Luke 10,23-27 4522
13. Sn. n. Trinitatis 60
Paphnutius, Bishop of Thebes, Egypt † 335
11. September 2022
1. ℣ Have respect, O Yahweh, unto Thy covenant:
℟ Oh, let not the oppressed return ashamed! (Psalm 74,20a)
We have one God, and thus are members of one body, help us, O Yahweh, to gladly serve our neighbors, for we are all together living on this world You created for us, and we are all Your children. Amen. (So jemand spricht: »Ich liebe Gott« elkg 657,4 2021 Christian Fürchtegott Gellert 1757)
2. »And behold, a lawyer stood up to put Jesus to the test, saying: „Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?“ He asked to him: „What is written in the Law? How do you read it?“ And he answered: „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.“ And Jesus said to him: „You have answered rightly; do this, and you will live.“«
3. The question at hand is eternal life. It was a lawyer who posed this question to Jesus. In Jesus’ day, a Jewish lawyer was a theologian; he was someone who studied the Scriptures, known collectively as the Law, and was well-versed on the laws of the covenant and how to apply them. All lawyers were Pharisees in Jesus’ day, and so his question is loaded with Pharisaical presuppositions, particularly: a person is declared righteous by God based on their obedience to the law, especially the 10 Commandments; if one is keeping the law, then there is no need to repent. The Pharisees, therefore, refused John the Baptizer’s baptism of repentance because they considered such repentance was not necessary for them because they were keeping the Law.
4. The lawyer quotes Deuteronomy 6,5 and Leviticus 19,18. Jesus affirms this and says: „You have answered rightly; do this, and you will live.“ Both Jesus and the lawyer proclaim: The Law is the way of life; life is the result for the one who, in communion of God’s love, walks in His ways. Jesus understands the Law to be about compassion and mercy, but the lawyer understands the Law as doing particular things that merit your righteousness before God. In Jesus’ perspective, throughout the Law God’s gracious election and mercy upon His people is continually displayed, despite their sin. The Law was never a „how to“ book about earning merit before God (Just 449).
5. Like Jesus, Paul, a Pharisee, cites that the Law teaches that righteousness is through faith, not through a legalistic interpretation of the Law that would attempt to merit righteousness through the Law (Just 449-50). Moses says: Abraham believe Yahweh and He counted it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15,6). The Law clearly says Abraham did not merit it by his works. Moses again says: it is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to possess the land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 9,4). The land is theirs because Yahweh swore it to their fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Deuteronomy 9,5).
6. Jesus sees the Law as the means to eternal life, and this life comes purely by grace through faith which is active in love (Just 450). Paul says the same: In Christ Jesus only faith working through love counts for anything (Galatians 5,6).
7. The lawyer, however, attempts, and fails, to justify himself by twisting the Law into a legalistic system that would excuse him from showing love to all others. Jesus correctly interprets the Law, which teaches that God elected Israel solely out of His love and redeemed them in fulfillment of His gracious promises; Israel’s obedience to His commandments was a response in faith, motivated by love, created by the Gospel of God’s salvation (Just 450; Deuteronomy 4,37-40; 7,79; 10,12-22). The heart of the Law is God’s mercy and love. The human response in faith is likewise a response in love and mercy, as Jesus illustrates in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Just 451). And as Jesus exemplifies in His ministry, the Law includes everyone in God’s love (Just 452). Thus in the parable, the Good Samaritan shows compassion upon the man left for dead (Just 453).
8. Jesus is the Good Samaritan of the parable. Throughout the Gospels, He shows compassion and mercy to the outcasts of Jewish society. He also is compassionate to the upright in Jewish society. Jesus extends the mercy of the Law to both the lawless and the lawyer, to the sinners and the saved. Jesus calls the lawyer to show love and mercy as a covenant man to whom God’s mercy has come — in the Law and now in Jesus (Just 454). Jesus calls each of us to show love and mercy as anew covenant people to whom God’s mercy has come in the Gospel and in Jesus!
9. Lord, Your mercy will not leave us;
Ever will Your truth abide.
Then in You I will confide.
Since Your Word cannot deceive us,
Our salvation is to me
Safe and sure eternally (Oh, How Great Is Your Compassion tlh 559,4 Johann Olearius 1611-84).
This is most certainly true.
10. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4,7). Amen.
11. Let us pray. O Almighty and Everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope and charity; and that we may obtain that which Thou dost promise, make us to love that which Thou dost command. Amen. (The Week of Trinity 13, Vespers Collect 1. The Daily Office. Copyright © 1965 Concordia Publishing House.)
To God alone be the Glory
Soli Deo Gloria
✠
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, Septuaginta, Vol. I and II 2. Revised Edition © 2006 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch. Copyright © 2021 Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, Hannover.
Just, Arthur A., Jr. Luke 9:51––24:53. Copyright © 1997 Concordia Publishing House.
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