I Believe in God

Belief in God

Fifteenth after Trinity

Collect: O Lord, we beseech thee, let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour, preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Text: I believe in God.

First in Series, The Faith of the Church, on The Apostles’ Creed.

Jane Froman had a television show in the 50s. Troubled by the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, she asked a group of writers to compose a song that would give hope. Their song was I Believe. Here is part of their faith:

I believe for every drop of rain that falls

A flower grows

I believe that somewhere in the darkest night

A candle glows

I believe for everyone who goes astray, someone will come

To show the way

…

I believe that someone in the great somewhere

Hears every word

Everytime I hear a new born baby cry,

Or touch a leaf or see the sky

Then I know why, I believe

It was not only a hit secular song; it was often sung in churches. Is that what we mean when we say in church, “I believe in God”?

1. I Believe

People believe in all sorts of things - tolerance, capitalism,  AA, psychology,  ghosts,  science, themselves. But what do we mean by “I believe” when we say the Creed? What is Christian believing?

Christian believing is both corporate and personal.

• We say the Creed together in church. It is a part of our worship. Believing together is a bond of our unity and creates fellowship with one another. It is the faith into which we were baptized, and it is our living faith which we we frequently reaffirm.

• We hold and confess our faith with the church of history. Our faith is contemporary; it is the faith we believe today. But is is also ancient; when we say the Creed, we say that the Christian church has always believed. There was a need  for statements of faith from the very beginning of the church. Creeds say positively what we do believe; they also negatively say what we don’t believe. We are not Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Mormons, or Unitarians, or Oneness Pentecostals. We are Christians who believe what Christians have always believed.  

• We hold and confess the faith with the church all over the world. The church has always had to set itself apart from unbelief. What does the church believe? The church believes at a minimum the Creed. Anything calling itself the church which does not sincerely confess the Creed according to its historic meaning in the ordinary sense of its words is not the church. We are a part of the worldwide fellowship of those who confess the true Christian faith.

• While we believe corporately, we also believe personally and individually. We say “I believe.” You believe with the church and in the church, but the church cannot believe for you. Nor can anyone else believe for you. You either believe the Christian faith or you don’t, and that is a personal matter for each individual. Is the Christian faith your personal faith?

• Christian believing is not believing in believing. We often hear today that what matters is not what you believe but that you believe something. That is not true of Christian faith in the Bible. You can believe something that is untrue with all your heart, but your believing will not make that belief true. You need true information; you need true content to your belief. That is what the Creed does; it teaches us what the Christian faith it. The Creed instructs us in the truth to believe. But just knowing and understanding the truth is not by itself true faith.

• Christian believing means agreeing with the information. You believe it is true. I once needed surgery, and a very nice Christian woman did not want me to have the operation. So she invited me to her home, and she gave me a lot of information about what she believed about my condition and the way to treat it. I understood it, but I did not believe it. Knowing the historical facts of the life of Jesus, the content of the Bible, and and the meaning of the Creed does not mean anything if we do not believe it is true. But knowing the truth and agreeing with it is not true faith.
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• Christian believing means committing yourself to what you understand and believe. More it means committing yourself to a Person, the God of the Creed. You entrust yourself to the God and Christ of the Bible, saying, as it were, “I give up false belief and belief in myself; I put my trust in you, Lord for this world and the world to come.”

• Suppose you were on the fourth floor of a house on fire back in the time when fireman used life nets. They shout to you that the net’s purpose is to save people in your predicament and, if you jump, your life will be saved. They ask if you understand; you say, “Yes.” They ask if you believe what they told you;  you say, “Yes.” But you really believe what they said? Only if you jump, if you act on what you know and believe - only if you trust the fireman. So with Christian believing.

• There are people who understand the Christian faith, go to church, and say the Creed, but lack true faith. There are those who are convinced of the Christian faith, and say the Creed believing it is true, but they too lack true faith. Those who have true faith understand and believe the truth of the Creed, and they entrust themselves to the God the Creed proclaims. Do you have a true and living faith?

2. I believe in God.

When we say the Creed, we say, “I believe in God.”

