Luke 10:25~37

25.   On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26. "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" 27. He answered: " '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, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" 28. "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

29. But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30. In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' 36. "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

37. The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

God is the creator of the world; he controls everything in our lives. He created everything on earth and gave orders to his creatures to protect it. God only gave his character to humans, so men can live according to their own thoughts that come from their character. However, man broke the God given orders by their own thoughts. As a result, they were destroyed eternally unable to avoid sin, death and the torture in hell. The law from God is the life, freedom and the blessing (Genesis 1:26~28). The order is God's word that he gave us. The laws made by the government are to protect the nation, people's life, property and rights. The law is the order that maintains the society. When someone breaks the law, he will be punished according to the law. Likewise, God gave orders to the universe to protect them.

He wanted to let humans enjoy happiness with him when he commended them not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and the evil. But humans were deceived by the devil and destroyed the law of blessing and grace from God. They caused themselves death as a result of destroying the order between God and them. To deliver them from eternal destruction, God gave his son Jesus Christ. He wanted to make holy harmony by restoring the order that was broken. He wanted to restore our lives and to let us gain eternal life. Jesus Christ set an unshakable truth that only his death can remove our death. He became flesh and came down to the world to die on the cross shedding his blood (Isaiah 53:5~6; Philippians 2:5~8; Mark 10:45). This is the greatest love toward us who deserve eternal torture in hell. The love is too great for us who broke the relationship with God, who listened to the devil, who were of the devil and who were to be destroyed eternally with the devil.

That is love, that Jesus Christ gave up his life for us. That is the grace and love from God that cannot be replaced by anything. You who received such grace from Jesus, God told you through the bible that You shall love God who saved you from curses, pain and death with all your hearts, all your life, all your strength and all your will. Though that is what we have to do as the one who received grace, God asked us to love him with all our heart. That is also the grace and love of God and Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ told us "As I loved you, please love your neighbor like you own body". The Jews tried to keep God's commandments. But they justified themselves by keeping the laws. They did not love God or their neighbors. They were focused on self-righteousness. The one who loves God will have no other gods. The 10 commandments have its first to fourth commandment as loving God. It has its fifth to tenth commandment loving your brothers and sisters like we need to keep God's commandments. We need to love other's eternal life and work with Jesus

2013.4.20