Welcome Back Everyone for a New Program Year! What Does Jesus Want From This Year? (no pressure there, right?)

 For Sunday, our Scripture passage is Luke 10: 23-28:

 ²³ Then 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.”

²⁵ An expert in the law 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.”

           As a preacher, I have expectations when I say, “Now you may remember these verses from a sermon shared a few weeks ago…”  We preachers have a touch of hubris (excessive self-confidence) that everyone will have full recollection of the passages and sermons we share, for the last six months at least.  Okay, so perhaps the self-confidence is more misguided pride…

          I do hope that the parable of the Good Samaritan is something that is familiar to us.  That has far more history and name recognition than one sermon preached back in July (yes, I had to go look it up).  And “Good Samaritan” does not only have name recognition as a parable but also as a brand name in health and support care services in our region.

          The verses for Sunday do not actually share the parable, but these verses lead in to the parable.  My hope is they will gain a certain familiarity with us in the coming program year. 

          In these verses, Jesus is asked a question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus’ response, “What does the bible say?”  When I say bible, I mean the bible of Jesus, our Old Testament, and what Jesus says focuses the request even more, “What is written in the law?”  This is the law of Moses, the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament.  They carry weight to interpret the rest of the Old Testament, kind of like our Gospels, which tell Jesus’ story first-hand, carry weight to interpret the rest of the New Testament.

          We have heard these words before, about what the bible says to inherit eternal life, “Love God and Love Neighbor” (in condensed form).  And if we could do that perfectly, we would inherit eternal life.  But we are broken, sinful people.  We CANNOT 'make the grade'.  BUT Jesus fixed that.  By His death and resurrection, eternal life comes in the free gift of forgiveness and salvation. 

          What Jesus did on our behalf, that could interpret “Love God and Love Neighbor” for us in a couple of different ways.  The first is that we are no longer bound by those rules.  So, believe what we want, do what we want, Jesus forgives, its free, I can take full advantage.  The second is that these laws still apply to our lives, but I do NOT have to fulfill them perfectly, because when I’m knocked down, I get up again, lifted by our Lord Jesus Christ from the burden of sin.

          Taken that way, if I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior, accept that by His death and resurrection, He grants me the gift of eternal life, I accept that He has given meaning, eternal meaning to loving God and loving Neighbor as the way to be a follower of Jesus.  Another way to look at it, if I accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, what’s next?

          The answer is in verse 27, long form, “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.”   It’s interesting to read it this way, because, at first glance, it kind of reads that love for God is with heart, soul, strength, mind, and neighbor…  So loving neighbor is another expression of loving God.

          Why are we going to dwell on these verses?  How do they form a biblical ‘theme’ for what comes next?  In the coming weeks, we shall use “heart, soul, strength, and mind” as a means to consider what it means to “love God” and to "love neighbor".  But not simply in the abstract, but to ask how does this reflect in, guide, and amend the way we do things?

          One of the most direct Christian hymns we have is “They will know we are Christians by our love.”  So then, what does our love look like?  We know it is for God and for neighbor.  But what’s next?  That is the journey I hope we shall begin.

 

Peace,   

pastor pete