• That sets Christians apart from atheists. Atheists have always been with us. The Psalmist said of atheists of his day, “The fool hath said in his day, “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Ps. 14:1). It  sets us apart from agnostics who say they neither believe, nor don’t believe; they just don’t know. Now, neither atheism nor agnosticism is the same as doubts that come to true Christians. True faith can from time to time wrestle with doubts about God. But the doubting Christian, even in his doubts, clings to God saying, “Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief.”

• But the big difference in the Bible, as well as today, is between those who believe in the true God and those who believe in some other god. The vast majority of people are believers; they believe in some god. But being a theist, a believer in god, does not lead to salvation. The question is whether you believe in the one, true, living God. The only true God is the God the God who makes himself known in his written Word, the Bible, and in the living Word, his Son, Jesus Christ. The true God says through the prophet Isaiah, “I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God besides Me” (Is. 45:5).

• The Creed teaches us that the true God is one God who is three Persons, the Father, the, Son, and the Holy Spirit. We say, “I believe in God the Father; I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, I believe in the Holy Ghost.” Jesus himself taught us this. He told us to make disciples of the nations, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” There is one name - the noun “name” is singular, not names, but name. But this one name, this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” In the  old Anglican catechism person recites the Apostles’ Creed. Then the catechism  asks: “What do you chiefly learn in these Articles of your Belief?”  The person responds, “First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made me, and all the world. Secondly, in God the Son, who hath redeemed me, and all mankind. Thirdly, in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifies me, and all the people of God.”

• But there is more than belief in the God who is One in Three.  In our Offices of Instruction, it is not just theory, or doctrine. The members of the congregation, having confessed belief in the Trinity, make it personal with a personal response to a personal God: “And this Holy Trinity, One God, I praise and magnify.” Is this your life and my life - to praise and magnify the Holy Trinity, One God?

• This is the faith of the Christian church.
• This is the faith of every Christian.
• This is the faith in which and for which Christian martyrs have died.
• This is the faith for us to live and die believing and practicing.
• This is the faith we come to our Lord’s Table confessing with a true and lively faith.

Your Father Knows

Your Father Knows

Gospel: Matthew 6:24-34 (BCP, p. 231)

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Do you worry? Everybody does sometimes. For some it’s chronic. For most of us worry is connected to our sense of control. The more control we think we have the less we worry. The less control we feel we have the more we worry.

We have strategies for maintaining control. We make detailed plans for the future. We try to anticipate things that could go wrong so we can avoid them or respond to them should they occur. We work hard to impose our wills on situations and people. We think the more control we have the less there is to worry about.

But life has its ways of exposing our illusions of control. We make ten year plans, but then find out we may not have ten months. We have a great investment plan, but then the market crashes or bottom falls out of the value of precious metals. We direct our kids toward what we think is best for them, and it turns out their interests and wills are very different.

The less control we feel the more anxiety we experience. This morning we read for the Gospel the part of the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus addressed the subject of worry.

1. What we worry about.

Jesus gives us a sampling of things we worry about. They all have to do with life - the things we worry about that have to do with our physical lives in this material world.

• Food and drink. Food and drink were serious concerns in the ancient world. Droughts and famines threatened well being and life.  Wars interrupted food supplies. Poverty made it difficult to obtain food when it was available. That remains true today especially in third world countries. We take for granted the abundant food supply we enjoy. But that does not mean that we don’t worry about food. We worry about what we’re going to eat, not whether we will have food, but we worry about things like fat, GMOs, wheat, or whatever our particular health concerns are.

• Clothing. Clothing was also an issue in the ancient world. The OT law ordered that if a creditor took a borrower’s cloak as surety for a loan, he must return that cloak every night, because that cloak was his blanket at night. Today we pictures of naked children in the third world and of people in refugee camps wearing rags. Even the poorest of us have plenty of clothes, but we worry about them anyway. What will we wear to work each day? Are our clothes out of fashion? Will people laugh at the way we dress? Will be able to get that skirt or new pair of shoes we want?

• Length. The average lifespan in VA in the 17th century was about 25 years. Hygiene was poor. Food and water supplies were not predictably safe. The major factor contributing to such a short life expectancy was infant mortality. Then there were many illnesses which are prevented today by vaccinations. And there were many infections which today could be easily cured with antibiotics. But while life expectancy is much higher today, still life is fragile and death is certain. We watch our diets, exercise, take various dietary supplements attempting to a a few days or months to our lifespan.

