The Role The Lesson is from Page 1- 9 and E. G. White’s comments are on pages 10–17.s:
Lesson 5 July 23-29 Jesus on Community Outreach
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 30.
Memory Text: “Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people” (Matthew 4:23, NKJV).
Robert Louis Stevenson, best known for his adventure story Treasure Island, had been a sickly boy who couldn’t go to school regularly. Finally his parents hired a teacher to teach him and a nanny to help with his personal needs. One night when his nanny came to check on him before he went to bed, he was out of bed, and his hands and nose were pressed against the window. His nanny firmly told him to get back in bed before he got a chill.
Robert said to her, “Come to the window, and see what I’m seeing.”
The nanny came to see. Down below, on the street, there was a lamplighter lighting the streetlights. “Look,” said Robert, “a man is poking holes in the darkness!”-Margaret Davis, Fear Not! Is There Anything Too Hard for God? (Aspect Books, 2011), p. 332.
We’ve seen a bit of what the Old Testament said about helping those in need. We are now going to look at what the New Testament says, and what better place to start than with Jesus? And one of Jesus’ well-known teachings is that we are to be “the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). In so doing, we reflect Jesus, the True Light of the world (John 8:12). Jesus’ teachings, which He modeled in His own earthly ministry, provide powerful instructions concerning how we, through Him, can poke holes in the darkness.
Sunday July 24 Jesus’ Mission Statement
Jesus, the young rabbi from Nazareth, had become very popular in the region of Galilee (Luke 4:15). When He spoke, “the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matt. 7:28-29, NKJV). One Sabbath, when handed the scroll of Isaiah, Jesus read the first two verses of Isaiah 61, stopping in midsentence just before the phrase “and the day of vengeance of our God” (Isa. 61:2, NIV).
Read Luke 4:16-19. Jesus Rejected at Nazareth 16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Where have we heard these words before? (See Isa. 61:1-2.) A Possible Answer: In Isaiah 61 where it was said... 1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,
What was Jesus proclaiming by reading those texts? A Possible Answer: That He was the ‘Anointed ONE’ sent in fulfillment to the prophecy of Isaiah 61.
As we already saw, the phrase “the year of the LORD’s favor” is identified as the year of jubilee (see Leviticus 25:1-55). In this visit to Nazareth, Jesus quotes a messianic passage from Scripture and assures His hearers that “ 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’ ” (Luke 4:21, NIV). In this sermon He reveals Himself as the Anointed One who preaches good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, release for the oppressed, and jubilee restoration. This list well describes His earthly ministry, which was focused on teaching, healing, and ministering, especially to those in need.
Why would Jesus stop short of completing the sentence in Isaiah 61:2?
A Possible Answer: Perhaps Jesus stopped short of the phrase “the day of vengeance of our God” because Jesus did not want His ministry to be associated with the prevailing concept that the Messiah would come to lead armies to vanquish the oppressors of Israel and bring them under Israel’s power. That was a false conception that would, unfortunately, keep many of His fellow countrymen from seeing Him and His ministry for what it really was. Instead, He focused on what He would do for those who needed what He had to offer right then and there, regardless of the political situation of the time.
What should it say to us that Jesus announces His ministry in this way; that is, what should we take away for ourselves by His emphasizing here the practical work that we would be doing? A Possible Answer: We should take away for ourselves that religion must be accompanied by and must flow out in practical terms where the felt needs of others are met.
Monday July 25 Loving Your Neighbor
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself” (Luke 10:27).
27. Thou shalt love. The lawyer quotes from Deut. 6:5 (cf. ch. 11:13). Compare Matt. 22:36-38, where Jesus later gave the same answer to the same question put to him by another lawyer. The words of Deut. 6:5 were recited by every devout Jew morning and evening as a part of the shema‘ (see p. 57), and were worn also in the phylacteries (see on Ex. 13:9). Jews who had an insight into the inner meaning of “the law” (see on Deut. 31:9; Prov. 3:1) should have realized that its principles were not arbitrary but based on fundamental principles of right which might properly be summed up in the command “to love.”
