Proper 10 – Year C
Sermon Notes from the Church’s Ministry Among Jewish People
RCL Readings[1] – Deuteronomy 30:9-14; Psalm 25:1-10; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37
ACNA Readings – Deuteronomy 30:9-14; Psalm 25; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37
Seasonal Introduction. This season is often called “Ordinary Time,” a term derived from ordinal, meaning “numbered” or “in sequence.” However, there is nothing ordinary about this time. Rather, it is a time when we may reflect on how God (starting on Trinity Sunday and ending with Christ the King Sunday) has been at work in our own lives, the lives of his people, and how he will continue to work in the days to come. Ordinary Time is a season when we are invited to perceive the mystery of God at work in our daily lives, in the ordinary, in the mundane.
Common Theme. Our faith is to be walked out in faithfulness, not merely believed in our hearts, but expressed through love, mercy, and a life shaped by God’s word.
Hebraic Context. Samaria (שמרון, Shomron) and the Samaritans are easily confused with one another. The one is a region and city in the territory of the sons of Joseph—specifically Manasseh—while the other is an ethno-religious people who also lived in the tribal allotment of Manasseh. This geographical closeness is important in the Biblical story.
Israel was a patriarchal and tribal society through the time of the Judges. David and Solomon were able to unite the tribes of Israel into a nation through war, administration, and taxes. However, the manner in which Solomon taxed the new nation was not fair as he gave favor to Judah. When his son, Rehoboam, threatened to enslave the northern tribes they rebelled.[2] Israel was split into the southern kingdom, Judah (and Benjamin), under David’s dynastic line, and the northern kingdom, Ephraim and Manasseh (along with the remaining tribes).
However, a series of coups crippled the northern kingdom until Omri was able to establish a dynasty that lasted half a century. Omri, after assuming the throne through another coup and regicide, moved his capital to Shomron—Samaria. From here, the Omride dynasty and, later, the house of Jehu could match Judah in power, sometimes as allies and sometimes as enemies.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel was notorious for their disobedience towards the God of their forefathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not a single king was considered good or followed in the steps of David, rather they followed in the path of Jeroboam I—who made idolatry a state sponsored event. And yet there is one time that the northern kingdom was obedient to God. It was at Shomron that one of the most unique stories in the Bible is found.
II Chronicles 28:1–15 recalls a war involving Judah, Damascus, and Israel. But instead of Judah and Israel allying against Damascus, Israel turns on Judah in a surprising act of betrayal and allies with Damascus. Israel was victorious over Judah and with victory, the men of Samaria took men, women, and children—numbering 200 large companies of Judeans—along with all of their possessions as spoils.
God confronted this sin through a prophet, “Have you not sins of your own against the LORD your God? 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.” Deuteronomy 24:7 is clear that anyone who takes a fellow Israelite to be a slave is to be treated as a thief. Additionally, Leviticus 25:47-55 became an important principle as Israelites who were enslaved were supposed to be redeemed by their brothers—not further enslaved.[3] Amazingly, there were chiefs in Ephraim who “stood up against those who were coming from the war.” They took possession of the men, women, and children of Judah to return them to freedom.
II Chronicles gave a specific sequence of events in the story. First they clothed the naked, then they provided them with food and drink. They also anointed them (סוך, suk)—likely for medicinal purposes—and finally they put them on their own donkeys and brought them to Jericho. These chiefs immediately returned to Samaria, showing that they took their own time and effort, travelling 200 kilometers (a week’s travel even without the injured and the children) in obedience to God.
In response to his defeat, even as his people were returned from Samaria, the king of Judah, Ahaz, asked for help from the king of Assyria in defeating Israel—which marked the beginning of the end for Samaria. While Israel was not innocent in the war, this repayment of evil for good would not be easily forgotten.
Israel (and most of Judah) would soon fall to Assyria and many would be taken captive into exile. Those who remained in the region of Manasseh would continue to mix, both religiously and ethnically, with the foreigners who settled there. Around 275 years later, in the time of Nehemiah, the Samaritans would be well-established in the region.
