July 13

Transcript

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.)

I shared with the praise team last week. I didn't know what they were going to do this week because they sang my four favourite praise songs and hymns last week. How are you gonna top that? Well, they just did.

Come Now is the Time to Worship is my favourite praise song. Holy, holy, holy, I love that version of it. And Be Unto Your Name, I've never heard that before.

And now it's my favourite. Well done, I'm looking forward to the closing, the rest of the music for this morning. So Psalm 82 is one of two scripture readings I'm going to share with you this morning.

It ties into the passage, the gospel reading that I'll share with you. I'm not preaching on Psalm 82, but when I think of Central, and as you know, I do think of you, you are in my prayers, as is Aubrey and the leadership here at Central. Psalm 82 is about maintaining the rights of the lowly and the destitute.

These are groups of people that we don't always think about, especially if we lead a comfortable life. God commands his people in this Psalm to not only feed the hungry, but also defend them. It's God's call in Psalm 82 to social justice.

God has taken his place in the divine council. In the midst of the gods, he holds judgement. How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the orphan.

Maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy, deliver them from the hand of the wicked. They have neither knowledge nor understanding.

They walk around in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken. I say, you are God's children of the most high, all of you.

Nevertheless, you shall die like mortals and fall like any prince. Rise up, oh God, judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you. And from the gospel according to Luke, the 10th chapter, beginning at verse 25.

An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. Teacher, he said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, what is written in the law? What do you read there? He answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength, with all your mind and your neighbour as yourself. Jesus, he said to him, you have given the right answer.

Do this and you will live. But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbour? Jesus replied, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers who stripped him, beat him and took off, 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.

Likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, while travelling, came upon him and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. He went to him, bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine.

Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper and said, take care of him. And when I come back, I will repay you, whatever you spend, whatever more you spend.

Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers? He asked. The man said, the one who showed him mercy. Jesus said to him, go and do likewise.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, amen. The gospel of Luke is full of questions. I think Mark and Matthew have them there too, but maybe it's just because of what we know about Luke's background.

We certainly know this from the two volumes he wrote. Luke, the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. Luke records a lot of questions that were put to Jesus.

Who can be saved? Why do you eat and drink with sinners and tax collectors? By what authority are you saying and doing these things? I picture Luke, as these conversations were shared with him, I picture him scribbling down the questions that were asked of Jesus and the answers that he provided. Because Luke must have thought that these are questions that are always going to be asked. It's not just particular to the time that Jesus lived in or to the place that he lived in.

These are questions that will always be asked. And so the answers will always be important. Today's story records, as you are very familiar with, one of the most famous question and answer times that Jesus ever engaged in.

The passage begins with a lawyer asking Jesus, excuse me, teacher, rabbi, what must I do to inherit eternal life? That's a big question. That's a big faith question. To many people, it's the most important question of all.

What do I have to do, and excuse me if I phrase it, what do I have to do to get on the list, to get into heaven, however you want to phrase it? The lawyer said it most bluntly, what must I do to inherit eternal life? It's such a fundamental question that you would think this rabbi, who was getting a reputation beyond just the circle that knew him and the crowds that were gathering to hear him, there was even some talk out there, words like Messiah were being used, son of God, son of man, that this had already started to be out there. You would think that a rabbi with this kind of reputation would have a pretty pat answer. What must I do to have eternal life, inherit eternal life? Just a quick, not a flippant answer, but a solid answer.

A good, solid, one-sentence answer. But that's not what happens. Jesus responds to that important faith question with two questions of his own to this inquisitive lawyer.

What is written in the law? What do you read there? So the answer, Jesus suggests, is already there. It's in the Bible. What do you read? You've studied the Torah.

What did you read there? The lawyer swiftly offers a response that welds the two important themes together of the law of Moses. Love God and love your neighbour. Good answer, says Jesus.

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 neighbour as yourself. Well done. Love in this way and you shall live.

But it so often is the case when we know the right answer, the lawyer knew the answer. He just provided the answer. We shuffle, we waver.

We want to nail this down as well as we can. We know the obstacles that make doing the right things difficult, moving beyond our belief to action, all of that. The most demanding journey is the path from the right answer to the right action.

The lawyer knew the right answer. What he wanted to know is what he had to do. Do this and you will live, said Jesus.

Hold on, the lawyers, you can almost hear the thinking going on. Love God and neighbour? How big of a job is that going to be? This could be hard. Not the loving God, but the loving the neighbour.

I need a little clarification here, Jesus. Who is my neighbour? Ah, there's the question. That's what you were really asking.

