Hey, friend, welcome to another episode of the Sunday Sit down.
And it is not Sunday. We are sitting down.
We're talking about Luke chapter 10, the parable of the Good
Samaritan today. And we hope that this
conversation finds you in the midst of what is a good fall
week. It's cold now, and I can wear
sweaters and not sweat through them.
I switched into fall mode. And there was a heat.
Wave. And then we had that heat wave
and I didn't switch out of fall mode.
I just kept dressing like it was still fall and I'm just stubborn
I guess, and I just couldn't mentally flip back to shorts and
AT shirt and so I kept wearing wool jackets and stuff.
I like parties. Yeah, I like, I'm, I'm a hoodie,
hoodie guy through and through. Have been ever since my my
teenage years from like the days where I'd go to concerts and buy
band hoodies. That was so when fall comes
around, I get very happy. OK, so the question of the day
is, do you have all of the concert bodies still in your
closet somewhere, or was that one of the things that you gave
up when you got married? There was a slow removal process
over the course of many years, although I still have one of my
own band cities that my daughter now wears to school sometimes
because I, I think it was, it was not one that ever fit me,
but it was one that would like when we, when we broke up, like
there was a whole bunch of my band, not when we broke up.
There was a whole bunch of extras in, in our like storage
space or whatever. And we just kind of divided them
up. And I was like, oh, this one's
like a, like a youth medium that's never gonna fit me.
But, and I just held on to it for like sentimentality sake.
And then I pulled it out and I was like, ah, this would fit you
perfect. And she was like, yeah, it fits
me great. So anyway.
I love that. I absolutely love that.
That is great. So slow removal.
Yeah, not surprise. Anyway, Good Samaritan, so this
passage and you kind of touched on this a little bit on Sunday,
like is one of the most like well known.
It's, it's so it's, it's, it's a, it's a cultural, it well
transcends culture. It's, it's something that has
made its way into all of our modern verbage.
When you talk about like a Good Samaritan, which is kind of just
code for like a good person who does a good deed, you know,
which is not the meaning really as well into a little bit more,
but like it is something that that we we want to have a better
understanding of. And and so you touched a little
bit more on the on the expert in the law.
And I do want to start there. Yeah.
But we should we should actually a little bit later on dive a bit
more into some some of what's happening in in this parable,
the expert in the law, he does a couple things.
So first, he, you know, he comes to Jesus, addresses him as
teacher. Good for him.
He asks this question and I want to start here is what must I do
to inherit eternal life, which is, I mean, that's kind of an
Evergreen question. It's it's a question that, you
know, people across spiritual spectrums are asking what like,
what does it take for me to what whatever, you know, whatever
culture's version of of the afterlife is, what does it take
for me to get there? You know, and, and even today,
you know, is reflecting on this, you know, like you have the
president of the United States who's been like, you know,
asking these questions about his his eternal fate and wondering
whether he's done enough to to make it there and, and do that
Like and and it's it's a weird moment where to find anyway.
But this guy is, you know, 2000 years ago is asking a similar
question. Yeah.
Yeah, it's, it is. You're right.
It's an interesting day where you have one of the most public
figures in the world openly wondering about his own
salvation. Right and.
Questioning and questioning like I don't think I've done enough
right, like that in in kind of a negative way, like I don't think
I will go like I don't think I'll make it.
And so I do think like this is a question that every single
person wrestles with at some point in their life, Be it when
you are confronted with death, be it when you're confronted
with your own, like the death of somebody else, your own
mortality. You go through seasons of
illness, Maybe you come by it naturally and you've been asking
this question your entire life. You know, people who are a
little bit more like existentially angsty and, and
just naturally wonder these questions.
Some people just don't think about it at all.
And then something blindsides them.
And there we go. Oh my goodness.
Like we do, we wrestle these things out.
I think it's interesting that like for this teacher, so sorry
for the for the expert in the law, he names Jesus teacher.
And so Rabbi teacher for the expert in the law.
Yeah, yeah. Who who rises to test Jesus?
What he's saying is, oh, you're like, you're a teacher.
Are you going to give me the right answer?
