For me the Jewishness of the Lord, the concept that salvation comes only through the Jews is a bit difficult to accept and digest. What kind of philosophy, theology, bhakti tradition etc. etc. lack in my land that I need a Saviour outside my country was a constant question in my mind. Till the end I am going to live with this tension and I won’t hesitate to accept it and also to live with it. But as I read about the comments in the Good Samaritan by Tom Wright, on Lu. 10.25-37, the following words struck me deeply, ‘…Can you recognize the hated Samaritan as your neighbor? If you can’t, you might be left for dead.’ As I meditated upon it, I realized that the Lord is that my Good Samaritan who rescued me coming into my territory accepting all kinds of accusation and humiliation. Those who oppose Him, because of what Christianity has created and done in this country, the way they use unparliamentary words about his life and character sometimes pains me. Though I ignore them, knowing well that they don’t know what they are doing and saying, still, along with us this is the cost that the Lord has to pay if He wants to remain a Good Samaritan to us and like similar countries and cultures. At the same time receiving help from someone who we hate and never like to have anything with them, we feel humiliated and defeated. But the way our Lord has done even accepting such humiliation of coming and seeking me who wanted to run away from him, I realized the way I was saved by God not allowing me dead. Then reflecting that thought I wrote this song [see BT song 772].
Here is the full quote:
The lawyer’s question and Jesus’ answer don’t quite match up, and that’s part of the point. He wants to know who counts as ‘neighbor’. For him, God is the God of Israel, and neighbors are Jewish neighbors. For Jesus (and for Luke, who highlights (p. 127) this theme), Israel’s God is the God of grace for the whole world, and a neighbor is anybody in need. Jesus’ telling question at the end isn’t asking who the Samaritan regarded as his neighbor. He asked, instead, who turned out to be the neighbor of the half-dead Jew lying in the road. Underneath the apparently straightforward moral lesson (‘go and do the same’), we find a much sterner challenge, exactly fitting in with the emphasis of Luke’s story so far. Can you recognize the hated Samaritan as your neighbor? If you can’t, you might be left for dead.— Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone, London, SPCK (2004), Indian Edition, Delhi, ISPCK, 2015, pp. 127-28
Gurukulam, 12-(13)-10-2017###
For me the Jewishness of the Lord, the concept that salvation comes only through the Jews is a bit difficult to accept and digest. What kind of philosophy, theology, bhakti tradition etc. etc. lack in my land that I need a Saviour outside my country was a constant question in my mind. Till the end I am going to live with this tension and I won’t hesitate to accept it and also to live with it. But as I read about the comments in the Good Samaritan by Tom Wright, on Lu. 10.25-37, the following words struck me deeply, ‘…Can you recognize the hated Samaritan as your neighbor? If you can’t, you might be left for dead.’ As I meditated upon it, I realized that the Lord is that my Good Samaritan who rescued me coming into my territory accepting all kinds of accusation and humiliation. Those who oppose Him, because of what Christianity has created and done in this country, the way they use unparliamentary words about his life and character sometimes pains me. Though I ignore them, knowing well that they don’t know what they are doing and saying, still, along with us this is the cost that the Lord has to pay if He wants to remain a Good Samaritan to us and like similar countries and cultures. At the same time receiving help from someone who we hate and never like to have anything with them, we feel humiliated and defeated. But the way our Lord has done even accepting such humiliation of coming and seeking me who wanted to run away from him, I realized the way I was saved by God not allowing me dead. Then reflecting that thought I wrote this song [see BT song 772].
Here is the full quote:
The lawyer’s question and Jesus’ answer don’t quite match up, and that’s part of the point. He wants to know who counts as ‘neighbor’. For him, God is the God of Israel, and neighbors are Jewish neighbors. For Jesus (and for Luke, who highlights (p. 127) this theme), Israel’s God is the God of grace for the whole world, and a neighbor is anybody in need. Jesus’ telling question at the end isn’t asking who the Samaritan regarded as his neighbor. He asked, instead, who turned out to be the neighbor of the half-dead Jew lying in the road. Underneath the apparently straightforward moral lesson (‘go and do the same’), we find a much sterner challenge, exactly fitting in with the emphasis of Luke’s story so far. Can you recognize the hated Samaritan as your neighbor? If you can’t, you might be left for dead.— Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone, London, SPCK (2004), Indian Edition, Delhi, ISPCK, 2015, pp. 127-28
Gurukulam, 12-(13)-10-2017###
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