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Date Posted: 15:43:21 12/25/06 Mon
Author: surfer51
Subject: Re: My Christmas sign
In reply to: Joan 's message, "Re: My Christmas sign" on 05:29:27 12/24/06 Sun

Joan,

Sounds real spiritual on the surface, but it isn't.

It does not address the passivity issues for me personally.

Jesus brother James was familiar with this kind of 'Christian speak.'

James felt this issue to be of such importance that he addresses it three times.

James 2:17
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

James 2:18-20

18Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

19Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

20But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

James 2:26
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

James was familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told. He reminds us...

James 2:15-17
15If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

16And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

It is so hard to get Christians involved in anything other then church.

During his ministry Jesus was often accused of associating with the publicans and sinners by the Scribes and Pharisees (Luke 5:30).

In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus reaffirms his reasons for doing so, which are also reported in Luke 5:31,32.

The stricken figure in the Good Samaritan parable represents all those who are spiritually sick, such as the gentiles and the sinners. While the devoutly religious refuse to help, Jesus, the Good Samaritan, provides the necessary spiritual healing.

That it was a priest and then a Levite who first passed by the stricken man is significant beyond the irony of the situation: people who were expected to help, didn't, while someone whom the victim (and Jesus' audience) despised, did. Thusly, he is called the Good Samaritan.

It is important to note that Samaritans were despised by the story's target audience, the Jews. The Samaritans were also largely taught by their interpretation of history to hate Jews.

The priest had good reason, presumably in order to maintain ritual purity, not to help. There's the possibility that the victim was already dead. And touching a dead person for someone so 'holy', while not forbidden, would be such a hassle - all the necessary cleansing rituals prescribed by Mosaic Law. The priest made a judgment call: he decided that being "priestly" was more important than saving someone's life.

Jesus' unspoken challenge to all believers seems to be: would we help only if it's convenient, or are we willing to go out of our way to show compassion?

Getting involved in one's world is true spirituality.

The wounded man has no money. When it is time for him to leave, if he cannot pay the debt he can be arrested, Matthew 18:23-35. The Samaritan knows this and volunteers money (two danarri is two days wages) and whatever else is needed to see to the needs of this unidentified man. Additionally, the Samaritan had no way of insuring the return of his money. Therefore, it is safe to assume he did not expect it to be returned. He got fully involved.

The robbers hurt the man by violence, the Priest and Levite, by neglect. All three are guilty. "To the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin," (James 4:17).

Jesus was like the Samaritan. He was willing to touch the unclean. He was willing to go to the lost, the outcast, and the needy. And, like the Samaritan, Jesus was an outcast in the eyes of the Lawyers, Priests, Scribes, Pharisees, and Saducees.

This teaches us that love is something you feel and do.

Getting involved in the world around us is spiritual, to ignore it is not!

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