Like these experts would sit around debating this question.
This is a common question for these lawyers, these experts in
Jewish law to sit around just batting back and forth And that
that would be a regular like occurrence.
And really, I think in some way what what he's asking is, hey,
are you going to give me the right answer or like, are you
gonna stay within Orthodoxy, right?
Or are you gonna push the kind of envelope you're gonna push
the limits? Are you going to give us really,
are you gonna, am I gonna catch you saying something heretical
or something technically, theologically wrong according to
his particular view and interpretation of, of the law?
So on the one hand, it's this question that like he rises, he
says, teacher, he's priming Jesus.
You see this happen all throughout the Gospels.
Or, like, you're a teacher, you're a good teacher.
Gotcha. Uh huh.
Yeah. He's like, I'm setting you up.
It's like, yeah, I'll butter you up and then I'll Wham, I'll give
you the, you know, I'll launch this question and you get stuck
with it. But like, Jesus doesn't bite at
that, which is brilliant. So on the one hand, I see this
question as, yeah, it's that kind of test.
But on on a deeper level, I think it's exactly what you
named, which is this question is something we all need to wrestle
out at some point in our life. And I honestly think, you know,
within reason, the sooner the better.
Certainly if like, if you're an adult listener, you listener,
like, the sooner you adult listener wrestle this question
out, the the better for here and now and into the remainder of
your earthly life and existence and beyond.
So it's I. Really are getting existential
on a on a Wednesday morning. Yeah, absolutely.
I I think it's a great question to wrestle at.
What Like what must I do to inherit eternal life?
It's so interesting in Matthew, we get this similar question and
I was just pulling it up earlier, but it's Matthew 19 and
here it is. Ah, it's, it's so in my Bible,
it's called the rich and the Kingdom of God.
And so in this instance in Matthew, it reads like this,
says just then a man came up to Jesus and asked teacher, what
good thing must I do to get eternal life?
It's a different tone to it and and like he's asking a specific
like what what deed, what what must good, what good thing must
I do like that's. So I, yeah, I flipped to this
expert in the law. What must I do to inherit
eternal life? Yeah.
And here's this rich man. What good thing must I do to get
eternal life? And I think they are naming in,
in many ways, the way we also come about this question, which
is what do I have to do? Which is exactly the question
that you said, you know, the United States is asking, like,
have I done enough? I don't think I've done enough.
Yeah. But I think that's a question
that rattles around in our souls because human beings like we, we
really like measurable, quantifiable, like definable,
attainable. Was in effect, you know, like I
do this then that, yeah, absolutely.
You know, like if I if I can hedge my bets by by doing more
of this to make sure that I get that net result.
Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So it's like, you know, what must I do to retire at 65?
Well, if I contribute X amount every month from the moment I
turn 18 until the moment I like, you know you can start making
those calculations and go. Start market crashes and.
You're Yeah, absolutely. Then who knows?
Yeah, you know, we, we like those step by step attainable.
If this, then that I can, I can do this, Yeah.
And I think it's worth naming that we come, I think very often
to Jesus with that same question.
But really at the end of the day, what we see in this in this
exchange with Jesus is that Jesus holds up a mirror to this
guy and says in, in essence, there's nothing you can do.
Yeah, because he says what he what he says is, oh, just keep
the entire law. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, soul, mind, strength, love your neighbor as
yourself. Commonly brought together,
Deuteronomy and Leviticus commonly brought together as a
way of representing the entirety of the law in a similar way
that, you know, talking about the 10 commandments is really
talking about the 10 commandments and all of the law
that was given to Moses. This had by Jesus and become a
very popular sentence or statement answer to the question
when really what they're saying is love Lord God with their
heart, soul, mind, strength. Love your neighbor as yourself
encapsulates the entirety of the law.
So with all of this doing all of these things, you inherit
eternal life. She just says do this and you
will live. Which is also from Leviticus.
Well, shoot, the one who does this, who does these things,
will live by them. And I think in that moment, what
becomes brutally, honestly clear to this teacher of the law is I
haven't done those things. So now what?
