Deuteronomy 30:9-10

And the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Luke 10:25-37

An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The Jesus Way: The Way of Compassion

This morning we continue reading from Luke’s Gospel, and, we have a reading from Deuteronomy. These two readings illustrate the essential difference between the Old and the New Testament. Old Testament texts are concerned with the Law, that is, the relationship between God and the people is based on the Law of Moses. On the other hand, New Testament texts are centered on Grace. The relationship between God and the people is built on Grace, God’s gift of grace as revealed in Christ’s sacrifice.

Some background on Deuteronomy

We don’t often hear preaching on Deuteronomy. I think Deuteronomy is overlooked. So I wanted to offer some background. Consider this your Bible trivia fact of the week. I’m sure you have wondered, “What is this word, “Deuteronomy”? What a strange word! Where does it come from?
The word Deuteronomy comes from the Greek translation of the verse found in Deuteronomy 17:18. This verse states that the King shall have “a copy of this law written for him in the presence of the Levitical priests. It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, diligently observing all the word of this law and these statues.”

So, in this verse, there are instructions to a king. When a king ascends the throne, he is instructed to create a written copy of the Torah for his own use, one that he can read every day. Recall that the Torah was a large scroll of scripture, kept in the Temple, and maintained by the priests in the Temple. (And even today, for Jews living today, the Torah is a text written on a large scroll and kept in Temples all over the world.) But here, in Deuteronomy 17:18, the king is instructed to have his own copy, a second copy. The Greek for this is

τὸ δευτερονόμιον τοῦτο (to deuteronomion touto)

which means “this second law”

So the word “Deuteronomy” means “second law,” in other words, the second copy of the law, the Torah, made especially for the king, and kept by the king for his daily use. He was supposed to read it daily. To keep it close to him. So he had his own copy: a second copy of the Torah. (to deuteronomion touto)

The Great Commandment

Now, the most important passage of scripture in the book of Deuteronomy, and arguably, the most important text in the entire Old Testament is Deuteronomy 6:4-9.
“Hear, O Israel.”

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, 9 and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

For Christians, we know this as The Great Commandment. And for Jews, of course, this is a very important text. It continues to be important. It is often recited or sung, and it’s called the Shema. Shema means “Hear.”

The Complete Shema –

Hear O Israel, the LORD our God is One LORD

Shema: the First Passage

In the recitation of Deuteronomy 6:4-9, special emphasis is given to the first six Hebrew words of this passage (Shema Yisrael, Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad) and a six-word response is said in an undertone (barukh shem kevod malkhuto le’olam va’ed). After a pause, Deuteronomy 6:5-9 is then recited, which stresses the commandment to love the L-rd your G-d with all of your heart, soul, and might.

Transliteration: Shema yisrael Adonai eloheinu Adonai echad. [barukh shem kevod malkhuto le’olam va’ed.] ve’ahavta et Adonai eloheykha bekhol-levavkha u’vekhol nafshekha u’vekhol me’odekha. ve’hayu hadevarim ha’eileh asher anokhi metzavekha haiyom al-levavekha. veshinantam levanekha vedibarta bam beshivtekha beveitekha u’velekhtekha vaderekh u’vshakhbekha u’vkumekha. u’kshartam le’ot al-yadekha vehayu letotafot bein einekha. u’khtavtam al-mezuzot beitekha u’visharekha.

Translation: HEAR, O ISRAEL: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 
I remember the day we studied this section of Deuteronomy in my Old Testament class. Our professor really hammered this one. He wanted us to understand how important it is. He wanted us to feel it. And when he read it to us in class, there were tears in his eyes.

Deuteronomy is the Law

So, Deuteronomy is the law handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai. It’s an expression of Moses’ way, the way of ancient Israel. This way of Moses, we could think of as a contract, a covenant between God and the people. And the contract goes like this: if you do good, you get good. And if you do bad, you get bad. DGGD, DBGB. In our reading this morning, we read an expression of this contract. And we see this contract throughout the Old Testament. It is the Law. The people are governed by the Law. And their lives play out, the consequences of their actions play out, according to this Law. Do Good, Get Good, Do Bad, Get Bad.

Grace above the Law

But this changes in the New Testament. And here is the main point of this sermon. There is an enormous difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament because in the New Testament, we have the operation of Grace. The New Testament is the way of Jesus. Yes, there is the law. But he builds on the law. He builds on the way of Moses. And he adds something new. He adds Grace.

Ancient Hatred

In our reading from Luke, we see Grace at work. We see forgiveness, love and mercy. Recall that between the ancient Jewish people and the Samaritans, there was a huge division. Jews hated the Samaritans, and Samaritans hates Jews. And this hatred went way back. The history here is complicated. Let’s just say that it was old hatred, going back to the days of the lost tribes, Ancient Babylon, and before Babylon, to Ancient Assyria.
The Samaritans lived near and around Palestine. But Jews would not walk on Samaritan land. Jews would travel miles and miles to avoid Samaritan territory. Keeping this in mind, let’s look at the story.

The Good Samaritan

The story begins with a reference to the Law. An expert in the Law asks Jesus a question. And Jesus quotes directly from Deuteronomy. Jesus is not throwing out the Law. The Law still applies. But Jesus wants to build on it; to add something new.

So when the expert in the Law presses Jesus for more information, there is an opportunity, a teaching moment, a moment for Jesus to show the man this new thing, this new addition. Loving God involves more than simply obeying the Law to love God. Jesus makes this real. He puts a human face on it. “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
“Who is my neighbor?” the lawyer asks. And here we have the story of the Good Samaritan. The key to this story is this: the Samaritan was moved with compassion.
In the Good Samaritan parable, we are asked to think about who a neighbor is. In the story, the lawyer asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” But this is not really a question– the man doesn’t really want an answer. He wants to justify helping some people and not others, so he asks, “Who is my neighbor?” In other words, “Who am I supposed to help?” But this is not a sincere question. It’s an invitation to a debate. We have to look behind his question. Why is he asking this? What is his intention? Some questions are sincere, but all too often, there are hidden agendas. What is the intention? What do we really want? Why are we really asking this question?

In his reply, Jesus changes the question from “Who is my neighbor?” (Who am I supposed to help?) to “Who is the neighbor?” (Who is the one who is helpful?) Jesus asks the question the lawyer should have asked. And the answer is, “The person who is helpful is the one who shows mercy.” The point is not to try to figure out who is or isn’t a neighbor to be helped, but rather, who is the neighbor who helps.

Love your neighbor as yourself. And who is my neighbor? Who is NOT my neighbor. EVERYONE is my neighbor. We are not separate. We are one human family. The one who helps is the one who shows mercy.

This is more than the Law. The Samaritan was moved by the basic goodness of the human heart, the heart of compassion, this heart that we all have. He was not thinking. He did not think calculating thoughts, “Oh, there is a man in the ditch, beaten and left to die, I wonder if he is Jewish or Samaritan? No, he only saw the man, lying there, bleeding, hurting, with no one to help him. And he was MOVED WITH COMPASSION.

When we are moved with compassion, it happens in our heart. It happens deep in the gut. It’s a feeling. And it’s very powerful. And it has nothing to do with thinking. It just happens. It hits you. Like a punch in the stomach. OH! This is the way old hatred is healed. Hatred is healed through love and compassion.

To summarize, in the Old Testament we see a contract based on law. But in the New Testament, we see the addition of grace and mercy, love and compassion. The Good Samaritan illustrates this way of compassion, the way of Jesus, the way of Grace, and the way of Mercy. Who is the neighbor? Who is the helper? The one who shows mercy.

And Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.” This is the Jesus way.

Amen? Amen.