The Samaritans rejected the prophetic and historical Scriptures in favor of keeping the Books of Moses. They had developed their own dialect and culture apart from both Jerusalem and Babylonian Judaism. They established their own cultic worship and temple on Mount Gerizim, rejecting Jerusalem entirely as the place Deuteronomy 12:5-6 spoke of, “the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put His name and make His habitation there.”[4]
As Jerusalem and Judea re-established their dominance over the land of Israel—from the time of Nehemiah through the Hasmonean kingdom—the Samaritans and Judeans continued to clash. In 110 BCE, this culminated in a military campaign under the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus I, who destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim. This deepened the animosity between the two groups, which continued into the first centuries and the time of Jesus.
Deuteronomy 30:9-14. Deuteronomy starts by reminding the people that they had been disobedient—they had chosen fear of man rather than fear of God. The Ten Commandments were given to the people of Israel to both “learn them and be careful to do them.”[5] But where the people had disobeyed, not entering the land of Canaan, they (or rather, their children) were given a second chance.[6]
The words God commanded Israel to remember—in their hearts and on their lips—center on this: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”[7] They were to teach these words diligently to their children, that they might fear God in obedience when they enter the land promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Deuteronomy must not be divorced from its context. Many of the commandments, warnings, blessings, and curses revolve around the land of Canaan—the land promised to Israel should they walk in love of God.
Moses, in his final words to Israel, reminds them that God delights in prospering them. But that delight comes when they obey—“to keep His commandments and His statutes… when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Torah. Obedience. Law. Commandments. Statutes. Does God’s delight in us depend on keeping these—demands that some say are impossible to obey? One common argument leveled against God today is this: that a loving God would not demand blind obedience as a condition for His love. This objection seems understandable; for Scripture is clear that when we do not walk in obedience to Him, our actions are abominable to Him.
But obedience to God is good. It is also “not too hard for you”. God did not hide what He requires, keeping it in a heaven we cannot hope to reach or beyond a chaotic sea that kills all who try to cross it.[8] He came and told us what is good. When we don’t walk in obedience to Him, our actions are abominable—greed, murder, war, pain. When we walk in obedience to Him, we care for the young and the elderly, the sick and the forgotten. We steward creation with wisdom and mercy. To love God is to walk in His ways.
God’s delight in His people will be like the delight He took in their fathers. Genesis 26:5 states that “Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” But we also know that Abraham failed to love his neighbor several times, feared man, and acted in opposition to what God had told him. God is not a god who gives one chance and then destroys—but neither does He delight in sin.
Psalm 25:1-10.[9] Psalm 25 is a personal lament of David,[10] in which he pleads for God’s help while actively waiting on Him. David shapes this psalm as an acrostic poem[11] that moves between stanzas appealing for help and declarations of trust. On one side stands God—offering His path, His forgiveness, and His redemption—and on the other stands David, falling short yet seeking God. David seeks assistance, instruction, salvation, and forgiveness in the face of life’s troubles—troubles that persist because we, like the rest of the world, so often fail to walk in God’s ways or live according to His truth. Though composed centuries ago, David’s prayer still resonates with our own experiences.
David uses Hebraic parallelism to highlight the contrast between those who wait on the Lord and those who act treacherously. Those who wait will not be put to shame, while the treacherous will. In Psalm 25:4-5, David describes those who wait as people who walk in God’s ways and truth. In contrast, Psalm 25:6-7 reflects on a time when David failed to wait and needed God’s mercy and pardon.
Waiting, קוה (qavah), is an active verb in Hebrew. ‘To wait’ is linked with other verbs such as “to look” in Job 6:19 or “be strong and take courage” in Psalm 27:14. In modern terms, a “waiter” doesn’t spend the whole day idle—a good waiter is alert, attentive, and ready to act. If waiting were truly passive, Isaiah 40:31 wouldn’t describe those who wait on the Lord as mounting up with wings like eagles, running without growing weary, and walking without fainting. In Scripture, waiting is not resignation—it is endurance in expectation.
When David prays, “Show me Your ways,” he is asking for more than information—he desires divine instruction to live rightly. We often affirm that God's Word is wise and trustworthy, yet we forget that it calls us to act. Romans 8:28 is frequently quoted, “All things work together for good.” Psalm 25:10 provides us similar optimism as we hear, “All the paths of the LORD are loving and true.” We may lack understanding of the present tribulations we are going through but knowing God is in control can give us hope. David had already received God’s grace and trusted that He would deliver him again.
But just as Romans 8:28 continues, “for those who are called according to His purpose” Psalm 25:10 continues in saying “for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies”. God’s steadfast love and truth are covenantal—they are assured to those who respond in faith and obedience.