Jesus held up a mirror. Say, do all these things and you
will live. And I go, well, I don't, and so
now what? And that's where Jesus flips
into the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Yeah, to really illustrate what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
So Jesus responds, You have answered correctly.
So he, he's like, you know, you, you have cognitively understood
the reality of the situation. Interesting that he doesn't go
into sort of like questioning whether or not he has actually
lived out. I think it's probably the, the
safe assumption that he, the man hasn't.
And so there's no point in, you know, his, the, the man's
gotcha. Jesus kind of returns with
another gotcha. Yeah, so then the man wanted to
justify himself, and he asks this other, you know, what feels
like a very poignant question? Both of them.
And now who is my neighbor? Who is my neighbor?
And that's when Jesus launches into this parable.
But like, just even pause there for a second and, and just to
like reflect on that question of of, you know, the way that he's
asking it, he is asking it to well, he's not asking it to
like, just, you know, have an honest discussion about the, you
know, clarifying, Well, you know, it, it it really is OK.
What are the boundaries of my love that I am I ought to give
to people? And I feel like this is a
question that that we are often wrestling out in real time.
Like I, I know, I know for me it is very easy to love people that
look and act and believe the way that I look, act and believe.
And that when you look at people across a political spectrum,
across a religious person perspective across whatever
else, right? Like that's when it gets real
hard and it feels like the whole, the whole parable that
Jesus gives after this is like, no, it, it is it your neighbor
is, is not just the people that are in your affinity group.
So I don't know if you want to go with that, but just to say
like it, this is one of the greatest questions or the I
mean, it's not a great question, but it's a great, it's a
question that we need to grapple with and that I see Christians
in real time. And I, when I go on, I think I
was on like I for some stupid reason went on Twitter yesterday
and I saw someone. Yeah.
Missed incorrectly in misinterpreting this question,
basically saying, like, well, my neighbor is only my, my, my kin,
my affinity group. And so I don't actually need to
love those people. Yeah.
So like, biblical illiteracy is still running rampant here.
Yeah. So this is, I mean the the
teacher of the expert and the law would have working
assumption is that neighbor is only a relevant term, a relevant
term to be used for other law observing Jews.
Yeah, like that's kind of the base assumption is that neighbor
is exactly what you've said. Neighbor is kin, neighbor is
friend, Neighbor is same beliefs, same religion, same
practices. Neighbor is not those outside of
in this day like biblical Israel, right and even within
that like very clearly law observing Jewish people.
So I do think and and we didn't talk too much about this on
Sunday, but I do think that really the lawyer is still
trying to trick and trap. He's still trying to test Jesus
because in some way he's, he's doubled down on his question and
said, well, who is my who, who, who do you consider to be my
neighbor? Because I know what's correct in
the eyes of the law. So now Jesus has actually given
an answer that's technically like incorrect in their
understanding of law in the day. So it's interesting to me that
the the lawyer actually concedes the point at the end.
Hmm. You know, he's, he's been
convinced to some degree when he says, OK, fine.
You know, like the one who had mercy on him, he's the one who
acted like the neighbor. So, you know, I, I think to your
to your point, though, we still like that same question, who is
my neighbor? Because it still puts us in
control. It still allows us to include
and exclude based on my own comfort and what I would like to
see what makes me content or happy.
And and it avoids or even allows us to exclude intentionally
exclude what makes us the most uncomfortable.
And you know, my I can still well, you know, if I choose to
have charity towards someone, then hey, good for me.
But you know, that's over and above what's kind of expected of
me. Yeah, and I think we do this.
So I I just want to challenge people.
I think we do this every even day around.
Think about your real actual quote next door neighbors.
Um, you know, and are there folks in your neighborhood that
you avoid? Are there individuals Now listen
like, you know, there, there might be individuals that you
just for safety's sake need to avoid.
You know, I'm not saying put yourself in harm's way, but you
know, do you have neighbors that you get along really well with
and you invest in because they're fun and you know, you
enjoy time with them? And do you have other neighbors
that you avoid because they do silly things like leaf blow at
6:00 AM on a Saturday morning or put up big old like, Halloween
decorations on the front lawn? Or like, I don't know, drive
loud cars that wake everybody up in the middle of like those are
random examples. But you're speaking.
