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28 And he said unto him, Thou hast
answered right: this do, and thou
shalt live.
29 But he, willing to justify
himself, said unto Jesus, And who
is my neighbour?
30 And Jesus answering said, A
certain man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell
among thieves, which stripped him
of his raiment, and wounded him,
and departed, leaving him half
dead.
31 And by chance there came down a
certain priest that way: and when
he saw him, he passed by on the
other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he
was at the place, came and looked
on him, 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
on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up
his wounds, pouring in oil and
wine, and set him on his own beast,
and brought him to an inn, and took
care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he
departed, he took out two pence,
and gave them to the host, and said
unto him, Take care of him; and
whatsoever thou spendest more, when
I come again, I will repay thee.
Luke 10
Here, Christ Jesus spoke of compassion, of pouring in "oil" and "wine," and of putting the man on his own beast. Isn't that what Christ Jesus had done himself, in all aspects of healing. The Scriptures say about his healing work that he acted with "compassion," and that he thereby, literally, put the patient on "his own beast," his own standard. In other words, he raised the man up unto the same platform of worth where he found his own identity as a man. He could not do otherwise. Honesty to the truth required this. The spirituality that had pervaded his consciousness with fundamental truths could never allow him to deny what he understood of the nature of man in its reflection of the image of God. This is, evidently, what Christ Jesus saw reflected in the First Commandment, or the great commandment of the law.
In the above example, we have a measure of spirituality defined that severely challenges the modern convention, but Christ Jesus' comment was: "This do, and thou shalt live."*(Luke 10:28)
This comment to the lawyer who had desired to know the essence of life, is highly significant, because his answer, "This do, and thou shalt live," was not just an empty saying. If one probes beneath the surface it becomes apparent that questions centered on spirituality invariably involve life and death issues. The question, therefore, must be explored to the fullest.
"This do, and ye shall live," said Christ Jesus. Why did he say this? Was he right in saying this? The answer must be, yes. One must even ask, can anything be healed on any other basis?
Before answering, let us explore what lies behind these questions. Here, an incident comes to mind that closely echoes Christ Jesus' parable of the Samaritan. A man had addressed an audience of community leaders, among which businessmen and obviously knowledgeable financial experts. The presentation was in part centered on the role that the financier George Soros had played in unleashing the financial and economic chaos in Asia, how his manipulations of national currencies, for profit, had destroyed currency values and stock market values throughout the entire region. As commander of the Quantum Fund, an off-shore investment fund that contains more play-money then the operational budget funds of many a nation, he has the power to break the back of any nation at will. His primary target, of course are those nations where strong economic activity had created considerable wealth for the nation as a whole, that thereby could be looted. One of the audience, then, stood up in defense of George Soros, and said that it was Soros right to exploit the weakness of those who had failed to protect themselves, adding: "He merely exploited an opportunity..."
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