2. Why we should not worry.

• Don’t be anxious. Jesus tells us to not be anxious about these things - food and drink, clothing, health, all the things associated with physical life in this present world. He is not saying, “Don’t have concern about these things at all,” but, “Don’t worry about them.”`

Someone might say, “I’m not going to look for a job, because Jesus

will take care of my family. If he wants me to have a job, he will

give me one.” Or a woman might say, “I’m not going to be

concerned about washing my kids’ clothes, or getting their

school supplies, or going to the grocery store so we can have good

meals at night.” This is not what Jesus is saying. What Jesus is

saying is, “Don’t think about these things obsessively. Don’t engage

in anxious thoughts about them.” Or, we might put it, “Be

responsible. Plan. Work. But don’t worry.”

Jesus gives reasons both practical and theological for not worrying.

• Practical Reasons. Here are some practical reasons not to become obsessed with worry about the things you need.

• Worry is futile.  Planning and diligence are good, but not when we become obsessed with them under the illusion that we can control life. But worry is not effective. Worrying about problems does not solve them. Worrying about things that might happen does not prevent them. Or, as Jesus said, “Who by worrying about his life can add so much as an hour to his lifespan?”  Worry is ineffective. It often is counterproductive. It accomplishes nothing.

• There is more to life than most of the things we worry about. We worry about food, drink, clothes, the material things we need and want for physical life in this world. We worry about our diets. We worry about the clothes we want to wear. We worry about how long we are going to live. But, there is much more to life. There’s the life of the mind -  reading, the arts, critical thought. There’s treating people with respect and love. There is  character - what kind of people we are and are becoming. When we worry about physical things, we are shallow people who focus on what is least important.

• Every day has enough troubles of its own. Deal with today’s issues. Don’t try to project yourself into the future. Focus on what needs your attention today. Do today’s homework. Prepare today’s meals. Go work. Wash the dishes. If you have a term paper due in two weeks, do some work on it today. But don’t try to predict the future. We are not very good at it. “Don’t borrow trouble” by worrying about things that may never happen. Deal with what is in front of you, not what you guess will be down the road.  Focus on the present, not the future. Today has enough troubles and responsibilities for today.

• Theological Reason. More important than the practical reasons is an overriding theological reason.

• You have a heavenly Father.
• Look at the birds. Birds are very active through the day, and much of their activity has to do with getting food. But birds don’t plant fields in the spring. They don’t harvest food in the fall. They don’t put food into barns to make sure they will have enough through winter. But they eat. Why? God takes care of them. He has farmers plant fields. He has people like me put out bird feeders. Now what is more valuable to God? Birds or you? God made the birds; God made you. But you and birds are not the same. You are far more important to God than birds. He made you, not they, in his image. You are most like God of anything that God made. Not only did God make you in his image; he redeemed  you by sending his Son to become one of us and to die for our sins. Now, if you are more valuable than the birds, don’t you think God can and will take care of you? And, if for any reason there is a shortage, don’t you know that it is not because he doesn’t love you but because he has a wise and good plan.  So why do you worry about food?
• Look at the fields where beautiful lilies grow. The fields do weave cloth to make clothes. No, the lilies come up and the fields are “dressed” with beautiful and glorious “clothes.” King Solomon was very rich. He could purchase whatever materials he wanted. He could hire the very best seamstresses. They produced for him clothes fitting for a king. But, when Solomon was dressed in his finest clothes, was he dressed as beautifully as the fields are when the lilies are in bloom? The grass of the fields which is adorned with lilies is here today. Tomorrow it may be dug up and used as fuel in the ovens. Still it is dressed beautifully with the lilies. Aren’t you more important to God than the grass of the fields? Doesn’t God care more about you infinitely more than he does about the fields? Of course, so why do you worry about clothes?

