The Good Samaritan(s)

Luke 10:30-35English Standard Version (ESV)

30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him.35 And the next day he took out two denarii[a] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

"The parable of the Good Samaritan is actually a clever adaptation of the story of the good Samaritans, told in 2 Chronicles."

2 Chronicles 28:6-15English Standard Version (ESV)

6 For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. 7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son and Azrikam the commander of the palace and Elkanah the next in authority to the king.

8 The men of Israel took captive 200,000 of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. 9 But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage that has reached up to heaven. 10 And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God? 11 Now hear me, and send back the captives from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.”

12 Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war 13 and said to them, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the Lord in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” 14 So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly.15 And the men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, provided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

"Most of the details of the details that make up the storyline of the parable in Luke 10 parallel or correspond to details in the story of the good Samaritans in 2 Chronicles: (1) Just as the Judahites suffered violence, so the (presumed) Jewish man on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho suffered violence.... (2) Because some of the Judahites were naked and needed clothing, we may infer that they had been stripped after being overpowered in battle.  Likewise, the attacked man in the parable was stripped. (3) Just as the Judahites were 'anointed,' which we should infer had to do with medical attention, so also the wounded man in the parable was anointed. (4) Just as the feeble Judahites were carried on donkeys, so the wounded man of the parable was carried on an animal (probably a donkey, it would have been assumed). (5) Just as the Judahites were taken to Jericho, to their 'kinfolk,' so the wounded man of the parable was taken to Jericho and left in care of a fellow Jew. (6) Just as the good Samaritans returned to Samaria, so (we may infer) the good Samaritan of the parable returned to his home in Samaria."

Craig A. Evans.  "The Parable of the Good Samaritan: When Enemies Become Neighbors." The City. Summer 2015: 35-42. 

The borrowed tomb

Matthew 27:59-60English Standard Version (ESV)

59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.

"In a family tomb..., a body would be stretched out on the shelf until it had been completely decayed.  Then the living would return, the tomb would be reopened, the bones would be collected and stored in the little rear hallway, leaving the shelf empty for the next in line to die." -- N. D. Wilson, Death by Living

In first-century Judaism, Jesus really could have "borrowed" Joseph's new tomb.  Without the intervention of the resurrection, his body would have been left to decay, then put in a bone box and returned to his family or followers, leaving the storage area of the new tomb to be used by Joseph of Arimathea and his family.

Another plague of locusts

Joel 2:7-8English Standard Version (ESV)

7 Like warriors they charge;
    like soldiers they scale the wall.
They march each on his way;
    they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another;
    each marches in his path;
they burst through the weapons
    and are not halted.

"The day after this which was the third day since they came, the grasshoppers began to walk toward the west.  Every one was walking in the same direction like an army.  They did not stop nor go around anything but went straight on over or through whatever they came to.  They came to the east side of the house walked up it, over the roof and down the other side.  There was an open window up stairs on the east side and those that came to the window walked on in.  There were hundreds of them in the room when Ma thought of it and ran to shut the window.  Pa tried with a stick to turn some of them, but they wouldn't go a step in any direction except west.

When they came to the creek, they walked out on the water and drowned.  Others came up and walked out on the drowned ones, until they drowned too, when others walked out over them until finally the creek was choked with drowned grasshoppers and others walked safely across on the bodies."

-- Laura Ingalls Wilder, Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography (Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2014), 81.

A plague of locusts

Exodus 10:15 English Standard Version (ESV)

15 They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, andthey ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

"They ate every green thing, the garden, the grass, the leaves on the trees.  Our chickens ate grasshoppers until they would eat no more.  The fish in the creek ate all they could hold.  Everywhere we stepped we mashed grasshoppers and they crawled up under our skirts and down the backs of our necks." 

-- Laura Ingalls Wilder, Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography (Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society Press, 2014), 79.

Qualifications for ministry

1 Timothy 3:6 English Standard Version (ESV)

6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

A cautionary tale: A look back to a story from 2000 about an abortion business operator who was rushed into the Christian pro-life spotlight and crumbled under pressure

There's a lot in the epistles shaming believers who don't move from milk to meat in their spiritual growth, but one shouldn't deny a period of time before weaning.  Later in 1 Timothy, Paul urges Timothy, "Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands" (5:22), and deacons have to go through a period of testing before they are appointed (3:10).  To rush recent converts into leadership roles does no favor either to them or to the Church.

Salvation and "family values"

1 Timothy 2:15 New International Version (NIV)

15 But women[a] will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

"...now that our kids are out of the early years of diapers and naptimes, out of the constant cycle of ear infections and throw-up bugs, out of car seats and high chairs and strollers—I see that the journey into typical motherhood offered its own narrative of change and growth, of breaking me apart, only to transform me yet again. It offered a call to sacrifice, even if it was simply a sacrifice of time and physical endurance. Sacrifice is always a form of hardship, and yet when it emerges out of love, it has the power to make us new." -- Amy Julia Becker, "Ordinary Moms, Everyday Heroes"

Graven images

While I emphatically don't condone the destruction of ancient artifacts, when I saw this news item, I couldn't help but think of the oracle of Nahum against Ninevah and the King of Assyria:

Nahum 1:14English Standard Version (ESV)

14 The Lord has given commandment about you:
    “No more shall your name be perpetuated;
from the house of your gods I will cut off    the carved image and the metal image.
I will make your grave, for you are vile.”

In fairness to ISIS, they're right about one thing: They are symbols of idolatry.  How old does something have to be before it stops being an abomination and starts being an artifact?  (To answer my own question, when no one actually worships an idol anymore, it's hard to argue that anything evil clings to it.  After all, it's not the stone or metal that's objectionable but the way people ascribe worth to it.)

Sheep, coins, and sons

Luke 15:4English Standard Version (ESV)

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners andeats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable:4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?"

Luke 15:8English Standard Version (ESV)

The Parable of the Lost Coin

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?"

Luke 15:11English Standard Version (ESV)

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons."

Jesus begins his linked parables with one sheep lost out of one hundred, moves on to one coin lost out of ten, and ends with one son of two lost.  Compare Abraham's bargaining with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah:

Genesis 18:22-33English Standard Version (ESV)

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

22 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.”30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.”32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Abraham begins by asking for mercy for fifty righteous men, then moves to forty-five, forty, thirty, and twenty, before bargaining God down to ten.  In both cases, men are assuming that they can draw a line between "righteous men" and "sinners."  But the point of the parable of the prodigal son is that neither son is righteous.  The older son proves just as self-centered and disrespectful as the younger.  Abraham and the Pharisees both presume that there are a certain number of "righteous" men to whom to contrast the "sinners," but the truth is that all are lost and in need of a forgiving Savior.