Love God & Love Neighbor

In ninth grade, I picked up the sport of lacrosse.

If you've never played lacrosse, it's a sport where they run around looking like hockey players

on a field with helmets and gloves like that.

But instead of the ball being on the ground, it's in the air and you have these sticks that

are about yay long that have these nets on the top, kind of baskets, and you throw it

back and forth.

If you've never seen it, it's a great sport and totally worth learning.

By the way, the Yale team is actually quite good.

You should go check them out.

They competed, won the national championship.

Anyway, they're worth seeing for sure.

Anyway, lacrosse is a great sport.

And but as I learned lacrosse, one of the joys and trials that I had in it was learning

the basics because the mechanics of catching and throwing a ball out of a basket at the

end of a stick is not easy.

I had a coach.

I remember his name to this day, Ridge Diven, and he would make us drill incessantly.

We started our spring season in November inside the gym after basketball practice, running

back and forth, passing the ball, learning the basics, getting the bottom hand down so

that your stick was up and down, learning how to properly throw and catch, learning the

basics over and over and over again until it was painful.

It was grueling to do that day after day, week after week, month after month.

And if we didn't do it right, he had a signature move.

He would do this.

Do you know what that means?

Take a lap.

If you didn't do it right, take a lap.

He would drill into us.

Doing the basics well was exactly what we needed, and yet it was the hardest thing to do.

And I think that's true in the Christian life as well.

It is the basics that are the things we most need to do, and they are the things that are the hardest as well.

We're going to look at a passage this morning.

Jesus is going to say, what is it?

What do we have to do?

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Well, love God and love your neighbor.

That's pretty well known.

Everybody knows that.

It's so simple, and yet how easy it is for us to lose sight of these as the basics.

And how difficult we actually find it to be to do when we actually try to make them to be the right thing.

I think we often as Christians delude ourselves to think that we are doing better than we actually are in these basics.

And this brings us to our passage this morning.

We are in Luke chapter 10, starting in verse 25 in your pew Bibles.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

That's page 816.

And we are continuing our series that Greg began last week on being with Jesus on the road of discipleship.

Discipleship is one of those words that church people throw around.

It's not necessarily used in other contexts.

But a disciple is simply someone who is a learner and a follower.

That is someone who listens to the words of a leader or a teacher.

And then who also follows those words and emulates the life of that leader.

That's basically what a disciple is broadly.

And it is what Jesus is doing in this section of Luke.

In chapter 9, verse 51, it says,

And Jesus set his face to Jerusalem, which means that he was turning to the cross.

He was heading for his crucifixion and his death.

And during this whole section from 951 all the way to chapter 19,

Luke records this series of events where Jesus is teaching his disciples and displaying to the world,

what does it mean to be a disciple?

What does it mean to follow Jesus in these ways?

So that's what we're going to look at this morning for a few minutes.

We're going to read the passage and then we'll pray together and then we'll dive in.

So Luke chapter 10, verse 25.

Luke 10:25

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.

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus,

And who is my neighbor?

And Jesus replied,

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.

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.

Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?

And he said, the one who showed him mercy.

And Jesus said to him, You go and do likewise.

Now, as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village.

And a woman named Martha welcomed him to her house.

She had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

But Martha was distracted with much serving.

And she went up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

Tell her then to help me.

But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.

But one thing is necessary.

Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.

Please pray with me.

Lord, we thank you for your word this morning.

We thank you for these well-known stories.

And we pray this morning that you would make them new and fresh again to us.

Lord, we pray that you will speak to our hearts.

We pray that you will move our wills.

And that, Lord, you will use our hands.

Lord, we pray that as we listen to your word this morning,

that you will help us to be disciples.

Those who know you and listen to you and follow you.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Our text is all about the basics.

The basics in three part.

They're sort of the introduction of the basics in verses 25 through 28.

Then in 29 through 37, we see the basic of loving your neighbor.

And then in the last part, the basic of loving God.

So that's what we will look at in that order this morning as we walk through it.

So the context, the setup of all this, the introduction to Jesus reminding his disciples of the basic,

is a lawyer, a teacher of the law, comes to Jesus, and he stands up and he asks him a question.

And this would be a normal question for students to ask rabbis,

what must I do to inherit eternal life?

What are the things, what are the criteria, what are the actions that I need to do

in order to qualify to be in God's kingdom and to be God's person, to be secure?

These are the questions that he is raising.

But interestingly, Luke not only records the interaction,

but he speaks into the heart of the lawyer.