Much of David’s lament was not caused by enemies ignorant of God, His paths, and His covenant—rather it was because of those who knew God and yet chose disobedience. David includes himself in that guilt and pleads for pardon. We, too, carry guilt; the law shows how far short we fall from God's ways. But God makes even His secrets known to those who love Him,[12] those who fear Him, and those who wait on Him.
We must not mistake God’s love for a life without tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword.[13] God’s love was shown through Jesus’ death. If we love God, we too may be called to walk in obedience, even if that obedience leads to hardship—or death. Yet even in our distress, we can turn to God and plead that He redeem with steadfast love and faithfulness.
Colossians 1:1-14.[14] When Paul urges believers to “pray without ceasing,” he demonstrates this relationship throughout his ministry. We often focus on the doctrinal content of his letters, but overlook how deeply his theology flows out of prayer. His intercession and thanksgiving for the Colossians are not peripheral; it shapes and saturates his message. The doctrine he proclaims is rooted in the prayers he offers for them.
Psalm 119:164 proclaims, “Seven times a day I praise you.” During the Second Temple period, this spirit of constant devotion in prayer shaped daily Jewish prayer life. The Shema was recited twice daily, “when you lie down and when you rise.” Other prayers, like the Amidah, were offered three times a day—morning, afternoon, and evening.[15] Blessings were spoken throughout the day, acknowledging God's presence in every detail of life. In this tradition, Paul likewise does “not cease to pray” and give thanks—for the Colossians and to God.[16]
Not only does Paul demonstrate his faith through his actions—through his prayer—but the Colossians and Epaphras also demonstrate their faith through action. Even the gospel bears fruit, demonstrating through action the word of truth. The faith of the Colossians is shown through their love for all the saints. And as the saints from Colossae increase their knowledge of God, they “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work.” In this, Paul brings together two central themes of Second Temple Judaism: walking and bearing fruit.
Faith, in Paul’s theology, is not static; it is lived out—halachah, the Jewish concept of walking in God’s ways. Luke, Paul, James, and John all use the idea of halachah extensively in their writing. It is not enough to know that God gives rain to the righteous and unrighteous alike—this should lead to us going out and feeding all who are hungry. It is not enough to know that God delivered Israel from Egypt—we should show love and be hospitable to foreigners in need. When Paul commends the Colossians for their love of the saints, it cannot simply be that they have a feeling of friendship and communion for their brothers and sisters.
Paul’s second theme—bearing fruit—goes back to Genesis. When God created the world, all creatures were to bear fruit and multiply—plants, fish of the sea, birds of the air, and every animal on the earth. Anything that does not bear fruit is good for nothing and destined for removal or destruction. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Jesus all make this argument.[17] If the Colossians had heard the gospel and walked away unchanged, Paul’s prayer would have been very different.
In all of Paul’s prayers and the Colossians faithful walk, God and Jesus are central. Paul is not simply an apostle; he is “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” The very act of prayer should remind us that God is the one who “strengthens with all power.” God is the one who shares “the inheritance of the saints in light.” We live in the kingdom of Jesus, “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” God has given us the word of truth, and it is meant to bear fruit in every good work.
Luke 10:25–37. Jesus generally taught in the public forum. He often debated and provoked and was provoked in turn by other teachers, occasionally even condemning either their actions or their teachings. At other times, he would strengthen, encourage, and commend those who spoke and acted truthfully. Here, a lawyer approaches Jesus with a test. Travelling teachers were often tested in public. These tests helped reveal a teacher’s biases, theological knowledge, and orthodoxy. How Jesus answered the question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” would reveal much about Him.[18]
While the lawyer easily supplied one well-known answer—“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”—there were several other contemporary answers. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is an active God: He performs great miracles, saving thousands, but He also cares for individuals—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or visiting the sick.[19] According to various teachers of the time, life was not given merely to those who studied Torah or worshipped in word, but to those who worshipped God in truth—those who walk according to the attributes of God. This follows God’s constant command, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”[20] It was these small acts of charity that, in their view, brought life to those who practiced them.[21]
Another idea, popular and attested to during the Hasmonean period, was based on Daniel 12:2: the dead will awake, some to everlasting life. But who are those who will awake to everlasting life? In the 2nd century, the doctrine of the resurrection became practical as those who loved God with all their being and obeyed Him, even to the point of death, would receive everlasting life. II and IV Maccabees tell the stories of martyrs who lived and died in obedience to God—confident that they would obtain life in the world-to-come. Overarching all these beliefs, however, was the conviction that it is ultimately God who gives mercy and grace to the one who confesses: “If I stumble, the mercies of God shall be my eternal salvation. If I stagger because of the sin of flesh, my justification shall be by the righteousness of God which endures forever… that I may confess to God His righteousness, and His majesty to the Most High.”[22]
On another occasion, a lawyer again tested Jesus, asking, “Which is the great commandment in the law?”[23] Jesus answered precisely as this lawyer answered, and added, “on these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets”. It is no surprise, then, that Jesus commended the lawyer here . To love God and one’s neighbour encompasses all the other answers that might have been given.
