Grace, mercy, and peace to you from
God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
I
don’t know about you, but I’ve been watching the George Zimmerman trial with
some interest (I don’t really know why.)
Americans seem to have a fascination with high-profile trials. Of course, the O.J. Simpson trial, which
happened almost 20 years ago, but is still in the collective minds of those who
followed it. Trials in recent history
include: (The late) Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson, and Casey Anthony. You may not have heard of or followed these
cases, but we have a fascination with the court system. T.V. shows like, Law and Order, Matlock, and Perry
Mason have always been popular.
Whether
it’s a real trial or Ben Matlock, in his folksy way, examining a witness; an
imperative skill for a lawyer to have is to know the right questions to
ask. To ask the wrong question can throw
the case on its head and be destructive to a lawyer’s case rather than helping
it. I don’t know what you think of the
Zimmerman case, but both Zimmerman’s and the state’s lawyers have been
criticized, at times, by the legal experts for not asking the right question, or
asking it in a way that doesn’t help their case.
A
lawyer needs to know the right question to ask, and in today’s text, there’s a
lawyer who completely blows the question he asks of Jesus. “Behold, a lawyer stood up to
put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life?” Did you catch that? Did you hear what was wrong with his
question? You can tell a lot about a
person’s theology by who is carrying the active verbs, that is, who’s doing the
doing in their sentences. “What shall I do to inherit eternal life? A self-centered question. First of all, what do you do to inherit
anything? Nothing. If you have a rich uncle who passes away and
leaves you lots of money, what did you do to earn that inheritance? Nothing. He has the wrong idea about the word
“inherit,” it’s not something you do but receive. Second, who is doing the work of gaining
eternal life? Himself! It’s a bad question, but Jesus takes it at
face value.
“[Jesus] said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”
And 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.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this,
and you will live.”
It’s
as if Jesus says, “Fine, you asked a self-centered question, here’s the
answer. Go ahead. If you want to gain eternal life on your own,
here are the steps. Love God and your
neighbor. Perfectly. Not lacking in any way. Your whole heart, mind, and body must be
devoted to God and your neighbor entirely, 100% all the time. You want salvation through your own doing
then fulfill the law perfectly on your own.
That’s what you must do to
inherit eternal life.”
But, as lawyers are
wont to do, he goes for the loophole, “Desiring
to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ ” Another bad question. By asking who his neighbor is, he implies
that there are those who aren’t his neighbor.
He’s asking Jesus who can he exclude from his love. Which is a bit ironic, because he’s asking
the man who excludes no one from his love.
To illustrate this, Jesus tells a parable that we’re all familiar with. “A
man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who
stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a
priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other
side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on
the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and
when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds,
pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to
an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave
them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend,
I will repay you when I come back.’ ”
Who would you expect
to help the poor man? The priest and the
Levite should have been the first to render aid. After all, not only are they holy men, but
they’re the man’s countrymen. But Jesus’
parables always have a twist, a little piece that makes you go, “Huh?” The twist here is that it’s the Samaritan who
renders help and aid, who proves to be the neighbor to the man, and he’s the
very last person you’d expect.
The part of the text
that’s often over looked is that Samaritans and Jews did not get along, they’re
enemies, you might say. These half Jew,
half pagan Samaritans are rejected by the full blood Jews. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, the
disciples protested as Jesus led them through Samaria. But this Samaritan is Jesus’ example of love
and compassion for the neighbor. He’s
the one whom Jesus holds up before this Lawyer who’s trying to get off on a
technicality. The Samaritan dressed the
man’s wounds, set the man on his animal, paid for his stay at the inn, along
with any expenses that the man would incur.
How about you? Who’s your neighbor? Is it just those people who you like? When someone you don’t like needs to be shown
mercy do you mutter under your breath, “He had it coming.” It’s easy to love and serve the neighbors
that you like, your friends and relatives, but even unbelievers do that. But would you love, help, and show compassion
and mercy to the person that you don’t like all that much? If a Muslim terrorist were lying on the side
of the road, dying, what would you do? Would
you be the priest and Levite and pass by on the other side?
That’s the flaw in
the Lawyer’s question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life.” You want to inherit eternal life on your own,
that this is what you have to do perfectly, each and every time. Sound like an impossible task? You bet it is. If you look into your heart, what do you
see? A heart beaming with love and
compassion for everyone, even those who might be your enemies? Or do you see a heart full of sin that’s
constantly curved in on itself, desiring what’s best only for you and those
closest to you?
There’s a great exhortation in Jesus’
parable. We’re to help and serve the
neighbor, give of our time, talents, treasures, and yes, even our own lives in
service to him. That’s the Law and it’s
good. But when we examine ourselves, we
see plainly that our efforts of loving God and serving the neighbor fall far
short. The Law always accuses because we
can never keep it perfectly. The
Christian life is a life lived, not for the self, but for the neighbor, even
the neighbors who you don’t like all that much.
The Lawyer’s question is a bad question,
so here’s the right question, “How has eternal life been accomplished for
me?” Now there’s a question that doesn’t
have the self at its center. There’s a
question that has eternal life something that is done for you instead of by
you.
You see, there’s
another little twist in Jesus’ parable.
After being beaten, stripped, and left for dead on the side of the road
by the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature; having been ignored by all
manner of things we make into idols, that promise much but deliver nothing,
Jesus, the man who should be our enemy, walks by and is moved with
gut-wrenching compassion for you. For
all that we’ve done and said against Jesus: for our self-centered ways, for our
lack of love for God and our neighbor, we deserve to be left there on the side
of the road dead. But Jesus’ love for
you won’t allow Him to leave you there.
He picks you up upon His back like a beast of burden and bears you as
His cross to carry. He clothes you in
His very own righteousness. He binds
your wounds with His forgiveness. He
pays for it all with His blood, shed on the cross for you, and calls you His
most dear treasure.
Since Jesus beheld you on the side of the
road and had compassion and mercy on you, now we’re free. Free to stop living for ourselves, but for
others. God doesn’t need our good works,
but our neighbors do. We merit nothing
by our good works when it comes to our salvation; Jesus has already taken care
of that. We do good to our neighbors
because faith looks outside of itself and sees the neighbor in need and has
compassion. Good
works flow from faith. Looking at the
lawyer’s question, there is no hope in it, but your hope is in Christ.
That’s the beating
heart of the parable – Jesus – who beholds you, His neighbor, and shows
compassion and love for you by being placed on a cross, His life for
yours. Jesus loves the lawyer, the
Samaritan, loves even you by giving all of Himself, even His life, for
you.
Jesus justifies you, His neighbor, by
dying for you on the cross. He does the
ultimate good work. Let us go and do
likewise. Let us ever behold our
neighbor who’s suffering and, as the redeemed of God, be a neighbor to
him. Not that we gain salvation for it,
but because we love him as Jesus has loved us. Amen
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
