1007. "Hey Jesus, What Shall I 'Do' to Inherit Eternal Life?"

A lawyer was intending to challenge Jesus publicly to test Him with a bit of a trick question: "What Shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Keeping in mind that the Mosaic law was still being applied to Jewish people who were under it before the cross, Jesus referred him to that law for the answer to his question. In short, Jesus said in order to find the life he was seeking, all he would need is to do what the law says. That was not the good news of the gospel. It sounds simple but Jesus had a way of showing His audience how difficult it is to accomplish such a monumental task.

In a new and better covenant, the way to life isn't found in what one does. Faith is not made alive by works ... and faith is not made perfect by works. Justification, salvation, forgiveness, and righteousness are gifted by God—not by a written word of the letter—but through the living Word ... Jesus Christ.



   
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556. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 13): The Good Samaritan & Self-Justification

What inspired the story of The Good Samaritan? A lawyer was testing Jesus with a question about the law that came through Moses. The Scripture states he was trying to do what other Jews did under the law — they attempted to justify themselves. In order to truly justify himself, the lawyer was told to do according to what the law says. The problem with this? Nobody had ever done it before. While the world has encouraged us to be the good Samaritan, Jesus is actually the one represented by this person in the parable.



   

454. The Bad News from The Good Samaritan

Part 3 of our look at the parable of The Good Samaritan. A lawyer had asked Jesus how he may obtain eternal life, and this inspired the parable. Afterwards, Jesus asked the lawyer who he thought was a good neighbor. The man responded, "The one who showed mercy." Jesus said, "Go and do the same." (Or "do likewise"). In the context of the lawyer's question and the parable, "go and do the same" was not an exhortation to show mercy, but was the Lord's way of ministering the impossible standard of perfection that the law demanded.


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453. Who Is the Good Samaritan?

The parable of The Good Samaritan has often been taught from the perspective that we should show mercy to others and be good to our neighbors. That is something that should be encouraged. However, that is not what the parable is about. Jesus is not answering a question about how to treat our neighbor. Rather, a lawyer is asking a question about how to inherit eternal life, and in doing so he is trying to justify himself through keeping the law. By trying to take on the role of The Good Samaritan, we have unknowingly encouraged people to "go and do likewise." That is, to try to justify themselves instead of trusting in Christ.


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452. Introduction to The Good Samaritan

One of the more popular parables Jesus shared was the story known as The Good Samaritan. This week we focus on a conversation between Jesus and a lawyer who had tried to trap Jesus into saying something against the law. His question was about how to inherit eternal life. It's another case of asking a law-based question and receiving a law-based answer. The lawyer asked yet another question as he was seeking to justify himself, and so it is this exchange between him and Jesus that inspires the parable. This lays the ground work for the parable which we'll dive into on next week's podcast.


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206. Identifying Ourselves Correctly in the Parables

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The words of Jesus - surprisingly to many people - are not always what they seem at face value, as we've discussed over the past few weeks here on Growing in Grace. Often we begin with a preconceived premise in our determination of what Jesus is trying to communicate, but if we start with the wrong premise then we're going to end up going down the wrong path, leading to the wrong conclusions. With this in mind, this week we take a look at how various characters in the parables that Jesus told are often misunderstood because we often start with the wrong premise of the meaning of each parable.

Often the parable of the Good Samaritan is read and taught in such a way as to make us (Christians) out to be people who should strive to be the Good Samaritan in the story. The parables of the Pearl of Great Price and of the Treasure Hidden in a Field are presented as stories that show Jesus as a precious pearl and treasure that we are to purchase after we sell all we have. Are these things really what these parables are communicating? We'll take into consideration the people Jesus was talking with in each situation and what questions He was responding to, and also take into account the surrounding context and other New Covenant truth to help us sort out who some of characters in the parables really represent.

Hint: We often try to make ourselves the heroes and/or the centerpieces of the parables. But perhaps these parables really show us how Jesus is the hero and centerpiece!