You're speaking to me. I got a neighbor who has loud
trucks and sometimes they Rev them at all hours of the night.
So like, I, I think that the challenge of this, the challenge
of this parable is to get out of the mindset of asking who is my
neighbor and into a mindset of asking how am I being the
neighbor? Well, yeah.
And you know, I would just to, to back up for a second, our
like our mission statement to be rooted in Jesus as a church,
right? To be rooted in Jesus, grow as a
community, and become trusted neighbors.
And we've often interpreted that like for our church at least as
like that we are present in a very specific neighborhood here
in, in Guelph ON Canada and that we want to invest in our literal
neighborhood. But then there's obviously the
extension of, hey, we're not, we don't all live in this
neighborhood. We all have actual literal
neighbors where we live. And so let's also like be
trusted neighbors to those neighbors, right?
But I think the broader point is, is that I think it's like a
John Mark Comer quote where he's talking about this, this
parable. And, and he says like, you know,
and I'm paraphrasing, this is not the actual quote, but it's
something to the effect of of like, you know, your neighbor.
I should really look this up and I'm probably gonna like splice
in a a quote later. But put this, put the ink quotes
over, yeah. Video, but it's like it's not
less than your actual neighbor. Like you know, yeah, your
neighbor is everyone, but it's actually like that includes your
actual neighbors, right? I'll get that.
It might be. I think what he says is like it.
It might be more then like it is often more than your literal
next door neighbor. It's not, but it's not less than
your literal next door neighbor. You are called.
And so I think the reason why I'm convinced that we've got the
language right in our mission statement is that we didn't say,
yeah, we're going to learn to trust our neighbors.
No, it's like we're going to become the trusted neighbor.
Yeah. And again, that's not a who is
my neighbor? That's a how are we being the
neighbor? So then my mind goes to, OK, if
we're not called to ask who is my neighbor?
We're called to challenge, be challenged by how are we the
neighbor? What does the neighbor do in
Jesus parable? Right How how is how is
neighboring like if I could use that term?
How is neighboring fleshed out by Jesus in the parable?
Because I, I see that as so not only, not only do I not get to
choose who my neighbor is, I have to become the neighbor.
I have to do it in a very specific way, which is still not
just, well, I'll do a good thing for somebody.
It is, like I think I said on Sunday, over the top abundant
generosity. Like it is lavish generosity
that this guy shows to somebody who would have considered him
the enemy. I also think, and this is like,
sometimes it's easy in our in our homes or just wherever we
are to like just sort of go on autopilot in, in our, in our
like just go about our day, you know, like you're mowing the
lawn and you see something weird, but then you just sort of
like that was weird and move on, right.
And I think that there's something about this the, the
Samaritan just even like paying attention to what's happening
in, in, in, as he's walking on this road to, from Jerusalem to
Jericho, that he's not just like, oh, that's weird.
And then just keep going, right? Because I mean, you, you can
kind of see in the, in the examples of the Levite and the
priest that there is a bit of an intentionality to their
avoidance of this man, right? Whereas, whereas the, the, the
intentionality for this Samaritan to just pay attention
to what's happening around him, right?
And I think about, you know, I think about our own, my own
neighborhood where sometimes weird things happen.
We, we live on a like it's a busier St. and there's a lot of
action. Like there's, you know, the sun
early Sunday mornings and early Saturday mornings.
It's the weekend and there's people coming in from downtown
and cars are cars get broken into all the time and that kind
of stuff. But like just being aware when
like something potentially dangerous is happening, you
know, like there been times when I've heard like yelling and
screaming outside of my, you know, outside of our house
because there's some people that are intoxicated or whatever that
are getting into an altercation. And one time there was a guy
that was speaking in a way to a young woman that was like really
giving me like my, my Spidey senses were going off and I was
like, I'm going to intervene here.
And I, and I did, I could have just went back to sleep.
I probably wouldn't have felt good about that.