Because the lawyer isn't simply asking this out of sincere curiosity.

In fact, as a teacher of the law, he knows much of the Torah and much of the Old Testament.

And so when he is coming to Jesus, he is asking this question to test him.

In what way is he seeking to test him?

Well, it's not entirely clear because Luke doesn't expand anymore.

But it seems to me that maybe what this lawyer is saying is,

you claim to be a great teacher, but I think you're an upstart.

Will you uphold the traditions?

Or are you making a new way?

And it's possible as well, because we see it later on,

that he's asking this question in order to make himself look good.

I know the answer to these questions.

In fact, I am living these answers.

I'm the embodiment of this.

So I'm going to ask this question in order to make myself look good in asking the question.

But whatever it is, he asks this question.

And Jesus, perceiving this heart, responds on the safest ground possible.

He says, well, you're a teacher of the law of God.

You tell me, what does it say?

And the man quotes back to him from Deuteronomy 5, which we read earlier,

and then from Leviticus 19, 18, saying,

you shall love the Lord your God, and you shall love your neighbor.

These two things.

And Jesus responds and says, you're right.

Great.

Now go do it.

Jesus says, you have thought rightly about what it would require for you,

but now you must embody it.

You must actually live it out.

Go and do these things.

And in this introduction to these basics, we see these things laid out.

Thinking rightly and doing rightly.

Loving God and loving your neighbor.

As we think about the pattern of discipleship, what do we think is most important?

It's pretty easy for us to get distracted.

Can I create a checklist of things that I'm doing?

Can I create a creedal belief statement where I can check off and say,

yep, that's what I believe, so I must be good.

Maybe it's, I come to church every Sunday.

Isn't that right?

Isn't that what he wants?

And here's the thing.

All of those things are good.

None of them are bad.

But when we make them the most important thing,

when Jesus says, what is the heart of discipleship?

It is loving God.

It is being in a right relationship with God where you are responding to him in love.

And loving your neighbor where having known God's love for you and responded to him in love,

you then turn around and love your fellow human beings.

Men and women made in God's image.

And we realize that at the core of the Christian faith is these relationships of love.

And it is so easy for us to be distracted, isn't it?

I think of our church and as we sit on the brink of moving ahead, hopefully with a building project,

with the disruptions and the distractions and the extra work and the,

the, the, uh, some of the, the strains of transition that it will cause.

And I'm reminded here, we need to hear Jesus reminding us this morning,

this is what is most important about our church.

This is what we need to fight for more than anything.

The carpet of, or the color of the carpet does not matter.

But if we love or don't love, that is what matters.

So Jesus sets up this rubric, loving God and loving your neighbor.

And interestingly, then the next two sections unpack this.

This is one of those places where those bold, uh, uh, section breaks in your Bible are not always helpful.

Um, because the last verses in 38 through 42 are set off with another heading, aren't they?

At least they are in my Bible.

And in lots of Bibles, I think they're set off.

And so you think, oh, well, this is a new, this is a new setting.

And that's not completely illegitimate because in verse 38, there's a sort of classic Lucan.

He says, and now something else happens.

Um, and yet, as I studied these passages together, isn't it interesting that he sets out this basic,

love God and love your neighbor.

And then he tells these two stories about loving your neighbor and loving God.

And this is what we see as we go forward.

So starting in verse 29, then we see Jesus expanding and, uh, uh, deepening our understanding

of what does it mean to love our neighbor?

This basic that Jesus has laid out for us.

Now you see this, the lawyer is, the story is in some ways continuing because the lawyer,

having heard Jesus challenge, you've, you're thinking rightly about it.

Now go do it.

Feels threatened, doesn't he?

Because somehow he feels the need in that moment to justify himself.

I'm an upstanding religious man.

Don't you see me?

Aren't I doing enough?

And so he asked this question so that he can say, yes, I have met the standard.

I have, I have been able to do what is necessary.

And he asked the question, who is my neighbor?

So that he can know what are the boundaries of my responsibility?

What are the, what are the, um, where's the limit of what you're really asking of me?

How good enough is good enough for God?

When can I get to the end of the checklist and say, I'm okay and go home, put my feet

up, watch football and not have to think about walking this road of discipleship this afternoon.

Can I just rest please?

He wants to know how to check that box so that he can, uh, feel good and secure about his

own actions.

He wants to know what those boundaries are.

And Jesus responds with this well-known story.

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

If you've been in the Holy Land, I've not, so you can probably picture this far better than

I can.

Jerusalem is up on a mountain and you go down to Jericho.

