Am I nice enough — within reason?

We all have moments when we try to convince ourselves we’re good. We add up our good deeds. We excuse our failures.

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus has just sent out 72 evangelists to tell people about His message. And they came back celebrating their power. They say:

“Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”

But, Jesus warned them not to be happy about their success but about God’s grace. That shift from pride to grace was triggering for some.

And so in our passage today, a lawyer stood up to test Jesus, and tried to justify himself: by putting limits on God’s Law to make it manageable.

The man wants to know: Am I nice enough? Surely I’m nice enough already — within reason?

Jesus responds in three ways:

1) You have to be perfectly nice (vv. 25-28)
2) …no exceptions: it’s about others (vv. 29-37)
3) Jesus has been perfectly nice for you (vv. 23-24)

So, first, 1) You have to be perfectly nice

Please look at vv. 25-28:

²⁵ And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” ²⁷ 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 neighbour as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

This man wants to be acceptable — even before God himself. He wants to be ‘nice enough.’

And he looks for that acceptance inside himself. “What shall I do?” — he asks.

And Jesus answers in a simple way: If you want to do things: do everything perfectly. Love God perfectly. Love others perfectly. If you want to be accepted by being nice: then you need to be perfectly nice.

Now… how does that make you feel? How do you stack up? Because I find myself often trying to list my positives. …but it’s a real struggle, a real challenge. …my mind so quickly turns to my failures and flops.

Self-audit doesn’t save.

1) You have to be perfectly nice

But, because none of us are perfectly nice… …we all live by regularly making excuses. But, that’s the second thing Jesus teaches:

2) There’s …no exceptions: it’s about others

The man tries to come up with an excuse in v. 29:

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”

Jesus said: if you want to be nice enough for God to accept you, then you need to perfectly love your neighbour. So, this guy, being a lawyer… …looked for a way out, an exception, an excuse… “Ahhhhh… but WHO IS my neighbour?”

And so Jesus tells a story to break down the man’s excuses. The story is in vv. 30-37:

³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead.

This man is in real trouble. Imagine being that man.

³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

You’re lying on the road… who would you expect to stop and help? You’re passed by a priest and a holy man, but they don’t stop.

Instead, Jesus says that a Samaritan stops. Jews hated Samaritans. They thought they were wrong, bad people:

³³ But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

This is a picture of being perfectly nice… …no expense spared …no exceptions …no ifs, no buts. And so, Jesus asks:

³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Excuses about our failure to be good and nice and love others all fall away when we think about what love means: it’s about other people. But, to make up excuses… my excuses have to be about myself.

There are no exceptions: it’s about others

What was the priest thinking when he crossed the road? “I’m too busy.” “Someone else will help.” “I’ve got my own problems.” “This is not my problem.”

But, none of those excuses recognise the man and his problems.                   Excuses don’t excuse.

And so, this is the point of Jesus’ story: don’t look at yourself at all:

3) Jesus has been perfectly nice for you

That’s the point Jesus made before the lawyer said anything at all, look at vv. 23-24:

²³ Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴ For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

The lawyer was looking at himself… …adding up his successes, …trying to find excuses and exceptions for his failures.

But, Jesus says… …don’t look at yourself… just look at me.

The privilege you have, the position you are in, is not because of anything in yourself… …it’s because of God giving you something from outside.

None of us are like the Good Samaritan. All of us fail. All of us pass by the road. All of us make excuses.

And so, morally, we are more like the man in the road… …beaten up by our conscience, attacked and accused by Satan.

But, Jesus himself is the Good Samaritan… …and He picks us up, gives us food, pays our debts, heals us, forgives us, and makes us new.

Jesus has been perfectly nice for you.

Am I nice enough — within reason?

All of us make those lists in our head of why we are good, nice, deserving, worthy. And all of us in doing that make excuses for our failures and mistakes.

But, the Law shows us this:

1. You have to be perfectly nice

God’s Law doesn’t say: “be nice—within reason!” It says perfectly love God and your neighbour. When you look inside yourself for proof of anything all that does is expose your failure. Stop going over memories and listing your successes. Stop tallying those reasons to prove you’re right. Self-audit doesn’t save.

2. There are no exceptions: because love is about others

The lawyer wanted to set limits — “Who is my neighbour?” he asked. Jesus blows up the limits: your neighbour is anyone in need, even an enemy.

Stop making up excuses for those moments you know you failed. Excuses are about yourself. But love is about other people. So, excuses don’t excuse.

3. Jesus has been perfectly nice for you

Prophets and Kings were desperate to live in these days … because God’s hidden grace is revealed in Jesus.

Jesus is the true Good Samaritan: He rescues, pays the cost, carries us home. Stop looking inward. Look outward to Jesus. You have nothing to prove.

Self-audit doesn’t save.
Excuses don’t excuse.
Christ stops the need for scorekeeping.