• Pagans worry about all these things having to do with life. Why? Because they do not have a heavenly Father. They have gods. But their gods are not good and loving. Their gods can be mean. Their gods can get angry. Their gods have to be placated and manipulated. They can fear their gods, but they cannot trust them. So they have to worry all the time about food, drink, clothes, how long they will live. The difference between Christianity and paganism is the Fatherhood of God. We know God as a Father who cares about us he children. I was and a very imperfect and flawed Father. But I care about my children, and I always did the best I could to make sure they had the things they needed. Don’t you think a perfect Father will love you perfectly and provide for all your needs in accordance with his perfect and loving will?

3. What we should do.

Jesus tells us to give up our obsession with food, drink, clothes, the length of life, and all the things we try to get to assure our security and happiness. He tells us to change our focus. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

God’s kingdom is his saving and righteousness rule which he has established in this world in Jesus Christ. His purpose is to overturn the rule of Satan, sin, and death. Jesus brought this kingdom into existence by his birth, his life, his death, and resurrection. He will rule till Satan is totally conquered, till sin is banished, till death is defeated. His kingdom now is his church which he has given the ministry of the Word and sacraments so the we can be saved and brought into this kingdom and live under his gracious rule. Focus on Christ.  Devote yourself to the spread of his kingdom. Mean it when you say, “Thy kingdom come; they will be done.”  Love his church as he loved the church and died for her.       

Here is what you need to think about, to focus on, to devote your energy to. Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. God will take care of the rest.

What Does God Owe You?

What Does God Owe You?

Fourteenth after Trinity

Collect of the Day Almighty and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou dost command; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Homily Text Luke 17:7-10  (KJ21)

7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by when he is come from the field, ‘Go and sit down to meat’?

8 But will you not rather say unto him, ‘Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk, and afterward thou shalt eat and drink’?

9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not!

10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do.’”

“Please go clean up your room, Johnny.”

“Will you pay me if I do?”

“No, It’s one of your jobs.”

“That’s not fair!”

Unfortunately it’s not just kids who complain that they are not treated fairly. Many have a sense of aggrievement and entitlement.  A great number of people complain that they don’t get a fair shake, that they are owed more than they receive, that they don’t get the appreciation and rewards they deserve. People may make such complaints not only against employers, the government, and family members. Sometimes they also complain that God owes them more than they receive.

The story or parable we read from St. Luke’s Gospel should come with a warning: “Trigger alert. This story might offend you.”

1. The Parable

1.1. Jesus told a story that is set in a very different world from ours. There is a household that consists of a master and a slave. The master was well off enough to have a slave, but not wealthy enough to  several slaves, those who worked outside and others inside. We don’t know if the master had other family. The story focuses on him and his slave. There was just one servant who had to do all the work expected by the master.

1.2. The slave would be sent out to work on the farm during the day. His assignment might be to plow a field or to tend the livestock. This was hard manual labor, and he had to do it all by himself. His day was, as I have heard old working men say, “from sun-up to sun-down” or “from can to can’t.”

Now, if you and I spend hours outside doing physically demanding work,  we are ready to sit down in the shade, drink something cool, recuperate, take a shower, and have our supper. Jesus asks, “Is that what you expect the servant to do when he work is finished? Would his master say, “You’ve worked long and hard. Come on in right now, and sit down and have supper with me”?

Everybody who heard the story would have answered, “No, of course not. That’s not how it works with masters and slaves!”

1.3. The slave’s day is not over. The master says, “Prepare my supper. Change out of your work clothes and put on  proper clothes for waiting table.  Then you can serve me while I eat and drink.” The master adds, “When you have finished with serving me, then you can see about your own supper.”

Jesus asks another question: “Do you think that he will thank the servant of all of his work?” From our perspective, it would seem obvious that the master should say, “Thank you.” That’s not only courteous; it’s good management to express appreciation.

But to Jesus’s listeners the answer was obvious. Of course, not. The slave is a slave. His job is to do whatever the master tells him to do. He has just done what was expected of him. No thanks are due for doing what you’re supposed to do.”

2. Point

2.1. The story seems strange to us, but it made sense to the people who originally heard it. Does the the fact that the story comes from a very different world from ours mean that it is irrelevant for us living in the second decade of the 21st century? No, Jesus had timeless point to make, but first we need to clear a possible misunderstanding.