And when you go down to Jericho, this was a well-known dangerous road to take.

So no one would be surprised that this man in, in Jesus' parable, as he goes down, he is beset

by robbers.

He is stripped, beaten, and left half for dead.

In all good storytelling, this raises the question, what's going to happen?

Who will save this man?

And lo and behold, a priest's arrived.

And for this Jewish audience, you would think, yay, the police have come.

We're going to be saved.

And yet that's not what happens.

He looks at him and he passes on the other side and continues.

And similarly, a Levite, one of those in the tribe of Levi who served the priests, especially

set apart by God.

Well, this certainly will, but he passes by as well.

And in the first century years, there was this saying that would ring in the ears of

the people that would describe the special people of God.

There are the priests, the Levites, and the people.

And so, if you're listening to this story as a first century Jew, you're expecting the

next sentence to be, and then finally, a Jewish layman was walking by, and suddenly this is

going to be the hero of the story.

This is going to be the one who will rescue this man in distress.

And yet that's not who it is, is it?

It's a Samaritan.

Now, many of you know this, but some maybe…

Samaria was the area north of Jerusalem quite a ways, up near the Sea of Galilee and beyond.

It was a place where two things had happened.

One is that the Jewish community had been both forcibly and willingly intermixed with people.

Both the Assyrians and then later the Macedonians, the Greeks, as they conquered this area, they

forcibly removed some of the Jews to other places and brought in other people.

And over time, this created an intermarriage and a syncretism that betrayed the Jewish commitment

to being a people set apart for God.

But not only that, but up in this part of the world, the northern king, and you've got

to get into the history of Israel.

I'm not going to tell you all about it.

But when Israel was divided after David's kingdom was established, when it was divided north and

south, they set up another altar on the slopes of Mount Gerizim.

And so, and that's up in Samaria.

And so the people who lived up in Samaria, if I could use the crassest words, they were

half-breed infidels.

Okay?

They were outside of the community.

And they were hated.

They were despised.

And they were opposed.

And Jesus says, a Samaritan, the worst of the worst, is trying to think of what might

be, it would be an ISIS soldier seeing an American in need and stopping and helping.

Maybe, maybe that's close, something close to the emotional impact that it would have for

Jesus to say, a Samaritan stopped and he helped this man.

And he didn't just help him a little.

Look with me at the story.

Verse 33 and following.

He came to where he was.

He saw him and he had compassion.

So he saw a need.

He responded out of his heart.

And then look at the actions.

First, he went to him.

He actually physically approached this enemy who was in need.

And then this whole list of verbs that Luke, he bound up his wounds.

He poured oil and wine on him.

He set him on his animal.

He brought him to an inn.

He took care of him.

The next day, he paid for him.

Not only did he pay for him, but he basically opened a tab and said, whatever you need.

Which put him at great risk because inns were not places of great repute in those days.

And it would have been opening him up to being massively scammed by the innkeeper.

And yet he says, whatever he costs, I will pay.

The enemy responds to one in need in a remarkable way in this picture.

And Jesus then turns the table on the lawyer.

You've asked me, who is my neighbor?

Because you want to know what the boundaries are.

But I'm going to ask you the question, which one of these three was a neighbor?

Neighbor moves from being a noun, tell me who I'm responsible for, to being a verb.

Tell me what I'm responsible for doing, for being, for becoming.

Who showed mercy?

Jesus is asking not about the limits of our responsibility, but the quality of our character.

When he asked the lawyer, the lawyer couldn't choke out the word Samaritan.

Isn't it interesting?

He didn't say, oh, it was the Samaritan who did it.

All he could say is, the guy who did that.

The lawyer was choking on Jesus' rebuke of his understanding of what it meant to follow him.

Because it's not about checking the box.

It's not about just doing good within a certain range of reasonable expectations.

It's about being a kind of person who responds to those in need with love.

He says, go and do likewise.

And you will live.

The inheritance you're looking for flows out of a life

that recognizes these things.

So what about us, church?

Daryl Bach, one of the commentators on Luke, says,

one of the ways to summarize what Jesus is calling us to in this parable

is to see and to feel and to serve.

I thought that was really helpful.

Questions for us to ask.

Do we see need?

Do we respond with compassion?

Do we do actions to serve those?

And you know what?

I want to stand before you and say,

I'm really glad to be part of this congregation.

Because do you know what I've seen over the years?

I've seen a homeless mother and daughter housed for a month

to get through a gap between when emergency housing ended

and when they were able to get themselves onto their feet.

