts. That is the gospel. The gospel is that God, when He saw us in our sins
and miseries, sent His Own Son to die for us on the cross, that through Jesus Christ we
might have eternal life and fellowship with God. Jesus
told the lawyer not only to think but also to “Go and do likewise.”
Salvation is not by our works. Salvation is not by what we do. Of course not!
Salvation is the free gift of almighty God, that He graciously gives to whomsoever
He wills. But now, when we have the salvation
of God, when we come to know how good and gracious God is to us in Jesus Christ, then that
must be manifest in our lives. For faith
without works is dead, as James warns us. Works
do not save us. Our deeds will not bring us
to heaven. Christ saves us by His death on
the cross once and for all. But now Christ
works in us. And Christ, by His Spirit, so
directs us that we now, with His love shed abroad in our hearts, will love also the
stranger. We must go find that neighbor. We must ask ourselves, “To whom can I be a
neighbor? To whom can I show true
hospitality?”
As we continue to consider the
truths of God’s Word concerning this whole matter of love for the stranger, and love
for the brethren, and love for our children, allow me, in the remaining minutes that we
have today, to try to tie together these three aspects of our calling.
I would like to remind you,
first of all, that these three aspects of our calling (love for stranger, brother,
children) are not contradictory to one another. Think
about that with me, will you, beloved? After
all, whether we love our children or love the stranger or love the brother, we do not love
them out of our own strength. We love them
because God has first loved us. And out of
that love we must love our neighbor. Our
closest neighbor is really our own spouse, if we are married. God has placed that husband or that wife in our
own bedroom. We have to love him/her. We have those neighbors in our homes, our
children. They are there, right there within
our own homes. But, as we saw last time
already from Leviticus 19, the Israelite was told to love the stranger who has come to
sojourn with you, to love him as one who is born even among you. My point is that, while we must indeed walk in
love as a family and love our own children, and, yes, love the brethren, we must not think
that this love for the neighbor or the stranger is something contradictory. Not at all. With
that same love we must love those whom God is pleased to put upon the pathway of our life.
Besides that, let us remember
that when strangers are brought into our midst, God oftentimes uses the communion of the
saints under the preaching of the Word. An
illustration was given to me long ago by a farmer, who said that when you put a new sheep
into a sheepfold, then, if that sheep is left alone, if that sheep is not embraced by the
other sheep and is not joined by the other sheep, then that sheep will pine away and die. Whereas if in that flock there is a reception of
this new sheep, then that sheep will thrive and become one with the flock. That is my point.
Even as we learn to love one another, we must learn to extend that love to all
those whom God brings upon the pathway of our life, so that in that way there is a proper
balance both in our covenantal responsibilities, in our callings in the midst of the
church, and in our extension to those who are strangers.
May God bless us as today and in the weeks to come we continue to focus on this mandate of God: Love the stranger and, as we have seen today, to ask the right questions. Instead of justifying ourselves, we must ask, “To whom can I be a neighbor?” When we pray tomorrow morning and start a new day, ask God: “God, prepare me for the person You will bring on the pathway of my life.” May God give us grace so to do and thus love the neighbor.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank Thee
that we might meditate on Thy Word. We thank
Thee that Thou didst love us when we were ourselves strangers and sinners, for Thou didst
love us in Jesus Christ Thy Son. Now, with
His love in our hearts, help us not only to love one another and our children but also to
love the neighbor for Jesus’ sake. Amen.