Go And Do Likewise?
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What if the tightening in your gut when you hear Jesus say "go and do likewise" is evidence of the mystery that Christ is truly in you? Maybe the discomfort you feel in response to such high calling is meant to lead you to rest instead of work. Only the impossible standards of Jesus can bring us to the end of ourselves - the place life truly begins.
GETTING THE GOOD SAMARITAN WRONG
If you've ever wondered what the heck you're supposed to do with Jesus' parable of the so-called "Good" Samaritan, you may be on to something. You are in good company if you’ve realized you simply cannot “go and do likewise.”
But suppose you think you've found the secret to success in being merciful to your neighbor just like the Samaritan. You will be as disappointed as the Lawyer in Luke's story - the guy who set out to justify himself to Jesus via law-keeping. For more context, check out the story for yourself in Luke 10 and episode 14 of the Larkcast.
But suppose you think you've found the secret to success in being merciful to your neighbor just like the Samaritan. You will be as disappointed as the Lawyer in Luke's story - the guy who set out to justify himself to Jesus via law-keeping.
Unfortunately, we're so well versed in the way of the Lawyer that we still can't see the way of Jesus. We hear a story like this, and it becomes ammunition for legitimizing or criticizing our right belief or that of others. We condemn one another with a story that actually leads to liberating Good News for everyone. The problem here might be a reading into the story what we want it to say or what we have been told to hear it saying.
LET LUKE TELL HIS STORY
Context matters. This particular story is a moment where the guilt of the Lawyer is spotlighted. But it's in passing as the overarching narrative nears its climax. This particular parable just doesn't make sense outside of its native environment. The river current of Luke's gospel book is the revelation of the true Messiah, which the Law and the Prophets foretold, who has come to reconcile all the broken unto God the Father. The story of Christ who knew no sin becoming sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21).
Watch how Jesus rebukes the Lawyers one chapter after this parable. "Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers… you have taken away the key of knowledge..." (Luke 11:46, 52, NRSV).
Lawyers hold people to the law, so Jesus holds the Lawyer to the law. Luke's gospel, if you read to the conclusion, reveals that Jesus is becoming the Lawyer's way out of his self-inflicted terminal pursuit. Luke is inviting his readers to trade the Lawyer's transactional view of the love of God for the scandalous grace of a crucified and resurrected Savior.
Lawyers hold people to the law, so Jesus holds the Lawyer to the law.
THE ROLE OF THE “GOOD” SAMARITAN
When you read for applications, you miss implications. You find a fix-it plan to take on and miss the reality being revealed. But when you let Luke's masterfully authored text speak for itself, you are confronted with the love of God that exposes failures.
You can't accept forgiveness without also accepting the reason the forgiveness was necessary - and that's where the stinging pain comes in. That is the role Luke gives the parable of the Good Samaritan. It is the pressing down of the weight of the law to prove the need for the very thing Jesus came to give - himself.
There would be no pain if Jesus did not enter into our darkness, if the light did not shine upon and within us. The sting is the evidence of God's love, as heat is the evidence of the light of the sun.
Our crusades of self-justification would never be subverted if he did not become united with us! He can share his knowledge of the Father's love with us from the inside of our doubts that God loves us because he has become one with us (C. Baxter Kruger, Across All Worlds). He is encouraging us, filling us with himself and his trust in the Father.
TRADE YOUR TOIL FOR TRUST
You are free from the endless anxieties of if and how you will inherit eternal life. So don't try to apply this parable to your life or “go and do likewise.” Instead, let this parable do what it's supposed to do. To prove to you that God isn't asking for you to do more or be better, nor has he ever. Let it press you deeper into trust in the Messiah Luke is presenting, the one who promises that he already made you the righteousness of God.
You are free from the endless anxieties of if and how you will inherit eternal life. So don't try to apply this parable to your life or “go and do likewise.”
Trade your toil for trust. This is what Immanuel means. 'God with us' is not an illusion, a cute allegory, or an optimistic cliché. It's the Good News of what God has really done.
This blog post pairs nicely with episode 14 of the Larkcast linked below.
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