Strangers were invited into homes and kept for a period of time.

I've seen some of you regularly visit retirement homes

where members are.

I've seen some of you show up as a team

to unpack a large moving van full of furniture

for someone you have never met

because they're coming to be a part of our church

and you welcome them with serving.

I've seen single women adopt foster care kids

and raise them to know Christ

and to know the love of Christ in their homes.

I've seen men and women befriending the children

and single parent families to mentor, to love them.

I've seen busy families absorb other kids

so that overwhelmed parents can get a break.

I've seen couples take up the mantle to become a hub

for singles who need a place to be on Friday night

for fellowship and for fun

that's going to be constructive and not destructive.

I've seen you be willing to take on your neighbor's kid

when baby number two was ready to come

and many, many, many other ways

that I have seen you love your neighbors

within this church and without

in beautiful ways.

what I want to say is

Jesus calls us to keep going

to excel still more

in our love for our neighbors

to have a heart of compassion

and I know it's not easy

some of you think

but I'm so overwhelmed

I wake up every morning

and the need in the world

and the need even in my world

is so much

what do I do?

I'd simply say

recognize that

Jesus doesn't call you

to serve everybody

and to save everybody

but pray

and then do.

Find something to respond to

and serve.

Don't let yourself get stuck

in the paralysis of

I can't do it all

just do something.

And if all of us

just do something

we'll be following

in the footsteps

of what Christ

is telling us to hear.

Some of you want to solve

the problems you see.

You see people in need

and you want to solve

their problems.

Friends, there are problems

that we may not be able

to solve.

I sit in the office

and I see some of you

and I see others

our neighbors

in the neighborhood

come in

and they have many problems

that I cannot solve.

I cannot find them housing.

I cannot find them jobs.

I cannot find them friends.

I cannot do any of those things.

But I can still be a neighbor

to them

in those moments

treating them with dignity

with love

and with care

helping them in ways

that I can.

some of you will say

well I don't have time.

I'm just so busy.

This is the hardest one

isn't it?

Because in our life

in our world today

our currency

the thing we value the most

is often not our money.

it's much easier

to say

here take some money

hope that fixes your problem

than it is to actually

respond in compassion

isn't it?

Our time

and our attention

are far more valuable

than our money.

And yet the example

of the good Samaritan

is that he took

the things that were

most valuable to him

both his time

and his money

and his attention

and he invested it

at cost to himself.

And so I

like many of you

probably feel

the sting

of Jesus' rebuke.

If I think

I don't have time

to ever stop

and respond

in compassion

maybe my heart

has gotten hard

and my life

has gotten so full

that I'm not able

to respond

and to be a neighbor.

And if that's true

I probably need

a deeper reckoning

with the Lord

about what I'm doing

with my life.

It's very easy

for us to fill

our lives

with selfish things

that keep us

from being able

and willing

to love others.

If you are sitting

here this morning

and you're like

how do I do this?

What do I do?

Well here are a few

specific practical things

that you can do.

One is

we live in a city

if you walk around

New Haven

you will find people

who are in need.

I want to point to you

Pastor Greg

has written

a great little

brochure

called

Helping the Homeless.

Is that what it's called?

I think that's what it's called.

Yeah

close enough.

It's on the back

you'll see it

there's only one like it.

But it's really wise

because there's a whole

discussion that I chose

not to get into this morning

about when helping hurts

and how do you help well

and how do you not help well

and there's all that thing

because the heart of what

Jesus is saying is

see the need

respond in compassion

and serve them.

But as we do that

you'll learn

there's better and worse

ways to do that.

There are more helpful

and less helpful ways

to do that.

Greg's pamphlet

is a wonderful starting place

for thinking about

how do we respond

to the needs of people

that we meet

on the streets

of this city.

But there are other ways

as well.

Think about joining

the Night Runners team

that goes to Columbus House

simply to love

people there.

Think about joining

the mentoring team

that bridges

mentoring ministry.

Think they're full right now

but think about

whether you'd be available

next year

for mentoring

kids

in our city

who are needy.

if you're not on

the have need list

that Michelle

sends out

on a regular basis

it's one of the ways

to be aware of needs

within our congregation

that you might be able

to meet.

So those are four

practical ways

for you to take steps.

But at the end of the day

what I want to ask you

to do most

in response to this

is to pray.

Ask the Lord

to help you see

the needs

of the people around you.

ask the Lord

to give you

a heart of compassion

in response to those

and take steps

do something

to serve

in response

to what you see.