But a second doctrine was commonly debated in the 1st centuries, “who is my neighbour?”. Some scholars taught that only fellow Israelites and God-fearing proselytes counted as neighbours, while others argued that all people should be considered a neighbour. The context of Leviticus 19—“you shall love your neighbor as yourself”—originally refers to “the sons of your own people”. Leviticus 19:33-34 makes it clear that this same love shown to a neighbour (Israelite) should also be shown to a stranger who lives in Israel. However, these strangers were often assumed to be proselytes who came to the land to worship God.[24] In argument to treat even Gentiles with love, Gittin 61a.5 states that poor Gentiles may glean from Israelite fields[25] and that the attributes and actions of God should be extended to Gentiles—sustaining the poor, visiting the sick, and burying the dead.[26]
The distinction between fellow saints and the rest of the world is also seen throughout the Epistles. Paul writes, “let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”[27] James and John are even more explicit about serving the saints, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”[28] The command Jesus gave His disciples was directed primarily toward their treatment of one another, not the rest of the world. Nonetheless, both Jesus and Paul return to God’s command in Exodus 23:4-5 to do good even to those who hate you.[29]
To answer the Lawyer’s second question, Jesus’ tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Luke 10:30-35, while very similar to a parable in structure, has several distinct features that disqualify it from being a traditional Hebraic parable. Parables (meshalim, in Hebrew) are a specific Jewish construct. (While other cultures also tell moral or instructive stories, these are not parables in the Hebraic sense). A parable is introduced as a parable and is always originally spoken or composed in Hebrew. Most importantly to the story of the Good Samaritan, they neither have specific names, places or real-world events—nor do they feature identifiable individuals.[30] This distinction matters: the very specificity of Jesus’ story highlights the debate surrounding who a neighbour is and Jesus’ response to the lawyer’s question.
The story takes place in the wilderness—a place without witnesses or law. From the time of David through the fall of the Temple, these lands were known to harbor rebels and thieves, evading official authority. While the Romans would not long tolerate banditry on such an important road, the rugged terrain still offered occasional refuge for the ill-intentioned.
The story takes place on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem—yet the hero is a Samaritan from the north. Jesus’ description recalls an earlier episode when Israel and Judah were at war, and the Samarians were the victors. In 2 Chronicles 28:8-15, the northern kingdom defeated Judah and took many captives. But a prophet was sent to remind the Samarians that the Judeans were their kin. In response, the captives were clothed, given sandals, fed, and anointed. The weak were placed on donkeys and brought to Jericho. In Jesus’ own time, it was Judea that fought and defeated the Samaritans—but again it was the Samaritan who acted to save his brother, the Judean.
According to the Rabbis, Jericho was the choicest portion of the land.[31] The Hasmonean priest-kings certainly saw her importance as they clamined it for themselves and built a palace in Jericho. Not only was Jericho an oasis on several major trade routes, it was also the final stop for many pilgrims en route to the festivals in Jerusalem.
The Romans and Herod also recognized the importance of Jericho.Beyond its value as a trade hub—requiring the services of tax collectors like Zacchaeus—Jericho was famous throughout the Roman Empire for its abundant date palms and for a prized ointment made from a local balsam bush. This balsam was so valuable that Marc Antony gifted the city to Cleopatra. Herod later leased Jericho from the Romans and built a winter palace there that far outshone anything the Hasmoneans had constructed.[32]
Jericho was also home to many priests. Nehemiah 3 places the priests and men of Jericho side by side, and the priests became important residents of Jericho—working the fields and serving at the Temple. Philo mentions that part of the temple’s revenues were from landed estates and the plantations in Jericho.[33]
Sadly, some of these Priests were reprimanded in the Mishnah for their greed and mistreatment of the poor.[34] Their corruption was well known, both in Jewish and Gentilic writings. The Qumran community, located just down the road from Jericho, appears to have formed largely in reaction to priestly corruption. This reputation was widely known among the people of Israel. Jesus evidently considered this context important enough to abandon the neutral tone of a parable and offer something more direct—something deeply political and personal.
