{"id":2537,"date":"2007-08-23T00:10:41","date_gmt":"2007-08-23T00:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2007\/08\/missional-jesus-44.html"},"modified":"2007-08-23T00:10:41","modified_gmt":"2007-08-23T00:10:41","slug":"missional-jesus-44","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/08\/missional-jesus-44.html","title":{"rendered":"Missional Jesus 44"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is deeply beloved by Christians. I don’t know why for it is as challenging a teaching as anything Jesus teaches. In essence, I think it is this:
\nThe scribe wants to know the limits of his love and Jesus expands the limits of love to anyone we happen to bump into, even if it cuts into the grain of our religious fabric.
\n1. Missional Jesus’ story subverts cliques and boundary marker love. We cannot reduce love to those we like.
\n2. Missional Jesus knew that the priest (and probably Levite) could justify their behavior by recourse to the Torah: the priest was not to defile himself with corpse impurity unless it was nearest of kin.
\n3. Missional Jesus knows the law’s limits but not love’s limits. The law, unless it flows from the law to love your neighbor as yourself (Jesus Creed), is misunderstood. Once it is, the law sometimes gives way to loving behaviors outside those boundaries.
\n4. Missional followers of Jesus are noted by such loving behaviors.
\nOn one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. \u201cTeacher,\u201d he asked, \u201cwhat must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d
\n26 \u201cWhat is written in the Law?\u201d he replied. \u201cHow do you read it?\u201d
\n27 He answered: \u201c \u2018Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind\u2019 ; and, \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019 \u201d
\n28 \u201cYou have answered correctly,\u201d Jesus replied. \u201cDo this and you will live.\u201d
\n29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, \u201cAnd who is my neighbor?\u201d
\n30 In reply Jesus said: \u201cA man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. \u2018Look after him,\u2019 he said, \u2018and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.\u2019
\n36 \u201cWhich of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?\u201d
\n37 The expert in the law replied, \u201cThe one who had mercy on him.\u201d
\nJesus told him, \u201cGo and do likewise.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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