The lawyer

was not prepared

for this

and we are often

not prepared

to be challenged

the way Jesus

challenges us

with this parable.

And yet

this is the basics

that are simple

and yet hard

to do.

And then he goes on

as Luke tells the story

he moves from

this basic

loving your neighbor

to then this

second story

about Mary and Martha.

Jesus in his

traveling entourage

it seems clear

that Mary and Martha

would be people

who are known to him.

It's not clear

if this is the same

Mary and Martha

who are the brother

of Lazarus.

That's an interesting

exploration for you

to see

but it seems

that this is probably

happening somewhere else

although again

it's not clear

that Luke

structured this part

of his story

in a chronological

geographic order

and so it's possible

that

anyway

I don't want to get

into all the details

of it

but to say

we don't know a lot

but we do know

that Mary and Martha

were probably known

to them

partly because

they call him Lord.

they were probably

a part of the

larger following

that included

both the 12 disciples

but also others

who were following

with Jesus

and they welcomed

him into their home

and they began

to serve him

and you see

that there

there are

in these two sisters

there are two responses.

Martha welcomed him

into her house

and she had a sister

named Mary

who sat at the Lord's feet.

Both of these

were disciples

both of them

were looking

to serve Jesus

but they did so differently

and actually

really interestingly

if you have a King James Bible

it says that Mary

also

was sitting

at her feet

which is an interesting

picture

because it maybe

suggests that

Martha had started there.

It's not clear

and it's not in your English

in your ESV

but if you go back

to the original language

there's an extra

chi in there

which probably

means also

and it might suggest

that Martha

started there

but it's very clear

that that's not

where she ended up

right?

Because Mary

stays

and sits

at Jesus' feet

and this is the posture

of a disciple.

This is the posture

of those

who would follow

traveling rabbis

around in this context

and they would sit there

and listen

to the teacher.

They would listen

to the words

that the teacher

was teaching

and they would absorb

these things

they would internalize them

sometimes they would interact

like the lawyer did

with a question

but this was a posture

of a disciple.

And yet Martha

when you get to verse 40

but Martha

was distracted.

Martha was distracted

by her serving.

She got up

and she was taking care

of them

and for those of you

who have served

in churches

or served in all sorts

you know what this feeling

is like

when you're sitting there

and you're trying

to do the right thing

and you're trying

to help and serve

and you see the guy

over there

who's doing the thing

that you wish you were doing

but you're not doing

and you're wondering

why he isn't helping

to do the right thing

because Mary clearly felt like

this was the right thing

for me to be doing

and yet it was filling her

with resentment

with anxiety.

Jesus says

you are anxious

and troubled.

Troubled is this great word

it might be translated

you're full of rioting

in your heart.

Have you ever felt

your heart do that

in these

where you're just like

oh why isn't

no one else helping?

That's Martha.

She got there

and it was very hard

she challenges

Jesus

and Mary

don't you see

what's going on here

Jesus?

Which is sort of ridiculous

right?

It's not like

this is a

you know

but he's like

don't you see?

Why isn't she helping me?

It's always good

sometimes we don't even

get to the point

of verbalizing it

we just mutter

and grumble

and become bitter.

Martha at least

had the wherewithal

to express it

and say so.

and Jesus responds

and here's the thing

I don't think

that Jesus' rebuke

is of her serving

per se.

We just had

a whole parable

about how serving

others is important.

It's hard to see

that his rebuke

is oh no

Martha you shouldn't

have been serving

food is not important

hospitality

is not important.

I don't think

that's what Jesus

is saying.

But Jesus

is saying

look at your

attitude

and look at

what your serving

has done.

It has distracted

you from the thing

that is most

important.

Because in your

serving it seems

and this is where

it seems that

Martha has started

to serve serving

or serve duty

or serve

her picture

of what she thinks

is right.

And in the process

she's lost

the vision

that she's

actually serving

Jesus.

Mary

for maybe

her obliviousness

to the opportunities

to serve in other

ways

has kept

that right.

And it seems

that that is

what Jesus

commends

in this passage.

Look at me

and see

what she says.

I see what he says

in verse 41.

Martha,

Martha,

you are anxious

and troubled

about many things.

But one thing

is necessary.

Mary has chosen

the good portion

which will not

be taken away

from her.

She has chosen

to make Jesus

and sitting

at his feet

and being his disciple

the most important

thing in her life.

and she will not

let other things

even good things

distract her

from that.

And wonderfully

this is also

an incredibly

counter-cultural

and socially

explosive move

because the rabbis

in the first century

would never let

a woman sit

at their feet

like that.