Now we're getting somewhere, Jesus is thinking. Somewhere beyond questions and answers and tests and self-interest. We are getting close to the holy.

Beckoning the lawyer ever deeper into the waters of faith, into moving beyond what he believes and what he's willing to do and his action, he says, follow me as I tell you this story. A traveller was on his way to Jericho. He is beaten by robbers.

He's left for dead along the highway. A priest comes along, a clergy person. Happens to be walking on the same road.

Sees the injured dying man and he crosses over to the other side. And then the Levite comes along. Now, you've heard this enough times.

You recognise that a Levite is part of the clergy class, not a priest per se, but certainly involved in the worship, would be knowledgeable of the law. He does the same thing. And then, by now, any first century lawyer would have recognised why Jesus was using the priest and the Levite.

These are people who had a deep knowledge of the law. Like the lawyer who had originally asked the question, these two knew the law well enough to know the right answers. They knew loving God and loving your neighbour.

But they also knew the law well enough to make it work in their favour. Well, there are those passages about loving your neighbour. And there's passages that talk about helping people in need.

But you also know, in the law, there are those passages about behaviour around a body that is dead. And the unclean, that it's unclean. Don't approach.

There are rituals, not at the side of the road, there are rituals and observances to be respected. They knew the law well enough to figure out, and I've tried to come up with a better word than loophole, but that's the one that came to mind. They knew the loophole to get out of helping in that situation, because they really knew the law.

In one sense, that's why Jesus said to the lawyer, what is written in the law? What do you read there? The parable is not about knowing the right answer. He knew the lawyer knew the right answer. The parable is asking the lawyer to go beyond the right answer, to go beyond belief, to go to doing the right thing, the right action.

Just because you got the good book in your hand, and you may even have the good book memorised, it doesn't give you a corner or the market on holiness. As Luke puts it elsewhere in his volume, even the devil can quote scripture. That doesn't take talent.

So Jesus' questions is not simply what do you read in the law, but also is what is in your heart when you read the law? When you read the law and you read love God and love neighbour, what's in your heart? Are you hearing that and acting it out of self-interest? Are you looking for the minimum requirements? A well-read person, a well-versed person can use the law to justify all kinds of actions. If you wanted to, you could even rationalise stepping aside, crossing to the other side to avoid the man injured on the side of the road. So as Jesus begins to end the parable, he brings in the third traveller, doesn't he? And that's the Samaritan, and again, we know from our experience that the Samaritan is an outsider.

Related, cousin thereof, the faith maybe, but still, for Jesus' time and for his group of people, the Samaritan is an outsider. Everybody picked up on that when they heard this parable. There's no way he's gonna feel the compulsion, religion or religious or otherwise, to help someone in the ditch, and yet Jesus says, no reference to law, no reference to what the Samaritan believed, the Samaritan moved by compassion.

That's what moved him to action. Maybe he couldn't quote Leviticus at the drop of a hat, but the Samaritan knew how to make that difficult journey from the right answer to the right action, from beyond belief into action. Which of these three, Jesus asks the lawyer, do you think the neighbour, who was the neighbour to this man? The one who showed him mercy, the one who showed him compassion, the one who acted, go and do likewise, is Jesus' next statement, go and do likewise.

That's the answer that he gave to the lawyer, and it was hard to hear. It's hard for anyone to hear, go and do likewise. But I still think that is one of the most blessed statements that Jesus ever gave to them.

Your sins are forgiven, beautiful. The meals that he shared, all of the compassion and love and encouragement he gave to disciples and women at the well and lepers, all of that's wonderful, but go and do likewise. What a blessing that was to the lawyer.

He's giving that lawyer a chance to lead a meaningful life. Yes, you know the texts. Yes, you know the answers.

But I just told you a story about a man who was moved by compassion and mercy. Go and do likewise. Jesus has extended a hand to the religious scholar, or really anyone who asks that question, and frees them from selfishness and self-interest, and simply invites them to go and do likewise.

And here's how we, here is how we can hear that. It's not a demand, it's not a command, it's an invitation to eternal life, which is what the lawyer asked in the very first place. Go and do likewise.

Not a command, not a demand. It's the invitation to eternal life. Amen, and so be it.

Let us pray. Merciful God, give us the wisdom to recognise your repeated attempts to pull us back from the quicksand, the wrong way, the road not to travel, and give us faith that will empower us to go and do likewise. That we may be blessed with the fullness of life, and even, we hope, joy.

This we pray in the name of the one who reaches out to all of us, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, amen.