neighbor. Jesus told him he had answered correctly and charged him
to obey God’s commands. The lawyer then sought to justify himself
by asking, “And who is my neighbor?” Christ’s challenge was to help
this man realize that at any point he was aware of a need, he had an
obligation to meet that need. If he failed to, he had broken the Law.
Jesus taught this through the story of the Good Samaritan. The story
disarmed the man and enabled him to understand how he’d failed.
Jesus appealed to his conscience at the end of the story by asking who
was a neighbor to the unfortunate traveler. The lawyer moved from
asking who his neighbor was to properly assessing who had been a
neighbor.
(^) Christ’s response to Peter in Matthew 18 provides another
illustration of Christ’s use of appealing to the conscience. Peter asked
for the outer limits of forgiveness. “Lord, how many times shall I
forgive my brother when he sins against me?” (Matthew 18:21). Jesus
could have said simply, “Peter, if you can ask that question, you don’t
begin to understand anything about forgiveness.” Instead, Jesus told a
story that powerfully demonstrated the implication of being one who
is forgiven.
(^) In Luke 7, a woman who had lived a sinful life anointed Jesus and
wiped his feet with her tears. Simon, a Pharisee, judged Jesus for his
lack of discernment. Simon was revolted by the sinful woman. Jesus,
knowing Simon’s thoughts, told him a story that appealed to his
conscience. In the story, there were two men and one money lender.
One had a great debt, the other a small debt. Both were forgiven.
“Which of them will love him more?” Jesus inquired.
(^) Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt
canceled.”
(^) “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
(^) Jesus used the story to indict Simon for his self-righteous
thoughts. The appeal was to Simon’s conscience. Simon judged
himself with his own words. The point of Jesus’ story was that this