[Please read this posting knowing I post it now because of the ongoing warfare in Israel, due to terror acts by Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinians (et al) and the surrounding and supportive Arab-Muslim world against Judeo-Christians that has long been the 'hell on earth' found in the Middle East. The warfare in Ukraine is also a reflection of this lesson. To Christians who raise the proverbial sword over the necks of Christians who "do not stand" blindly with Israel, or with Ukraine, or with the millions pouring freely into the United States illegally, with no one trying to defend against that, this lesson is most important to learn. The world is, has been, and always will be where evil exists. Evil can only exist in the world. To find one's "inheritance of eternal life" means to learn the truth of this lesson. Then all the evil of the world will be incapable of harming one's soul.]
The question posed by the “certain lawyer” asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
The question was in the future indicative active, first person singular, meaning the question was not what does everybody have to do to be assured of going to heaven, but how will I know when I have made that assured in my future.
The verb written in the Greek (poiēsas) is actually stated in the aorist active participle form, as “having done,” so the lawyer was (again) not concerned with the past acts of anyone else, but his own past acts.
The focus of this “test” question was then centered on this man (“certain” meant he claimed to be a disciple of Jesus – his “Teacher” or “Didaskale” – even though he was a Mosaic “lawyer” or “nomikos”) was to get Jesus to tell him what he thought he already knew.
He thought he was already assured to “inherit eternal life,” because he had become a very wealthy man (at a young age) from knowing the Bible [then only the ‘Old Testament’].
This makes everyone, at all times, who cannot tell others simply and plainly, “You are guaranteed to inherit eternal life because …”, keeping others from ever asking this question about himself or herself, be a reflection of someone who is not assured of inheriting eternal life.
This is known because Jesus did not tell the “certain lawyer” (thus everybody like him, forevermore), “Well brother, YOU are! Why ask such a question? You know how much you gave to the Temple last year. You know how many ten year old boys you taught to memorize the Psalms. You know how many times you stood up in synagogue and read aloud from the scrolls, meaning you speak Hebrew well; and, you know you always tell others what I, your Teacher, tell you, because you believe in me.”
Because Jesus did not give that answer, none of that brings any assurance of eternal salvation for a soul.
Jesus had the man asking the question give the answer from what he spent so much time memorizing; and, his memorization of Scripture meant Scripture holds the true answer, which he said to Jesus:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ [from Deuteronomy 6:5]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [from Leviticus 19:18]”
Here, when Jesus said to do as the ‘Good Book’ says to do [not what Jesus said to do] – “Do this and you will live.” – the reason the “certain lawyer” next asked, “And who is my neighbor?” is because (being a smart man), the “certain lawyer” saw a conundrum, a paradox his mind struggled to unravel, which was this:
How is it possible to give all (“holē”) one’s Love (“Agapēseis”) to the Lord your God and still have any left over for anyone or anything other than the Lord your God?
This is why it says the “certain lawyer [he] wanted to justify himself.”
The Greek word dikaiōsai is written, rooted from dikaioó, as the aorist infinitive active that matches the previous “having done” element of his question about “I inherit eternal life.” The smart “lawyer” wanted to make sure he had previously understood what he memorized in the ‘Bible,’ so he wanted to make sure he “proved his righteousness,” by “defending the cause of righteousness.”
He saw the difficulty in having more Love than is humanly possible.
Therefore, having asked “How can I be assured of eternal life,” knowing how easy it was to say, “I Love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, strength, [and last in the pecking order] mind,” the clarification now demanded him to know [a brain thing for smart people]:
“And who is my neighbor?”
This is where the Divine Word overtook Luke, such that he wrote the truth in a way that normal Greek syntax cannot capture it. What the “certain lawyer” next said was this:
“Importantly [like an aside, not a conjunction uttered] … certain [the same tis used to describe the lawyer] it exists of me neighbor?"
The important follow-up wanted Jesus to tell him: If more Love was available beyond that given completely to the Lord my God, then tell me who exists in my world that qualifies as a neighbor [plēsion, meaning “near, neighboring, nearby, a neighbor”].
Jesus stood there in front of this man asking this question that wanted to defend the cause of Leviticus 19:18. The Hebrew of that verse uses rea [transliterated as “lə·rê·‘ă·ḵā”], which means “your friend, companion, fellow.” It gets translated as “neighbor” because a “friend, companion, fellow” is not a family relation, but an outsider that is welcomed as such. The “certain lawyer” could not see Jesus as his neighbor. Jesus was his "Teacher" and "Master" ... at least as far as the "certain lawyer" addressed Jesus.
Here, again, the same obviousness stares every would-be Christian in the face, as every would-be Christian asks the exact same question: Who is my neighbor?
The VAST majority of them see Jesus as the “Teacher,” not a “friend, companion, fellow.”
Jesus is not going to tell the “certain lawyer,” nor any would-be Christians, “You have to be ME reborn.” The “certain lawyer” was Nicodemus (by the way) and when Jesus told him that (when the two first met) Nicodemus thought he meant to get back in his momma’s belly and be born again as a full-grown man.
That is not being “born again from above,” where anōthen means “from heaven.” Heaven is not a physical place. It is spiritual. We all know the spiritual as the soul giving life to a body of flesh. For being “born again" to mean "with another soul” (one "from the spiritual above the spiritual soul") is hard for people like Nicodemus to understand.
Since Jesus had already said to Nicodemus, “You call yourself a teacher of Israel but you do not understand such spiritual things,” he wasn’t going to give Nicky any new direct insights.
