If You Go to the Doctor... You Have to Swallow the Pill!

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7.15.07

If You Go to the Doctor… You Have to Swallow the Pill

Do we have any Dr. Phil watchers out there this morning?  I have to admit, I enjoy watching it on occasion, especially now that it’s on prime-time.  If you’re not familiar with Dr. Phil, he’s a Psychologist who counsels people on his talk-show type TV show.  As one who’s been counseled and who counsels, it’s interesting to take note of his approach.  Now, his counseling isn’t Christian counseling, so when you watch it you sort of have to weigh it against what you know to be true as a Christian, but I like to watch it and hopefully take the good and leave the bad.

But anyway, Dr. Phil often takes a “tough love” approach with his clients or guests.  He tells them what he believes they need to hear, regardless of how it’s going to make them feel.  The other night he said something to the effect of, “she’s not going to say it, because she’s afraid of what you’ll think, but I don’t care if you hate me, so I’m going to say it.”  That’s often his approach, and his guests know it.

I was watching one episode recently where a mother had come to the end of her rope.  She had several daughters, and she had essentially lost control of all of them.  She sent a letter to Dr. Phil explaining that she was afraid for her daughter’s lives and was willing to try anything.  But when she came onto the show, it came out that she had asked her oldest daughter not to share everything because she didn’t want to look like a horrible mother on television.  Dr. Phil told her quite bluntly that he couldn’t help her if she wasn’t going to be honest with him.  He really just said it point blank – do you want help or don’t you, because if you want help, you’re going to have to take some drastic measures.  She eventually got to the point where she recognized that if things were going to get better – if she was going to save her daughter’s lives – she was going to have to be honest, she was going to have to face reality, and she was going to have to make some difficult decisions and changes.  If she was going to go to the doctor… she was going to have to swallow the pill.

On another episode, Dr. Phil put a group of people in a house for a given period of time who hated one another (even before they had met one another) because of different prejudices they had.  And on more than one occasion he had to confront different individuals in the house asking them why they had agreed to take part in this experiment.  Each person there was there because they wanted help in overcoming their prejudices, but Dr. Phil had to say, “If you want help, you have to be willing to make changes.  I can suggest all kinds of things, but unless you’re willing to make some serious changes, nothing is going to improve.  If they were going to go to the doctor… they were going to have to swallow the pill. 

Jesus, I believe, also knew when tough love was needed.  Scripture tells us that God is love, and since Jesus was the Son of God, I don’t think he ever did anything that was not loving.  But, I believe it could be argued that he did do things at times that wouldn’t be called kind.  He loved people enough to confront them with reality when they didn’t want to look at reality.  Let’s look at today’s passage, and maybe you’ll see what I mean

Luke 10:25-37 (NRSV)

25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 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.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 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. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The narrator of this story helps us out a bit, giving us insites that someone listening to this conversation that day might not have had.  His first editorial comment comes right in verse 25.  This is what the people there that day would have seen.  “A lawyer stood up and asked. ‘Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Seems like an innocent enough question, right?  Jesus seemed like a wise man, and surely his answer would be intruiguing.  But the comment is made that he asked this “to test Jesus.”  It wasn’t such an innocent question.  It was a question with an agenda.  But why would this lawyer have had an agenda?  For that we should probably look a few verses earlier.  Verse 21 says that Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”  Then skipping ahead a bit, “Turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them 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, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

So there are some interesting dynamics taking place in this story.  Jesus has essentially just said the the wise and intelligent have not able able to see reality as it is, but that infants – in other words, those  who aren’t educated – do see reality as it is.  Then just to make sure his disciples get it, he tells them that they are seeing reality in a way that prophets and kings had not even been able to see it.

So Jesus has just insulted the intellegent, and who is it but a lawyer who is next to speak, probably one of the most intellegent people there.  So what was his agenda?  His agenda was to prove that Jesus wasn’t as smart as he thought he was.  But being a lawyer, he knew there were better ways to show this than to simplly come out and say it.  He would play a bit of a word game with Jesus.  He would try to trap him with his own words.  In other words – he would ask Jesus a question in order to test Jesus.