Despite the richly layered background, Jesus kept the story itself concise and simple.[35] He offered no explanation or excuse for the priest or the Levite. No background is given on the man, the robbers, or even the Samaritan. The point is starkly clear. Perhaps this lawyer was from Jericho and had actual Levitical priests as his neighbours.[36] But Jesus pressed him to answer: “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” The answer, obviously, was the Samaritan—the one who acted.
Jesus didn’t ask, “which of these three, do you think, is your neighbor?” Instead, in telling the story of the Good Samaritan, He not only answered the question “who is my neighbor?” but also returned to the lawyer’s original question: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” The command to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…and your neighbor as yourself” doesn’t, by itself, show what that love looks like.
After affirming that Deuteronomy 6:4 and Leviticus 19:18 answered the question, Jesus told him, “Do this, and you will live.” Then, through the story of the Good Samaritan, He gave a clear example of what love looks like—and reinforced His earlier command: “You go, and do likewise.” Jesus’ story didn’t merely define who the neighbor was; it was a call to action: to go and act in love.
Hebraic Perspective. In Deuteronomy 30:14, Moses declares that “the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it.” Paul quotes this verse in Romans 10:8, affirming that the Word of God is not distant or inaccessible—it is close, internalized, and meant to be acted upon.
In the Hebraic worldview, the heart was the center of thought, reason, and moral decision-making—what we would now associate with the mind or brain.[37] A person meditated in the heart and chose actions from that internal place. So when Scripture says the Word is “in your heart,” it speaks of something internalized, pondered, and ready to shape behavior. As Psalm 119:10 says, “With my whole heart I seek You; let me not wander from Your commandments.” The Word is not meant to remain distant or obscure—it is to be kept near, available for study, reflection, and obedience.
This emphasis is not only central to Torah but also to the teachings of Jesus. In the Gospels, when Jesus is asked about the Torah, He responds by asking, “How do you read it?”[38] The implication is not just intellectual comprehension, but attentiveness, nearness, and practical application. Reading is not enough—Scripture must be lived.
The biblical command is clear: the Word must be kept close—not just physically, but attentively—so that it may shape both thought and action. Unfortunately, in modern culture, the Bible is often neglected altogether. But even in those communities of faith where the Bible is regularly read and studied, the emphasis can often be on knowledge and an intellectual faith without a similar emphasis on obedience and practical faithfulness.
This emphasis on action ties directly into the parable Jesus tells in response to the questions, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” and “Who is my neighbor?” After affirming the lawyer’s correct answers, Jesus tells him, “Do this, and you will live.” The point is not only to know the commandment—but to do it.
Endnotes
[1] Alternative RCL readings: Amos 7:7-17; Psalm 82
[2] Solomon created two labor forces: one was a corvée of Israelites, conscripted seasonally for state building projects—demanding but typical in ancient monarchies; the other consisted of non-Israelite forced laborers held in permanent servitude (1 Kings 9:20–22). Jeroboam was appointed over the Israelite corvée (1 Kings 11:28) and became a popular leader. When Rehoboam threatened to increase their burden, he sent Adoniram, who had overseen the slave labor, to speak with them—an action likely seen as threatening the Israelites with a fate like that of Solomon’s slaves (1 Kings 12:18). This symbolic escalation helps explain why the response was so immediate and violent.
[3] Isaiah 58:5; Nehemiah 5:8
[4] Jerusalem was quite late in this connection to Deuteronomy 12, only appearing as such in the Davidic Psalms and Davidic temple. Before the Davidic selection of Jerusalem, earlier sacred sites like Shiloh, Gilgal, and the region around Mount Gerizim played significant roles in Israel’s worship.
[5] Deuteronomy 5
[6] Deuteronomy must not be divorced from its context. Many of the commandments, warnings, blessings, and curses revolve around the land of Canaan—the land promised to Israel should they walk in love of God.