Jesus was not teaching us the way to treat other people. He is not telling us not to thank the waitress who brings our meal, or the UPS man who delivers a package, or the person who sets up and cleans up after the fellowship time at church. We should not take for granted the people who serve us. It is always good to express appreciation and to recognize jobs done well. Your mother was right. Say, “Please and thank you.”

2.2. The stories or parables Jesus told often begin with a reality that illustrates a point he wants to make. He told the story about a man who early in the morning hired laborers to work in his vineyard. At intervals all through the day he hired more laborers. Then when the workday was just about over he hired some more laborers. When it came time to pay, he paid everyone the same amount. Those who had worked in the heat of the day protested that it was not fair. But the owner of the vineyard said, “I paid you what I promised. And it’s my right to pay whatever I want to those who did not start till the end of the day.” Jesus is not teaching us about labor and management contracts, but rather takes a story that could come from real life in order to teach us about God’s grace and generosity to sinners.

2.3. What was Jesus doing with this story about the hard working slave and the master who gave him no thanks because he did no more than was expected of him. Jesus tells us the point: “So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants;  we have only done what was our duty.’”

2.3.a. We belong to God body and soul for two reasons. First he created us. As. Psalm 100 tells us, “It is he who has  made us, and we are his.” We belong to God because “in his we live and move and have our being. “ Second we belong to God because he redeemed us the dying of Christ. St. Paul tells us, “You are not your own (you don’t belong to yourself), for you were bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6: 19,20). God created you; God saved you from sin.

2.3.b. There is a way of thinking that is very common, even among Christians. It is that God owes it to us to take care of us, to help us, to make us successful, and make us happy. On the other hand we have no obligation to God. Since God wants us to be fulfilled and happy, we are free to do whatever we need to do to be fulfilled and happy. If doing what God wants us to do, obeying his will,  is too hard or too demanding, then those things are optional. If service to Christ proves inconvenient or costly, those things, too, are optional. God owes us happiness; we owe God nothing.

2.3.c. Another way we are preoccupied with ourselves is when we are willing to let others serve, especially to serve us, while we do nothing. We don’t find a place of service. We don’t give to the work of the Lord. We let others carry the load. We are takers not givers, watchers not workers.  We reverse the words of our Lord. Our motto is “I am here not to serve but to be served.”

2.3.d. There is another thing characteristic of us. We may be willing to serve the Lord, but there is a limit especially when others are not doing their part. “I’ve done my part; others are not doing theirs; I am doing no more till others do more.” And we want others to notice what we and to thank us. If we don’t get the appreciation we think we deserve, then we get our noses out of joint.

2.3.e. Another trap we fall into is that, when we are faithful in obedience and service, is to think that God is obligated to do things for us. We say, “I have obeyed the Lord and served the Lord, and he has let me down. My life has not turned out the way I hoped. I am disappointed about my work, my marriage, my finances, my kids, my health. This is just not fair. God owes me better than this. There are a lot of worse people than me.”

In all these things  we partake of the spirit, “It’s all about me.” It’s not about God, or Christ, or the church, or Christian obedience, or Christian service. It’s about me.

3.1. And so Jesus says, “When you have done everything - everything God asks of you - when you have done more than others, when you have sacrificed to serve, say, “We are but unprofitable servants; we have only done our duty.”

The truth is that there  is no obedience that is too costly or burdensome. That is no service that is too hard or demanding. We belong to God body and soul. We can never repay him for his grace and mercy to us.

4. Do you know who is the perfect slave in the story? We know it’s not you or me.  It is not St. Paul or St. Peter, or a martyr. It is  our Lord Jesus Christ, who served his Father and served us sinners. He said, “I came not to be served but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many.” On the night he was betrayed, in the Upper Room with his self-absorbed disciples who that night would abandon him in his hour of greatest need, he got up from the table, took off his outer clothing, wrapped a towel around his waist, and went to each disciple washing their feet. Why? Because he is the Servant who never said, “Enough! That’s all I am doing.” He went all the way in his service.  He dirtied himself with our sins and paid their penalty on the cross.

Go, labor on: spend, and be spent,

Thy joy to do the Father’s will:

It is the way the Master went;

Should not the servant tread it still?