I’ve been told by lawyers that when they’re examing a witness, one of the number one rules is that you never ask a question that you don’t already know the answer to.  You don’t want to be caught off guard.  And I think that was the case here.  The lawer’s question wasn’t a legtimate question.  “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Being a good Jew, this lawyer would have already known what answer Jesus was going to give.  But Jesus doesn’t play along with his game quite like the lawyer wants him to.  Jesus answers his question with a question (as he often did).  He asks, “What is written in the law?”  And being a lawyer, the man must have all but laughed.  He quickly lists off, “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.”  And Jesus says, “See, you already knew the answer to your question.  Now just go and do it!”

But then it’s the next line that really catches me.  It says, “But wanting to justify himself.”  Sound familiar?  The mother on Dr. Phil didn’t want to face reality because she wanted to justify her actions.  The prejudice people didn’t want to face reality because they wanted to justify their actions.  And the lawer would rather justify himself than seriously consider what Jesus had just said.  He’s looking for a legal loop whole.  He knows the meaning behind the law Jesus had just had him recite.  He wants to find a loop whole that he can squeeze through, so he asks, “And who is my neighbor?”

But again, Jesus doesn’t simply answer the question.  Rather, he tells a story.  It’s a story that many of us are familiar with.  The story of the good Samaritan.  There are many lessons to be learned from this story, but in context, the main point is who is the neighbor.  We don’t know much about the man who was beaten, except that he was likely a Jew.  How do we know that?  He was on his way from Jerusalem to Jerico, two Jewish cities.  A priest and a Levite pass by, two more Jews.  This hints at the answer the Lawyer was hoping to hear.  The Lawer wanted to hear that he was supposed to love other Jews as himself.  He wanted Jesus to say that his neighbors were other Jews.  You see, he was probably pretty good at loving Jews, and had Jesus said that he was supposed to love other Jews as he loved himself, he would have been justified.  But that’s not what Jesus says.  He says a Samaritan who was passing by is the one who helped the Jew in need.  Now Samaritans were a sort of half-n-half race.  They weren’t fully Gentile, so the Gentiles did’t accept them.  But they also weren’t fully Jewish, so the Jews didn’t accept them.  They were the misfit race.

Jesus ends his story with a question, and the Lawyer knows he’s be caught in his own game.  Jesus asks, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”  The answer was obvious, and he must have given it with gritted teeth.  “The one who showed him mercy.”  He couldn’t even bring himself to say, “The Samaritan.”  The thoguht that he would have to go and love a Samaritan as he loved himself was almost too difficult to swallow.  The lawyer wanted to go to the doctor, but he didn’t want to swallow the pill.

I don’t know about you, but I almost have a difficut time reading this story because it’s so easy to see myself in the lawer.  How often don’t I go to God trying to justify myself.  Do you know what I mean?  I think I might do it most in prayers of confession.  “God, I’m sorry I didn’t go talk to so-and-so, but I was busy and I wouldn’t have known what to say, and they probably wouldn’t have been receptive to what I was going to say anyway.”  I want forgiveness, but I don’t want to swallow the pill.  Or, “God, I know I shouldn’t have done such-n-such, but the temptation was so great, and it’s so hard to resist, and it’s just in my nature.”  I want forgiveness, but I don’t want to swallow the pill.

This passage is about loving people not like yourself, and that may be the message you need to hear today, but I think the lesson Jesus teaches here can be broadened if necessary.  What are you, what am I, trying to justfiy myself with.  In the back of my mind I know what God expects of me.  But like the lawyer I’m looking for a loop whole.  I’m looking for a way out.  I’m looking for some way to convince myself that I’m not as in need of change as scripture makes it seem like I am.

I go to the doctor… I go to God… and I ask him to search me and know my heart; to test me and know my thoughts.  To see if there is any wicked way in me.  I pray that prayer, and God is faithful.  He answers that prayer.  He leads me to passages which show me where there are areas in my life that need change.  He pricks my conscience and shows me where my life is out of line with his will.  But rather than saying, “You’re right God.  Give me the strength to change.”  I try to justify my actions.  I try to convince myself that I’m not really that bad. I don’t want to swallow the pill.

I don’t know for sure, but I bet that when I do that God says, fine… have it your way.  But why did you ask me to search you if you weren’t willing to make the change anyway?  God confronts us with tough love to see reality as it is.  If you go to the doctor… you have to swallow the pill.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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