The most important part of the passage about the Good Samaritan in Luke may not be the parable itself. It is the two questions which provoke its telling.

1. What must I do to inherit eternal life?
2. And who is my neighbor?’

I usually enter the gospel by reading over the last chapter. I want to see where the narrative has been. I want to see what Jesus is doing and what he is teaching. And sometimes I look ahead to see where the story is going. This is especially helpful with this week’s gospel passage.

Discipleship.

Luke’s gospel is about discipleship. The gospel as a whole seems to be an answer to the question: What must I do to follow Jesus?

And each lesson reveals the character of one who follows, rather than a prescription of specific laws to keep or behaviors to use. Jesus is showing them how to follow him when he isn’t physically there to lead them.

In chapter 6, he commissions The Twelve to be his apostles: to be his people without him. In chapter 9, he sends the twelve out to do Jesus’s work in the world. In chapter 10, he sends the 70 disciples to do Jesus’s healing work to all the nations.

It is when they get back and are pumped that the healing worked and Jesus gives thanks to GOD that this lawyer stands up to test him.

The Lawyer.

So this dude who wants to test Jesus stands up and makes a big show. And he asks Jesus about eternal life. But uses a funny word: inherit. We gloss over this word. We go to the meaning we associate with this passage. But this is the same word the rich young ruler uses and the Prodigal Son uses later.

The idea of inheriting eternal life is not the same as earning eternal life or being given eternal life. It is family law. It is unearned wealth given along family lines in a scarcity economy. I get an inheritance, not because it is freely given or because I did anything, but by virtue of my birth.

A Jew asking Jesus about inherited eternal life is speaking covenantally. He is speaking about tribe-given grace.

Jesus.

When Jesus turns the man back to the Law, the man gives him a profound answer of the Great Commandment. Love of GOD and of neighbor.

Then it says

“But wanting to justify himself”

he goes and asks Jesus who his neighbor is supposed to be. Jesus has said he spoke rightly, and yet he still wants to justify himself. He wants to inherit, proving that he is qualified.

Jesus responds by pointing out that the justified may come from outside the tribe. For many are fulfilling GOD’s mission outside the tribe.

Mary and Martha.

Jesus will go from here to the home of Mary and Martha in the famous passage of busy versus being. We’ll get into that next week. But we should see, however, how this broadening sense of discipleship goes directly from this encounter with the lawyer to his sitting with his friends.

Who is my neighbor? The one who cares for me, heals me, and tends to my wounds.

Is it about the tribe? Is it about the proper approach? Is it about checking off the right boxes?

Or is it about the mission itself?