To love God in the sense here stated and implied is to dedicate to His service one’s entire being, the affections, the life, the physical powers, and the intellect. This kind of “love” is “the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10), the kind of “love” in which a person will abide when he sets out, by the grace of Christ, to “keep” the “commandments” of Christ (John 14:15; 15:9, 10). In fact, God sent His Son into the world with the specific purpose of making it possible for us to keep “the law” in this sense and in this spirit. It is thus that “the righteousness of the law” is to be “fulfilled in us” (Rom. 8:3, 4). He who truly “knows” God will keep “his commandments” because the “love” of God is “perfected” in him (1 John 2:4–6; see on Matt. 5:48). Heart. Used here in the sense of “inclination,” “desire,” “mind.” Soul. See the following from Matt. 10:28. (Soul. Gr. psuchē, “breath,” “life,” or “soul.” Psuchē (plural, psuchai) is translated 40 times in the NT as “life” or “lives,” clearly with the meaning commonly attributed to the word “life” (see chs. 2:20; 6:25; 16:25; etc.). It is rendered 58 times as “soul” or “souls” (see chs. 10:28; 11:29; 12:18; etc.). In some of these instances it means simply “people” (see Acts 7:14; 27:37; 1 Peter 3:20; etc.). In other instances it is translated as, or equivalent to, some personal pronoun (see Matt. 12:18; 2 Cor. 12:15; see on Ps. 16:10). At times it refers to the emotions (see Mark 14:34; Luke 2:35; etc.), to the natural appetites (see Rev. 18:14), to the mind (see Acts 14:2; Phil. 1:27), or to the heart (see Eph. 6:6). There is nothing in the word psuchē itself that even remotely implies a conscious entity that is able to survive the death of the body and hence be immortal. In no instance of its use in the Bible does psuchē refer to a conscious entity able to exist apart from the body. The Bible knows nothing of a living, conscious soul that, supposedly, survives the body. For the Heb. nephesh, the Hebrew equivalent of the Gr. puschē, see on 1 Kings 17:21; Ps. 16:10. All that is said of one word applies to the other.[1])
Neighbour. Gr. plēsion (see on v. 36). Here the lawyer quotes from Lev. 19:18, where “neighbour” apparently means “a fellow Israelite.” Jesus obviously extends the definition to include Samaritans, and thus non-Jews (see on Luke 10:36).
Read Luke 10:25-37. The Parable of the Good Samaritan 25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” 27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’28 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” 29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’
34. Wounds. Gr. traumata, from which come our English words, “trauma,” “traumatism,” etc. Oil and wine. Common household remedies of ancient Palestine. Sometimes the two were mixed and used as a salve. An inn. Gr. pandocheion, “a caravansary,” from pas, “all,” and dechomai, “to receive.” A pandocheion was rather large in contrast with the less pretentious kataluma (see on ch. 2:7). The inn to which the Samaritan bore the unfortunate wayfarer was probably in or near Jericho, whither he was traveling, and the first inhabited town to which he would come. 35. Two pence. That is, two Roman denarii, now worth perhaps 22 cents, but then equivalent to two days’ wages (see p. 49). Host. Gr. pandocheus, “an innkeeper”; that is, one who operates a pandocheion (see on v. 34). When I come again. Probably on the return journey. The confidence the innkeeper seems to have had in the Samaritan may imply that the latter was a businessman who frequently passed through Jericho and was known to the innkeeper. I will repay. The Greek stresses “I.” The “two pence” were merely a down payment. It would no doubt be several days before the injured traveler would recuperate sufficiently to continue on his way (see v. 30). In view of this, the kind Samaritan assumes full responsibility for the stranger. He might have reasoned that the incident occurred in Judea, that the man was probably a Jew, and that the innkeeper was a Jew, and that therefore he, as a Samaritan, had discharged his responsibility. But not so. The Samaritan’s interest was more than momentary; he did even more than he could have been expected to do. His interest in the stranger continued even beyond the minimum obligation any passer-by might reasonably be expected to assume.
36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” 37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
36. Neighbour. Gr. plesion, literally, “a near [one].” The priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan had all been “near” to the hapless wayfarer in his time of need, yet only one of them acted like a “neighbour.” Neighborliness is not so much a matter of proximity as it is of willingness to bear another’s burdens. Neighborliness is the practical expression of the principle of love for one’s fellow man (see on v. 27).
37. Shewed. Gr. poieō, literally, “to do” (cf. v. 25). Under the circumstances mere thoughts of mercy would have been of no value; it was deeds that counted. The lawyer saw the point of the story. It was an apt and effective answer to his question (see v. 29). In this true-life narrative Jesus dismissed all the legalistic quibbling about who a man’s neighbor might be (see on v. 29). A man’s neighbor is simply anyone who needs his help.
True neighborliness had saved the life of one of the lawyer’s fellow men, possibly one of his personal friends. He could find nothing to criticize in Jesus’ reply to his question. Apparently he recognized in his inmost soul that Jesus’ definition of “neighbour” was the only true one. As a lawyer, he no doubt was able to appreciate more fully than others in the audience Jesus’ profound understanding of the true significance of the law (see on vs. 26–28); as a teacher, he must have appreciated the tactful way in which Jesus handled his question. At any rate his prejudice toward Jesus was removed (see COL 380).
What message is given here to us in regard to the whole question of helping those in need? A Possible Answer: The message is that we should render the type of help where we... 1) identify with those in need, 2) are providing for them where they cannot provide for themselves and 3) even invest in their future to the extent that they can move ahead with their lives. In other words, if you wish to know true neighborliness, go and pattern your conduct after that of the Samaritan. Such is the nature of true religion (see Micah 6:8; James 1:27). Our fellow men need to feel the clasp of “a hand that is warm” and fellowship with “a heart full of tenderness” (COL 388). God “permits us to come in contact with suffering and calamity in order to call us out of our selfishness” (COL 388). It is for our own eternal good to practice true neighborliness whenever we have the opportunity to do so (cf. Heb. 13:2).[2]