That is not

what women

are meant to do.

What Martha

was doing

is what women

are meant to do.

They had the old

barefoot

and in the kitchen

perception

of what women

are meant to do.

And Jesus comes

and he says

no,

don't you see?

This is exactly

what women

are meant to be.

Sitting at my feet

being my disciple

receiving

my teaching

serving me

in this way

as well as that way.

And he didn't say

but he might have said

and men

you can go

in the kitchen too

and help out

a little bit too.

That's another story.

But Jesus is exalting

and holding up Mary

as an example

of the incredible thing

that discipleship

is a calling

for all men

and women.

For all the ones

created in God's image.

This is what he's called

us to and for

in Christ.

And he says to Martha

don't despise

what Mary is doing

instead value it

celebrate it

exalt it

cherish it.

Follow in her example

of making

following me

the most important thing.

and following me

has a particular

shape here

because Mary is

there are lots of ways

to follow Jesus

we just saw

in the story

of the Good Samaritan

there's another kind

there are other

but here

the key is

that she is sitting

and listening

to his teaching.

And friends

I just wonder

for us

this morning

do we actually

do that?

we live in a busy

world

and we have

many many

distractions

we live in a world

that values

our external

productivity

what have you done

with your day?

What have you

produced today?

And Jesus

comes in

and he says

to be my disciple

is to love me

and to love me

is to sit at my feet

and listen to my teaching.

How well

do we do that?

Do we have

the creativity

and the wherewithal

to be like

Susanna Wesley

and to sit

in our house

full of

innumerable children

and to throw

her apron

over her head

so that she would

have time

with the Lord

every day?

Can you do that

in your lab?

Can you do that

in your workplace?

Can you do that

in the busyness

of your home?

Can you do that

when the papers

are waiting

to be written?

When the books

are waiting

to be read?

Are you willing

to sit

and listen

to Jesus

speak

his words

into your life?

Are there parts

of your life

where you're like

no thanks Jesus

I got this part

I don't really

want you to speak

into it

I don't want you

to speak

into my ethics

at work

I don't want you

to speak

into my sex life

I don't want you

to speak

into how I spend

my money

that's kind of

uncomfortable

can we just stay

on the like

worshipping you

and nice stuff

like that

go to church?

Are we resistant

to sitting

at Jesus feet

because we think

he might challenge

how we live?

Do you find

yourself

on a regular

basis

asking the Lord

Lord how do I

honor you?

How do I love you?

How would you

instruct me

to walk

through this

circumstance

this trial

this opportunity?

Do you rather

let your life

be filled

with distractions

things that

drive you away

from Jesus

rather than

filling them

with things

that drive you

to Jesus

and allow you

to sit

at his feet?

This is what

Mary did

this is what

Jesus commends

so the basics

easy

yet hard

simple

yet complex

love God

and love

your neighbor

and there

is a logical

progression

of course

in this

because it is

that when we

love God

first

that we are

able to love

our neighbor

maybe

I don't know

if you've tried

to love your

neighbor on your

own strength

it's very humbling

because you find

that your love

has very little

steadfastness

you find

that you run

out very

quickly

but Jesus

comes to us

as the perfect

good Samaritan

he comes

as the one

who pays

the greatest

cost

for our

salvation

he's the one

who shows

the greatest

love

and compassion

for us

in our

sin

as he

heads

to the

cross

to die

for us

and he

comes

to give

us

then

a new

life

to restore

us

into a

right

relationship

with God

whereby

his love

becomes

the wellspring

from which

then we

in response

to him

love him

and then

overflow

with that

love

in love

to our

neighbors

this is

the pattern

of the

gospel

this is

the picture

of what

it means

to be a

disciple

to do

these

things

may it

be so

for us

let's

pray

Lord we

thank you

for

Jesus

words

Lord we

pray

I pray

now that

by your

Holy Spirit

you would

take

these

texts

and the

questions

that they

have raised

and the

challenges

that they

put before

us

Lord that

you would

convict us

of where

we fall

short

where we

have

misunderstood

where we

have sought

to justify

ourselves

where we

have become

comfortable

in ways

where we

have lost

our

willingness

to be

costly

in our

love for

you

and our

love for

others

Lord renew

in us

a vision

of how

great

your

love

is

how

worthy

you are

of all

of our

lives

that we

as

disciples

might sit

at your

feet

and love

you

and love

our

neighbors

for your

sake

and we

pray this

in Jesus

name

amen