Like a Good Neighbor

Like a Good Neighbor

Collect for Thirteenth after Trinity Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve; Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

Gospel: St. Luke 10:23-37

23 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see:

24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

One day I was riding with my dad when we came upon a car that was broken down. We gave the driver a push around a median strip to go in the opposite direction to a service station. This maneuver required an approaching vehicle to come to a stop. When the driver was able to proceed and came opposite us, he stuck his head out his window and angrily yelled at my father, “Mister, don’t ever do that, especially for a (and he used the N-word).” My dad was not the most racially enlightened man of his time, but he believed in helping people in need whoever they were and wherever he found them.

We read from St. Luke’s Gospel this morning both Jesus’s original story of the Good Samaritan but also why he told it.

1. Question Time

• In the British parliamentary system there is something call “question time” in the House of Commons. Members of Parliament address their questions to the Prime Minister Cabinet members. When these questions come from opposition party members, question time came become quite heated. They ask questions not for information but to try to trip up the Prime Minister and expose him and his policies to ridicule.

• People were seated as Jesus was teaching. One of the listeners was biding his time waiting for something like “question time.” When the chance arose he stood up and asked Jesus a question. His questioning was not entirely sincere, as he was “putting Jesus to the test.” Perhaps he would trip up Jesus and discredit him among those who were so interested in him and his teaching.

• St. Luke calls him a “lawyer.” He was not what we think of when we hear the word “lawyer.” He did consult with clients and go into court to represent them and argue their cause. Rather he was a scholar who studied the OT especially the Law of Moses. His work was interpret the Scriptures, to know how people who went before him had understood them, and to help people know how to live by the law in present day life.

• He began with a question: “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He was looking forward to the coming of the kingdom of God and asking how he could enjoy and participate in the life of the kingdom. Eternal life is not just quantity of life but quality of life. It is endless life but also life in the presence of God where there is no sin, or suffering, or death. It is perfectly blessed and fulfilling life in communion with God.

There could hardly be a more important question. People have lots of questions. Where are we going to eat tonight? How am I going to get the money to pay the bills? How am I going to make myself happy and get others to help me be happy? But you don’t find a lot of people asking how they can inherit eternal life.

• Jesus did not answer the question directly, but asked the lawyer a question. “What’s written in the law? How do you read what the Old Testament says about this question?” The man had a ready and accurate answer. What he said Jesus also said when he was asked about the law: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”

The law said to love God supremely completely -with everything you are. You can look at a human being from many perspective - heart, soul, strength,and mind. These are not distinct “parts” of a human being as though we can define each of things listed.It is meant to say, “Love God with every part of your being.” Love for God is not a half-hearted thing. It is a whole being thing.

And love your neighbor as yourself. You naturally
love yourself. You take care of yourself. You may so
love yourself and want to make sure your needs are
met that you want others to serve you, to meet your
needs and make you happy. But the Law says, “You
already love yourself. Now love your neighbor as
you love yourself. Make your love of yourself the
guide to how you care for and treat others.

If we want practical guidance into how we express
love for God and others, then look at the
Commandments we read this morning. Love God by
worshiping nothing and no one but him, by not using
images or any other pagan ways to worship the true
God, by worshiping the true God reverently and
sincerely, by reserving the day of worship as holy
so you can always gather for public worship? How do
we express love for others? By honoring those in
authority, by respecting and protecting life, by
faithfulness in marriage, by respecting the rights of
others to own what they have earned, by telling the
truth, by being content with what God has given you.

• Jesus said, “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.” “You got the right answer. Love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself, and you will inherit eternal life.” What Jesus is saying is, “If the way to get eternal life is by being the right kind of person and doing the right kinds of  things, then if you love God wholly and your neighbor as yourself. Do this and you will live.” Jesus does not pursue this, because the lawyer takes the conversation in a different direction, but the question that is left hanging for the lawyer and for us is, “Can you do this? If this is the way to inherit eternal life - by keeping the law, by loving God and neighbor - then will you inherit eternal life? Can you love God and neighbor in this way?”