And so like I went on our way cause I'm like, I need like this
could be unsafe, right? We, we need to do something
right? Yeah, and and like just being
aware and and willing to go the next step.
Yeah, yeah, Yeah. I think right on at at minimum,
I'll say that cautiously. I think one of the challenges is
to be aware, intentionally watch, look, engage.
We live in such a cultural moment where a like an age of
distraction could be like constant partial attentiveness
or you know, in the in the inverse, like constant partial
distraction. Yeah, is everywhere.
Your family really struggles with this because we're all like
overwhelmed. We try to go to a restaurant and
eat and it's like, well who's gonna sit facing the TV because
it can't be me and right. And like, you know, a couple
just kind of trying to figure out how to how do we do that?
We need, you know what we need someone to open up a restaurant
with 0 screens in it. Like none.
No CVS. The Mandarin.
OK, yeah, except you know this about me.
The last time I went to the Mandarin Man, it was like I was
15. And we all end up with food
poisoning. The only reason I bring that up
is because we were there. I was there a couple weeks ago
for my Lindsey's grandparents anniversary party and and we
were we all wanted TV because it was during like the first
playoff. Game.
That's right. So so there was like 3 of us
that had it on our phones because there was no TV's.
You brought your own screen. Yeah, we sure did.
It's. Bad, so bad.
You know, I think there's, there's this, there's this
constant partial distraction that we all live with, whether
it's externally driven by what is going on around us.
Like the world has become louder than ever before.
So even just they've they've done research on decibel level
and health for those who live on a Main Street versus those who
live just off that same Main Street.
Yeah, right. And we've always, there's always
been studies that show it's really healthy to live by water,
like by by bodies of water, by big lakes or by oceans.
But what are some of the actual like deeper kind of things going
on? Well, you know, we, we felt that
when we left the city. When I say the city, like when
we moved out of Hamilton and came to Guelph and moved to a
quiet St. like I, I don't think I've slept better over the
course of a year in a long time because I had just how much less
noise there is constantly. So whether it's external or
whether it's internal work in our own sort of mental
distraction, thinking about the important and significant things
that are going on in our own lives.
One of the things that this parable does challenge us to
think really practically about is no, you're right.
I'm I'm going to choose to be aware, I'm going to choose to
watch. I'm going to choose to see what
is happening and not ignore it. You can't blame the Levite and
the priest too much. Like, I think, you know, we have
this tendency to, like, just be really harsh.
But they are choosing, in their mind, they're choosing what they
think to be right, which is their duty to the law and to the
people as religious officials. So if they had touched this guy
and he turned out to be dead, then they couldn't go and be the
priest and the Levite. So priest in the temple and
Levite helper within the temple, they couldn't go and do that.
So if they were on their way, in theory, they're either they're
on their way to the temple in all likelihood, and they would
not be able to do that had they stopped.
So like, we can be harsh on them, but what else could be
going on? Like this could be a, this could
be a diversion. There could be robbers waiting.
Like they've beat this one guy up and they're like, we're going
to not just take his stuff, but now we're going to use him as
bait and we're going to wait and see who else we can draw in.
So you kind of like, here's this Samaritan who's aware of all of
this and still chooses to lean in and go the extra, you know,
few miles of, of taking care of him.
And so be aware, it's a great place to start.
Just choose to see people. Yeah, right.
How often do we intentionally try to ignore the least and last
and most underprivileged and disadvantaged in our own
society? Yeah, right.
Start thinking about like even just and there are so many
different ways that we could go here, but how we how we want to
talk about houseless or you know, what we've previously
referred to as homelessness. What How do we How do we want to
treat those who are living on the street?
How do we want to? Like many, there are many, many,
many bylaws designed essentially to move it out of sight.
Yeah. So you just don't see it.
Hmm. Drug use and addiction, right.
We try to ship it out so that we don't see it in our own everyday
life. We try to sanitize what we see
seniors right into home. So again, there's and that's not
all bad. I'm not saying that that's
that's necessarily some people need care that I can't give them
like I shouldn't be administering medication right?