[Hint: A minimum for being a teacher of “Israel” means knowing “Israel” means “Who Retains El,” where El is another soul joined with one’s soul, making one be one “Who Retains Jesus Near.” "Israel" did not mean the dirt the two then stood on, which at that time went by the name "Judea," a Roman province. Those being taught there would be Jews, not "Israelites." Those calling themselves "teachers" (like a "certain lawyer") were "teachers of Jews," not "teachers of Israel." "Israelites" are then those souls "Who Retain El," as those souls "born again from above."]
So, Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan.
To keep this short, here are the bullet points of that lesson given by the “Teacher” to the disciple [everyone who is like a “certain lawyer” named ‘Victory boy.’
· Robbers are sinners. [They are Satan's little helpers, who love beating the souls out of human flesh - selling them to evil ways - leaving them with nothing of value. Robbers are those whose souls have been forever lost.]
· Jesus is the man robbed. [Think about his arrest, trial, beatings and crucifixion.]
· Half-dead means dead physically, with the spiritual ‘half’ freed from a body of flesh to divinely possess one who will ‘come to Jesus’ (not talk about a man one heard about that lived long ago, who they believe in).
· The priest and the Levite are those like the “certain lawyer” Nicodemus, as they serve a building and an organization, where the “love” [lower-case means worldly emotions that change with the wind] being dressed in fancy robes, hanging out with those who think like them, while getting rich off po folk who want to know the truth, and telling those who don’t think like them what Jesus said to do.
· To go to the other side of the road means to keep their souls far away from divine possession by the soul of Jesus.
· The Samaritan means every loser the world has ever known, who reached the depths of despair and begged Yahweh for Salvation.
· The Samaritan finding Jesus half-dead in the road means his prayers were answered AND he knew that.
· The caring for the half-dead man means the soul of Jesus led the soul of the Samaritan to do Good; and, Good is only done by Yahweh.
· The promise to come back and repay all debts is the lesson of forgiveness, where only Yahweh forgives sins.
Jesus asking the “certain lawyer” which of the three was the neighbor of the half-dead “Man” (from a capitalized Anthrōpos, as the “son of Man”), the correct answer was “the one who showed compassion” (or “mercy”). While not saying the word “Samaritan,” the answer to the question “Who is my neighbor?” was him (Nicky, a "certain lawyer") stopping his self-worshiping ways and joining with the soul of Jesus. His soul (Nicky's) had to first become the wife of Yahweh, submitting totally (all his heart, soul, strength, and mind), so Yahweh would impregnate His wife soul with ALL Hs Love in return (the purpose of marriage). All His Love is the soul named Jesus ("YAH Saves"), so the assurance of "eternal inheritance" comes by his (Nicky and all like Nicky) being Saved by Yahweh (the meaning of the name “Jesus”).
Thus, the Love of Yahweh is when one marries one’s soul to Yahweh’s Spirit [true Baptism by the Spirit] AND then Loves Yahweh with ALL that comes when Jesus’ soul as one’ Lord, as your El. One's soul is then "Who Retains El" ("Israel") forevermore. One "inherits" Salvation from the Father, by becoming the Son "born again from above." (A Saving soul added to a souls in a body of flesh that does not look like historic Jesus ... as a soul's neighbor within.)
The guarantee of inheriting eternal life comes when one has been “born again from above,” with a second soul that divinely possesses one’s soul, becoming that soul’s Lord.
When that Spiritual change takes place, one no longer asks “How can I be assured of inheriting eternal life,” because one has become “Israel,” as one “Who Retains El” – Jesus reborn.
Because Jesus is the manifestation of ALL LOVE possible for one soul to give to Yahweh, being reborn as Jesus means ALL one's LOVE has been surrendered unto Yahweh. As Yahweh's servant-wife, one does as Moses had written by becoming Jesus reborn in one’s flesh … alongside one’s saved soul.
Taking this lesson and applying it to the Middle East turmoil says the road to Jericho leads away from servitude to Yahweh (the body as the Temple in a New Jerusalem), towards the world of sin. Those who pretend to be righteous (the two Jews who passed by on the other side) were not priests reborn in the name of Jesus. The Samaritan is symbolic of the Palestinians, whose land has been robbed, leaving them half-dead, still where they always have been, but like road kill in the middle of the road to worldly sin. The Jews are like the "certain lawyer," whose grandious imagination of self-worth has then steal land and rename it "Israel." Jesus then says to them, "You call yourselves teachers of those "Who Retain El" within their souls, when you do not understand any spiritual matters, well shame on you for calling your land Israel when it should be Stolen Jew Dirt." To avoid becoming Jesus reborn from above within their souls means to support the robbers, rather than the innocent, no matter how low they may be on the world power ranking list. To be reborn from above as true Israelites means the Jews would rise to become true Christians and go to the aid of the Palestinians. To put them up at the inn would mean to give them back their land, being willing to pay all costs for that healing. Of course, that would mean Jews (as new Christians) finding a new place to call home.
The solution, as far as the United States of America (calling its Samaritan self Christian, when far from it) is concerned, is to give the new Israelites all the land along the Rio Grand River, including all of California, Oregon and Washington state (possibly Hawaii) free and clear. Just imagine how many illegal aliens would make it through that zone, without being converted into true Christians themselves, who would them immediately return to where they came (or be slaughtered by those with a reborn from above Ark of the Covenant.
One thing is certain. The world is headed for a bloodbath, simply because nobody understands the lesson of the Good Samaritan.
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