[7] Deuteronomy 6:5
[8] Paul will later reframe Deuteronomy 30:12-13 in Romans 10:6-7 in light of Jesus, however Deuteronomy 30:12-13 seems to read in opposition to several common mythological stories (such as Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Jason and the Argonauts, etc) where the hero must travel far and in danger to acquire what the gods require of them.
[9] ACNA may include Psalm 25:11-22
[10] The genre of lament is common in the Book of Psalms, comprising the largest category of psalms. There are 42 individual psalms of lament and 16 national laments, which is more than a third of the book.
[11] Psalm 25 is also an acrostic poem, each line being well crafted and thought out expressions of truth beginning with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. David didn’t hold strictly to the abecedary acrostic as he skipped vav and qoph, while using an extended resh and ending with a second peh. David also skipped the vav in Psalm 34 while adding a second peh at the end. The final statement, פדה אלהים (Redeem, O God), may have been a common refrain.
[12] Psalm 25:14 uses the term “סוד” (sod, “secret”). But, just as in Deuteronomy 30:12-14, God brings it near and reveals it—He tells us what path we should choose.
[13] Romans 8:35
[14] While Colossae was largely Gentile, Paul is writing to the saints in Colossae—they are both Jewish and Gentile. Some of these Gentile believers may have already turned to the God of Israel through the testimony of their Jewish neighbours before hearing the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. Throughout the letter, Paul uses Hebrew Scriptures and patterns of thought that suggest at least some familiarity among his readers. Even his greeting replaces the standard Greco-Roman salutation (χαῖρε) with a uniquely Hebrew-Christian blessing: grace (χάρις) and peace from God.
[15] Cornelius, a Roman centurion, followed this example as he was specifically praying during the afternoon—or minchah—prayer when God gave him a vision.
[16] Paul also prayed for the people of Rome, Corinth, Ephesus and their neighbors, Philippi, and Thessalonica along with many individuals such as Philemon, Titus, and Timothy.
[17] Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15:1-8; Luke 3:9; Luke 13:6-9; Matthew 7:15-23, Matthew 13:19-30; John 15:2-6
[18] The belief that Scribes (γραμματευς, grammateus) and Lawyers (νομικος, nomikos) of the law were testing Jesus in order to harm Jesus can be seen by those who opposed Jesus in His ministry (such as in Mark 11:18, 27-33 and Mark 12:12-17). However, not every argument or test was in opposition to Jesus. It would actually be improper to allow a teacher to teach whatever they want without testing their knowledge and orthodoxy. A few simple questions that were common points of doctrinal division in that time would provide the quickest way to understand what someone would teach. We also know that both scribes and lawyers of the law followed Jesus, such as Zenas as mentioned in Titus 3:13.
[19] Sotah 14a.4-6
[20] Leviticus 19:2, see also: Leviticus 11:44, 20:7, 26, 21:8; I Peter 1:16
[21] Tobit 12:9
[22] Vermes, Geza. The Dead Sea Scrolls in English, revised edition. London: Penguin Books, 2014. 1QS XI
[23] Matthew 22:34-40
[24] Leviticus 19:33-34; Sifre Kedoshim 8.4. Deuteronomy 15:2-3 was also used as an argument that foreigners were not always treated in the same way as Israelites.
[25] See the Book of Ruth
[26] See also Tosefta 5.4
[27] Galatians 6:10, see also Romans 12:13; I Timothy 5:8
[28] James 2:15-16, see also I John 3:16-18
[29] Luke 6:27-36; Romans 12:20-21
[30] Safrai and Notley, Parables of the Sages: Jewish Wisdom from Jesus to Rav Ashi. Jerusalem: Carta, 2011
[31] Sifrei Bamidbar 81.1; Sifrei Devarim 62.2
[32] After Herod’s death, Theodotus, a son of a priest, served the Romans in overseeing their interests in Jericho.
[33] Philo, De Specialibus Legibus 1.76
[34] Mishnah Pesachim 4.8
[35] The story resembles II Chronicles 28:8-15
[36] Luke does not give a chronological account of Jesus’ travels to Jerusalem and so it is unclear where He was when He met this lawyer.
[37] The Greek translation of the Shema shows this interpretation in stating “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”. To translate “heart” woodenly without adding “and with all your mind” would have lost the meaning for the majority of Greek speakers.
[38] Luke 10:26