Justify

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

JUSTIFY

Luke 10:25-37

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" 27 He answered: "'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, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" 28 "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."  29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 In reply Jesus said: "A 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. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' 36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"  37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." 

NIV

Having considered the concept of loving the Lord our God with our whole being, all of us, our whole undivided heart, we now take a look at this parable. Of course, the reason for Jesus to tell this expert in the law this parable was because the man was trying to justify himself. Having answered correctly must have not been how he lived. This Greek word, dikaioo, which is translated as justify means to tender or show just or innocent. Most of the time it is used of how we have been rendered innocent by God through Jesus Christ. However, here this man wanted to render himself innocent by trying to undo the law regarding loving his neighbor by questioning who qualifies as his neighbor. By this parable, it is clear that all mankind are our neighbors and that we should not only act like we love them but put the love into action. However, the point we see here is this trying to render ourselves as innocent, or justifying why we do not love our neighbor as we should. Perhaps we are too busy with either trying to look like we are doing good things, or busy servicing the church, or making an effort to love those who love us, that is our fellow believers, that we do not have the time or the inclination to spend any effort on loving those who do not love us. But then even in the church, there are those who we may not actually love the way we are supposed to love. If there exists any jealousy, envy, greed, bitterness, unforgiveness, gossip, or any of those other attitudes we are not supposed to harbor, then we can just throw out any idea of loving our neighbor. Then, if we are all about making ourselves look good, or simply putting ourselves first before anyone else, again we can throw out love. However, we could try to justify or render ourselves innocent.