Luke 10:25-37.
The reading is from Peterson's "The Message".
Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. "Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?"
He answered, "What's written in God's law? How do you interpret it?"
He said "That you love the Lord your God with all your passion, and prayer, and muscle, and intelligence -- and that you love your neighbout as well as you do yourself."
"Good answer." said Jesus. "Do it and you'll live."
Looking for a loophole, he asked, "And just how would you define neighbour?"
Jesus answered by telling a story. "There ws once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way, he was attacked by robbers. The took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angles across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man.
A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man's condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying "Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill -- I'll pay ou on my way back."
"What do you think? Which one of the three became the neighbour to the man attacked by robbers?"
"The one who treated him kindly," the religion scholar responded.
Jesus sain, "Go and do the same."
I HAVE A NEIGHBOUR?
We have heard this parable many times. I believe that most of us could recite the story from memory and make the conclusion that we have been taught for many years.
This morning I would like to take the side of the "religion scholar" as the person is described here.
In many translations, this person has been given the title of scribe, lawyer, and in a few cases Pharisee.
This morning I would like to refer to this person as a student, as in many ways this person represents us as we journey in life and our faith.
For some reason I don't see this person as trying to trick Jesus, as many translators would have us believe.
I see the student asking a fair question in the hopes of beginning a discussion, one that is not only a gathering of information, but a discussion whereby there is opportunity to express oneself and learn.
Before I attended Trinity Western University in British Columbia, a friend of mine and I used to pick a topic or a passage of scripture, and we would take opposite view points and push the envelope. In fact there were times that we tore the envelope into shreds and had to find another one to being it all back together.
We had one firm rule for our discussions.
At the end of each discussion it was mandatory that we rebuild what we tore apart. In putting the topic or passage back together, we learned and experienced an understanding of the passage, doctrine, or topic under discussion.
I have missed these discussions. The book "The Dead Poets Society" best described our discussions; "We were gnawing on the bones of tipics to suck out the sweet marrow of understanding and knowledge."
This is how I see the student described in this passage. He was and is a "seeker". A seeker of discerning understanding, seeking knowledge and wisdom, and like us the student is searching for something more than just simple faith.
We read the question presented: "What must I do to get eternal life?"
Jesus responds to the question with a question: "What do you think? How do you interpret what is written?" In other words, "What do you believe?"
These are the same three questions that we face when it comes to defining our belief system contained in our faith.
The student in this parable recites the Shema -- to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, and to love your neighbout as yourself.
In Jeudism the Shema was to be recited every day. The Shema was thought to be the culmination of all 613 commandments of the law, thereby the purpose and definaition of the law. In other words, the reason for the law, and the purpose of the law ws to honour God.
In addition, to love your neighbour as yourself was to demonstrate the love of God beyond the law.
Everything esle concerning how to live, the rituals, etc. was considered commentary.
We Christians have our own Shema that we recite. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might, and do unto others as you would have them do unto you." That is our Shema to obtain eternal life. As the rest, the teachings of Jesus becomes commentary.
Jesus tells the student that this is the base of his belief, which allows the student, like us, to open the door for the next questions which is "Who's my neighbour? or define what is a neighbour?"
At the end of the story, Jesus asks the student which person in the story became the "neighbour" to the robber's victim.
When we did a little deeper, we find that Jesus is saying, faith alone isn't enough. Your faith must contain action, it must live and be seen by those around you.
Timothy Radcliff, in his book; "What is the Point of Being a Christian" writes: "The first duty of Christians is to keep alive the awareness of what is happening to our flesh and blood now...as members of the body of Christ, the suffering of people...should not be just a statistic: they are flesh of our flesh."
The Apostle James writes: "Faith without works is dead." Our faith must show action, and this action is what the Apostle Paul writes concerning the gifts of the Spirit, and the most prominate gift is love.
You see, its not enough to just be a Christian. We must show the love, the grace, the compassion, of Jesus to our communities and to the individuals we come in contact with every day.
The light of Christ is our faith, we cannot afford to hide that light. You see in life, some people don't need you to preach a sermon. They need you to live one. When they see you living the sermon they connect and identify with you.
In conclusion, God calls us to a deeper level of faith in which we need to take seriously our conversations with God. The deeper level enables us to embrace neighbours whomever they happen to be.
Our actions as individual Christians and as a congregations of the church demonstrate the love of God to a world that is searching for compassion, grace, and yes -- existence.
In the beginning, God created his manifestation throughout the world. What does that mean? It means that since we are made in the image of God, we are obligated to show respect to each other and to be caregivers to those whom we see among us.
Micah 6:8 -- "What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."
Everyone has become our neighbour.
Amen
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