Like that's not a thing, but we've created a lot of
mechanisms within our society that that ship out the those
whom Jesus calls us to see. Yeah, when I think about like
even just another example within all of those examples, like just
like some of the pervasive mental health challenges that
people face. And like I said, I'm on a busy
St. Sometimes there are people
having like an episode of some kind just just wandering about
the street. And.
And one of the one of the greatest challenges in that,
which makes me think of this parable a little bit, is like,
how do I, how do I approach, how do I approach this situation?
I want to do something. I want to help.
Sometimes I feel helpless. Sometimes I'm like, is it, is it
a good idea to call 911? Is it a good idea to, to just
sort of, you know, observe, make sure he's safe?
You know, like, like there's, there's so many questions that
we need to ask ourselves when there is, you know, when, when
there is someone who, you know, we're aware of a situation, we
see it happening, but then it's like, OK, what, what can I do?
Right? And sometimes we can be
paralyzed even just by, you know, not knowing how to help,
how to approach. But I, I think the better thing
is that we're just wrestling it out like, say, like, like that.
I would prefer that we actually ask the question of how can I
help rather than whether we should or should not help.
It's what is the most helpful thing in this situation.
And sometimes we don't know the answer, you know, but I, I've, I
know that I have really wrestled that, you know, in my
neighborhood. And I think, you know, just to
say, obviously what we're not saying is go and put yourself in
incredibly dangerous situations by yourself.
Yeah, right. Yeah.
We're not encouraging you to do that.
Yeah. So please don't make that the
take away from this. I think you're right.
I think if you are genuinely wrestling out what to do, I
think that's that should not give you cause to beat yourself
up. Yeah, if you wrestle that out
and in in that acute moment, decide not to do something.
But. We're not gonna get it right
every. Time no, but then choose to live
differently because of it, right.
So, you know, maybe one of the easiest, like so significant,
but maybe like low hanging fruit is go put yourself in a
community where there are groups of people intentionally doing
something right. So we have a, we have a food
covered that you can volunteer at and we need volunteers for
that food cupboard. Use a pitch right everyone, come
on. And that could be, that could be
unloading the orders that come every week into our room.
It could be sitting while the actual food covered is open for
people to come and meet. It could, you know, honestly, it
could be spreading the word about the resources that are
available through our church community.
So that's why I think at the end of the day, you and I, we often
like, beat the drum of get yourself involved in community
because what we want to do as a church is position ourselves to
to be a hub for both those who require help.
Yeah. And those who are looking for a
way to do something. You're sitting there like, I
wanna do something. I just don't know what that
thing is. Don't go reinvent the wheel on
your own. Yeah.
There's so many opportunities within our church, within the
city to, to where you can learn how to love your neighbor in
very practical ways. Yeah, I mean, the, the
opportunities are endless. I, I think I can be prone toward
sometimes like, like fatalistic thinking about about, you know,
like, well, what difference can I make, right?
But the reality is like if we're, if we're, if we're
helping people to receive care of of any kind, like the answer
is a lot. Yeah, we, we can do a lot.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I, I wanna focus maybe less
on this like just lavish kind of generosity that the Samaritan
shows because I think it's reflective of the generosity
that God shows to us. And I alluded to that a little
bit. Like, you know, we like to see
ourselves as the Good Samaritan, right?
Maybe in our darker moments, we gotta wrestle out the expert of
the law inside of us, right, when we rise to justify
ourselves or test Jesus. But really, I think at the end
of the day, what the gospel says is you're the you're the, the
dude who's beat up, half dead, left for dead on the side of the
road. Desperately in need of generous
care from a good neighbor. And, and Jesus steps into that
role in perfection, right? And so I think, like, I think
that's also something that each of us needs to wrestle out is,
you know, not while I think it's a good inclination.
Go. Yep, I'm going to go and be the
Good Samaritan. Yeah.
I'm going to try to fight the urge to be the expert in the
law. Yeah.
Actually, what we need most is to receive this generosity from
Jesus and find ourselves on the side of the road receiving care
and being mended and yeah, allowing God to be that one who
is generous toward us. So I think we like is I know for
myself, right, What's easier than being vulnerable helping
somebody else? What often feels better than
being vulnerable helping somebody else?
