The Washington herald., 1914-01-17

The second 10 this, Thou shalt love thy ndsAbom
% thysslf. ThGe ID nons other cummandnnf
greater than thes."
(z0 And behold, certain lawyer stood
up and tempted Him. saying. Master.
what shall do to inherit eternal life?
C3s) And He said unto him, what is writ
ten in the law? how readest thou?
CD And he answering said. Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy
strength, and with all thy mind; and
thy neighbour as thyself.
(20 And he said unto him, Thou hast
answered right; this do. and thou shalt
live.
(2s) But he, desiring to justify himself.
said unto Jesus. And who is my neigh
bour?
(so) Jesus made answer and said, A
certain man was going down from Jeru-
salem to Jericho: and he fell among rob-
bers. which both stripped him and beat
him. and departed, leaving him half dead.
CID And by chance a certain priest was
going down that way; and when he saw
him. he passed by on the other side.
f39 And in like manner Levite also.
when he came to the place, and saw him.
passed by on the other side.
Cs0 But certain Samaritan, as he
journeyed. came where he was: and when
he saw him. he was moved with compass
sion.
tsD And came to him. and bound up
his wounds, pouring on them oil and
and brought him to an inn, and took care
of him.
(sS) And on the morrow he took out
two pence. and gave them to the host, and
said. Take care Of him: an dwhatsoever
thou spendest more. i, when come back
again. will repay thee.
(30 Which Of these three, thinkest
thou, proved neighbour unto him that fell
among the robbers?
CID And he said. He that showed mercy
on him. And Jesus said unto him. Go.
and do thou likewise.
The Narrative.
This is one Of the great parallels Pc
culiar to Luke, and 1t il wonderful how
profound an impression II has made upon
all the Christian centuries. 1t has many
values. and indeed. in all probability
much undiscovered truth.
In our consideration OF the parable il is
important that We do not miss the first
value, and the one which was most evil
IDENTIFY intended when our Lord uttered
II. Let us therefore particularly observe
the occasion upon which It was uttered.
A lawyer had come to Him-that is.
quite simply. one whose calling il was to
be an expounder of the law. He came TO
Him and tempted Him. The word
tempted here means, put Him to the
final test as he asked Him the condition
upon which he might inherit eternal life.
This was not necessarily a hostile ques-
ton. and in this particular connection the
word tempted may accurately mean
just this. that he asked Him the supreme
and final question of life, as he certainly
did. Age-abiding life was among thought
full and truly religious men the acknowl-
edged goal. the supreme matter. Our
Lord had no rebuke for him, but took
him, the expounder OF the law. back to
the law: with the result that the man
gave a correct answer, as our Lord Him
self declared. 1t is at this point that that
which is supremely interesting took
place Luke tells US that the man desired
to justify himself. Justify himself
against what? There was nothing in the
word of Christ condemnatory; indeed, His
answer was commendatory. The desire
for justification Is a revelation OF some
thing which is not recorded, but which is
He stood in the presence OF
Jesus. where a correct view is never
1t is perfectly evident that his
own declaration, drawn from him by the
Lord, gave him trouble OF conscience. as
he knew. that mea asured by that standard.
he failed. He also knew the point of fail
ure, and asked the question. who is my
Then followed the familiar
parable.
The matter which 1t is important we
should principally notice in this parable
Is that of the change OF ground taken up
by the Lord. The man asked. who is
my neighbour" and whereas in the par
able an answer to that is found, its main
answered two other questions
namely. To whom am I to be neighbour?
and What is neighbourliness?