(Luke 10:25-37) - Episode 36

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

Luke 10 · chapter mention

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.

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.