How to Read What is Written

US President Donald Trump once brought a Bible to a campaign rally. When asked whether he prays to Jesus for forgiveness, he said, "I don't bring Jesus into my issues. I correct my mistakes and then move on." People can quote from the scripture any time anywhere to fit their need at a given time. In the gospel of Matthew (Chapter 10:25) we read about an expert in the Jewish law who stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus responded to him with two questions: “what is written and how do you read it ?”. The man replied that one should love God, and love his neighbor as himself. One statment was concerning God (Deuteronomy 6:5); the second was concerning the neighbor quoted from Leviticus 19:18. His knowledge in the Jewish law was evident in his answers. Jesus said he answered correctly. To justify himself he went on asking the big question. “Who is my neighbor?” So Jesus tells him the parable of the good samaritan. A Samaritan made his way down to Jericho and encountered a wounded Jew lying alongside the road. Others had hurried by, too busy with their own affairs to be interrupted. But the Samaritan, who was hated by the Jews and who would be expected to pass by, “had compassion.” He “bandaged his wounds, set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. Who do you think was the good neighbor?” (Luke 10:33-34).

Reading the scripture and understanding the meaning are two different things. Many people have difficulty in Mathematics when comes to word problems. Maria has 24 marbles which is 8 fewer than Pablo has. How many marbles does Pablo have? If we were to only focus on using key words, "fewer than" is a signal to subtract we get the wrong answer. Many students may immediately make the conclusion that the answer is 16, but the correct answer is 32. The difference is between knowing the meaning of the words "fewer than" and using "fewer than" as a key to a mathematical operation. When it comes to religious laws and doctrines, you have to read them and understand them properly in the context. We have numerous versions of Bible available today like King James, New King James, NIV, CEV, RSV, NRSV and a long list of others. But regardless of the version one uses the message will be the same.

In John 3:10 Jesus said to Nicodemus “You are Israel’s teacher and do you not understand these things?". Such leaders wore one of the phylacteries on foreheads and wrists. These phylacteries were little leather boxes that contained small parchment rolls of Jewish scripture carved on them. This is done so that they have immediate access to the law when they need it. Today with the advancement of communications and the internet Bible is available instantaneously anywhere at any time. Many people quote the Bible without checking if they are in the Bible. A Bible Study group was given a list of statements to identify if any of them are from the Bible. 1. God helps those who help themselves. 2 Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. 3 Money is the root of all evil . 4 Honesty is the best policy. None of them got the answer correctly. Only the second quote is from the Bible (Job 5:7).

The question the man asked Jesus was an assumptive question. He assumed in the question that a person can receive eternal life by doing certain things. Jesus said the parable to teach that it is not about 'doing' but about 'becoming'. One has to become a good neighbor first to do the actions that followed. The good samaritans were considered to be outcasts by the Jews, yet became the good neighbor to the Jewish man in need. We tend to help people in our circles that we are comfortable with; circles with vested interest or circles we can relate with easily. We draw circles around us and decide who to let in who to be kept out. But God’s love is all inclusive. Edwin Markham, an American poet and educator wrote in his poem outwitted, “ He drew a circle that shut me out, Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win, we drew a circle that took him in!” Instead of narrowing circles, followers of Jesus draw bigger and bigger circles to take others inside.

There are three groups in the story of the Good Samaritan. The first group is the robbers who look for opportunity to expolit others. They consider 'what is yours is mine too and I can take it from you'. They are driven by greed and envy. In a competitive society it is very easy to fall into such attitude. Before helping someone, they ask “what am I getting out of this?". It could be financial, social or even a motive to earn a member to the local church. The second group is the The Priest and the Levite, who find a need and treat it as a trouble to avoid. They consider 'what is mine is mine, and I will keep it to myself'. They were driven by selfishness like the man who prayed, “Lord bless me and my wife, my son Johnny and his wife-we four and no more”. Our lives are so much self centered that we miss the wounded and the needy. The organized churches tend to seek influence and power and miss the mission. The third group is like the Samaritan who finds a need as an opportunity to serve. They are driven by the love and compassion and consider 'what is mine is yours too, I will share it'.

Jesus said, "Love your enemies, and do good to them expecting nothing in return." (Luke 6:5). We are given opportunities every day to tend to the sick, to care for the neglected, to comfort the lonely and be a helping friend to wounded social outcasts like murderes, drug addicts, criminals of various kinds. Our news papers and online media publish names of convicts so that the society can avoid them. Our neighborhood committees frown up on them. As people of God, (The Church), we are called to draw bigger circles than the circles of the pharisees and the world. Christ’s compassion reaches out to such people so that they can be restored, and feel fit in. God’s will comes to us in strange ways, often in the form of interruptions. These are opportunities that God is sending on our way to serve those in need—to listen well, to show love, to help them on their journey toward a closer relationship with God. One early Christian writer, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, said, “Love is the duty of the present moment.” No matter what else we may have planned, love is our duty.

Blessings