You might say, “What? What do you mean Jesus cannot do anything? What do you mean by ‘except’?
Well, along the same lines of Jesus being God, and thus cannot lie, the same is true that He cannot force Himself into the soul of someone who desires to remain in darkness.
Such was the case with the Lawyer in Luke 10:25, who stood up and challenged Jesus trying to get Jesus to repudiate the Law as was given by Moses.
The Lawyer asked the very same question as the Rich Young Ruler. The difference being, the Ruler came to Jesus with a genuine request: “What must I do to inherit eternal life.” The Lawyer came to Jesus without a wholesome motive. Given his grand knowledge of the Law, he lacked to truly know the One Who wrote the Law, God Himself!
Jesus replied, “Since you are the Lawyer, how do you read it?” The man proudly plucked his suspenders and quoted Deut 6:4: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus then with love in His heart for the Lawyer said, “You answered right. If you do those things, you will live.”
The Lawyer met his match. The Ruler and the Lawyer believed they had not sinned because both believed they were without sin. They were wrong. Placing a hotdog into a bun, remains a hotdog, despite trying to cover it up with the bun. He was a sinner like everyone else. Then the Lawyer attempted to protect his dignity before the crowd and deflected the question, by asking, “And who is my neighbor?”
Then Jesus told the account of the Good Samaritan who displayed great mercy on the man who was beaten and left for dead, and caried him to the Inn and paid for his well-being until he returned. Of the several who happened by and continued on their way without helping the beaten man, it was only the Good Samaritan who did so.
Jesus told the Lawyer, that if he would go and do likewise, then he would have answered his own questions being: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?" & "And who is my neighbor?” The more pertinent question to ask us is: “Do your neighbors know you are a neighbor?” … Go, and do likewise…”
Through the Holy Spirit, follow the Lordship of Jesus Christ!
Amen.