30 Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him,
and departed, leaving him half dead.
There are so many lessons for us to learn from the story
that Jesus told to the lawyer here in Luke 10. Yesterday we talked about the
number of times that the word “certain” is used in this brief story. “A certain
lawyer” (v. 25). “A certain man” (v. 30). “A certain priest” (v. 31). “A
certain Samaritan” (v. 33).
Jesus seems to zero in on very specific individuals and the
attitudes or actions that they exhibit in this passage. Jesus knows and is very
interested in every detail of our lives.
We have noted that the great question the lawyer asks about
is how to inherit eternal life. Even if he asked it for the wrong motive, it is
still one of the great questions we should all think about! Because “what
shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul”
(Mark 8:36). What is more important that having “eternal life”? Remember
“eternal life” is not living forever and forever and forever! Jesus in His High
Priestly prayer in John 17:3 said, “And this is eternal life, that they may
know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Eternal
life is personally experiencing the life of God Himself dwelling in us through
Jesus Christ!
The first person we meet is this “lawyer”. He was not a
lawyer in the way we think of lawyers today. But he was an expert in the Old
Testament Law of Moses. He knew the first five books of Bible and all the
teachings of the Rabbis’ that go with them over the years. So when Jesus ask
him what he read in it, he gave the correct summary of the law in the same way
that Jesus did when He was asks by another lawyer in Matthew 22:36-40. In this
passage Jesus replied: “You shall love the LORD your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is
the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love
your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the
Prophets."
Jesus is making it clear that the real evidence that we
love God is that we love the people around us with all of our heart and in the
same way we love ourselves! You will love your neighbor in the same way that
you love God! John speaks a lot about this in the Epistle of 1 John.
The next person in the story that Jesus mentions is the “certain
man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho”. Now Jericho was the Las Vegas of their day. It
was a place that symbolized everything that is of the world and it’s pleasures.
It was down in the Jordan Valley right next to the Dead Sea! How interesting is
that.
It was the place you go to drown out your problems with
drugs, drinking, pleasure and every other evil things you can do.
Jerusalem was up on a mountain and was the place of the
presence of God. The temple and worship of God was there. It was the place of
the communion, of prayer, of Bible study and meditation on the eternal things
of God! Jesus said that this certain man, “went down from Jerusalem”. He left the place of security and worship and
fellowship with the Lord to “go down” to the world and the place of danger,
destruction and death.
My friend, whenever you leave and neglect your place of
communion with the Lord in His Word, in prayer, and fellowship with other
believers in His church, you are on your way down! The thief, Satan is waiting
to pounce on you, steal your joy, your peace, your love for God and others and
destroy your life!
What a lesson for us today! Which way are you headed today?
God bless!