Yeah, right. We can kind of mask like our own
need by good works and good deeds because that, like at the
end of the day, it's not. I said that too many times in
the sermon. At the end of the day, it's not
about what good you can do. And that's the I think that's
the other mistake we can make in reading this parable is we can
link the guys question, what must I do to inherit eternal
life? And then Jesus saying go and do
likewise. Right.
So you can end up causing maybe an incorrect link of like, well,
these are the things you must do here 123 you need to and
including, you know, serving all of all of the poor beat up
people on the side of the road. Yeah, and it does feel like it
links all the way back to that in, in that, you know, he's
asking what must I do to inherit?
You know, and and there is an implication of, of when you
receive an inheritance you don't like, you didn't, you didn't
really earn it. But he's asking what must I do
to inherit like this? There must be something I have
to do, right? And, and I think that the whole
point of the gospel, the good news of the Kingdom is that it
is unmerited, right? And and that we are like the
person dying on the side of the road that needs that, that needs
life support. Yeah, This is this is like grace
is I think best defined grace is unmerited favor.
Like it is unearned, unwarranted favor toward you.
Yeah. And you know, unearned is maybe
a little bit of a misnomer because we we theologically
would then flush out, well, no, Jesus earned it, right, Right.
And gives it. But it's my unmerited, right.
It's unmerited favor that's given toward me and toward you.
It's interesting. So in the Matthew similar
interaction with this rich young man, he, we don't get any sort
of inclination as to how this guy goes away.
Jesus just tells him go and do likewise.
And then we're into Mary and Martha as Jesus and his
disciples were on their way. So in Matthew, though, this rich
young man who comes to Jesus and says, you know, functionally the
same thing, teacher, what what good thing must I do to get
eternal life? Jesus does he goes on this, you
know, why do you ask me what is good?
There is only one who is good. If you want to enter into life,
keep the commandments. And then the rich young man asks
which ones? Jesus replied, you shall not
murder, you shall not commit adultery, shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony on your father and
mother and love your neighbor as yourself.
So again, what he's doing is pairing the the 10 commandments
like the law with this love your neighbor as yourself piece from
Leviticus. He's summarizing all of the law
and the the young man says, well listen, all these I've kept,
what do I still lack? Jesus answered, if you want to
be perfect, go sell your possessions, give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven.
And then he gives this call. Then come follow me.
When the young man heard this, he went away sad because he had
great wealth. He still misses the mark.
So what Jesus is calling this young guy to do too is is to
that same life like of lavish generosity of ultimately like
surrender, sell everything that you have, give to the poor, be
one who embraces this wild generosity and then come, follow
me, come be with me. And I think that really is in in
some way what we're called to wrestle with in the Good
Samaritan as well. Feels like it's like this, you
know, that that the rich young man there, like Jesus kind of
puts a mirror on him about what's going on in his world.
And Jesus does the same here with with this expert in the
law. Yeah.
And, and by the end of the
story, by the end of the teaching, by the end of the
exchange, what is abundantly clear is that yes, like
generosity is the currency of the Kingdom.
It is how the Kingdom operates. And you are called to live out
that generosity toward others. You're called to live out that
generosity toward others because you've received it from God.
Yeah, and that and and you've, you've known it deep into the
core of your being that unmerited, unwarranted, not
because you did the right thing. It's been given to you, and so
therefore, yeah, you become one who lives generously toward
others. That's good.
Go and do likewise that's good Well that's that seems like a
great place to close out so yeah we hope that you can carry this
into your week as you think more deeply about some of these
questions of you know like my hope is that a very familiar
passage like this that we can kind of when we're not breathing
new life into it. I think that the the scriptures
speak for itself, but just hopefully illuminating some
things for, for discussion, for for the reflection for further
thought This week, this upcoming week will be and Mary and Martha
and Jesus in their home. I got Annabelle Edward up to
preach. It's going to be great to have
her back and looking forward to that.
But for now, if you have questions, you can send those
questions to questions at courtrightchurch.org and we'll
do our best to incorporate some of those in our in our
discussion. For now, have a great week.