The Christians who try to justify themselves

“But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29).

                How do you receive the story of King David coming adultery?  Do you receive it as a warning?  Or do you receive it as comfort?  For some reason, whenever a pastor's sexual harassment occurs these days, it seems that the story of King David who had committed adultery comes out often in the internet articles.  And it seems those articles focus on forgiveness rather than repentance.  So even after we, pastors, have committed sexual harassment, it seems that we are just trying to go about it without thorough repentance of our sin by talking about that story of King David.  And we are just trying to hide it without an honest confession of adultery until we get caught.  Then when we get caught, we are obliged to admit our sin of adultery.  But even admitting it, it seems we are just admitting out sin to those who have pointed our sin, not in front of our church.  Thus we continue to conceal our sin.  This is our sinful nature.  But God not only thoroughly revealed King David's sin, but He also wrote it in the Bible so that all of us who read the Bible would know it.  However, God referred to King David as “a man after My heart” (Acts 13:22).  Why did God say that?  The reason seems to be that David repented thoroughly.  So he was forgiven and used by God again.

Those whose sins are thoroughly exposed by God are blessed ones.  Furthermore, those who experience the grace of God who thoroughly enable them to repent of their sins are blessed ones.  But even if God reveals sin, those who continue to hide it won’t be use by God anymore.  In other words, despite God exposing sin, those who continue to cover it and don’t repent thoroughly, God will abandon that servant.  It is a blessing when God covers our sin (Ps. 32:1).  But it is a curse when we try to cover it.  However, an abandoned servant, like King Saul, keeps on wanting to be exalted in front the people by making such excuses and rationalizations even after being rebuked of sin (1 Sam.15:30).  I don’t know where the end of pride is.

                In Luke 10:29, a man comes out and he is “a lawyer” (v. 25).  He put Jesus to test, saying “Teacher, what shall I don to inherit eternal life?” (v. 25)  Jesus said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” (v. 26)  “And he answered, "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" (v. 27).  And Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE” (v. 28).  “But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?” (v. 29)  And Jesus told him the parable of a Good Samaritan (vv. 30-35).  Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same” (v. 37).  Jesus told the lawyer to show mercy to his neighbor as the Good Samaritan.  Isn't it interesting?  Why did Jesus say “Do this” in verse 28 and then “Do likewise” in verse 37?  I think the reason is because the lawyer knew the Law well but he didn’t do it.  In particular, the lawyer put himself within the framework of the misinterpretation of the Law and didn’t consider the Gentiles as his neighbors.  So Jesus emphasized the need to love his neighbor by action.  However, I wonder if this lawyer listened to Jesus and practiced love for his neighbor.  The Bible is silent about the lawyer’s action after he heard Jesus' saying “Go and do the same” (V. 37) whether he actually went and love his Gentile neighbors or not.  My personal guess is that the lawyer didn’t obey the Jesus' commandment.  There are two reasons for this.  The first reason is because he put Jesus to the test (v. 25).  The second and even greater reason is that he was proud and tried to justify himself (v. 29).

A person who tries to justify himself is a proud person.  And a proud man who hears the word of God again and again returns to his foolishness as a dog returns to its vomit (Prov. 26:11).  Clearly, Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors (Luke 10:27), but the proud man disobey His command again and again.  And as he disobeys His command, he justifies his disobedience.  The proud man decides who his neighbors are in his mind, those who love him, and he only loves them (Mt. 5:46-47).  He believes that he doesn't have to love those who hate him as his neighbors.  And even more frightening is that the proud man believes that he is right.  He believes that he is obeying the Jesus' command even though he isn’t.  The proud person doesn’t realize his sins.  So he cannot repent of his sins.  Even he is being rebuked of his sins, he keeps covering them.  Although the holy God keeps on exposing his sins, the proud man tries to cover them by his own strength.  How foolish is this?  We can't cover the sky with our palm.  Hence, the proud man demonstrates to everyone that he is a fool (Eccl. 10:3).  Aren’t we the Christians who try to justify ourselves?