2. Story Time

• The lawyer did not continue to pursue his question about eternal life. It seems he became uncomfortable with his own statement of our duty to love our neighbor as ourselves. He wanted to justify himself, to show that he kept that law. So he asked, “Who is my neighbor?” There was more than one view of the right definition of “neighbor.” A neighbor might be your relatives or the people who lived near you. For Jews the definition never went beyond “fellow Jews.” The duty to love others never went beyond Jewish ethnicity and religion. You might have a duty to love all your fellow members of the Jewish nation, but the duty never extended to Gentiles or Samaritans.

• In response to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told a story.
• A man traveled from Jerusalem down to Jericho. The road was 17 miles long and descended 3000 feet. The countryside was rather desolate, the kind of area where bands of thieves could hide and prey on their victims. We don’t know anything about this man. Presumably he was a Jew, but Jesus does not focus on the man, but on the “helpers.”
• Along the way thieves attacked and robbed him. In the process they ripped off his clothes, beat him  up, and left him half dead on the roadside. His injuries were so bad all he could do was to lie in the road where he had been left.
• As he lay there along came two religious men. One was a priest, perhaps on his way home from a period of service at the Temple in Jerusalem. When the priest came upon the man, he saw that the man was severely wounded and not able to care for himself, but the priest not only did not help. He crossed to the other side of the road and continued his trip. Then along came a Levi. The Levites were the priestly tribe. Not all Levites were priests, but the Levites provided help at the Temple, so perhaps this man, too, having served his rotation at the Temple in Jerusalem, was going home. His response was the same as the priest’s. He crossed to the other side of the road and continued his trip. We might like to know what they were thinking - why they did nothing to help. But Jesus focuses our attention not on the reason for their neglect but on the fact. There was a man in need, and both these religious men neglected to help.
• The crowd probably thought they knew where the story was going. The next man along would be a Jewish layman. He would do the right thing and help. In other words they thought this was going to be an anti-clergy story with the hero a layman. People always enjoy a good anti-clergy story!
• But Jesus took the story in a completely unanticipated direction. The next man along was a Samaritan! Samaritans were of ethnically mixed - long ago a remnant from the old northern kingdom of Israel had not been deported but left in the land. Gentiles had been brought in to help resettle the land. Eventually there were intermarriages. The result centuries later was the Samaritans. They also had a mixed but ultimately false religion. The accepted the Five Books of Moses but none of the rest of the OT. They built their own Temple and worshiped in their own chosen way.
• One of these Samaritans came along, saw them man, and had compassion on him. There has so far been no concern, no sympathy, no caring, but this Samaritan has compassion. So he went to the man. He practiced such medicine as he knew, pouring wine and oil into the wounds and bandaging them. Then, since them man could not walk, he put the man on his own donkey and led him to the nearest inn. He did not just deposit the man there, but stayed and cared for him. When the man was well enough to be left, the Samaritan gave some money to the innkeeper - enough for at least several days of room and board. He asked the innkeeper to take care of the wounded man and told him, “If this man needs to stay longer and needs more care than this money covered, I will be back, and, when I come back, I will pay you whatever is owed.

• Jesus asked, “Who do you think was a neighbor to the robbed and wounded man?” The lawyer knew there was only one answer: “He that showed mercy on him.” Jesus answered, “You go and act in the same way.” Jesus has turned this story around. The lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus made the point of the story, “Whose neighbor are you?” And the answer is, “You are a neighbor to anyone you meet who is in need and you can help.”

Now we understand that we are not going to inherit eternal life by loving God and neighbor well enough for us to be rewarded with eternal life. The more we understand what it means to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves, the more we understand how impossible it is for us to gain eternal life by how well we love. We know that we need forgiveness for how poorly we have loved and we need acceptance with God that is not based on our loving God and neighbor. We see that Jesus Christ is the only One who perfectly loved, the One who atoned for our lack of love, and the one who makes us right before God by faith in what he did for us.

But the Law is still there as a guide to how we as those who have eternal life through Christ show our gratitude. The Law still calls us to love God with all we are and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The law still tells us that all people in need are our neighbors to be loved and helped as we have the opportunity to do so.

When we come to the Table, we come knowing that we are accepted not because we have loved well enough but because Jesus loved us. And we leave knowing that he sends us into the world to show his love to our neighbors - to love all whom God places in our paths who are in need.