Sunday 11th July - 6th after Trinity (green)
Theme: The Good Samaritan
Readings: Colossians 1:1-14
Amos 7:7-17 Luke 10:25-37 Ps 25:1-10
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Theme: The Good Samaritan
Readings: Colossians 1:1-14
Amos 7:7-17 Luke 10:25-37 Ps 25:1-10
Collect:
Creator God,
you made us all in your image:
may we discern you in all that we see,
and serve you in all that we do;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Creator God,
you made us all in your image:
may we discern you in all that we see,
and serve you in all that we do;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Comment
The expert in the law wanted Jesus to say something heretical, to prove that he was not the Messiah. He saw Jesus as a false teacher, who did not hold strictly to the Jewish laws and traditions, who seemed in no hurry to free the Jews from their Roman over-lords, and who seemed to believe that God was as fond of non-Jews as of Jews. His questions were designed to show Jesus up.
Jesus turned the tables on him. His first question had a stock answer, and Jesus got him to answer his own question: one inherits eternal life by loving God and loving one’s neighbour. Jesus agreed: if you do that, you will live. But the lawyer was not going away in a hurry. His follow-up question, ‘Who is my neighbour’, was much debated in those days, for surely God did not want his people to love godless pagans!
Maybe Jesus would expose unorthodox ideas in his answer. Again Jesus got him to answer his own question, after telling him the story of the good Samaritan.
The story would have shocked his hearers to the core. They would have understood the priest and the Levite not wanting to risk making themselves ceremonially impure by touching a corpse. But the idea of a despised Samaritan showing mercy was totally unexpected – they would assume the Samaritan would make sure the Jewish victim did not live! But Jesus imagines him going out of his way and spending time and resources to help one whom Samaritans hated like poison, with no expectation of any reward or thanks.
‘Go and do likewise,’ said Jesus. A life of love like that will inherit eternal life. But we all fall short. Therefore we are utterly dependent on God showing mercy to us – which he does, through Jesus, when we accept it in faith and follow him. But to follow Jesus means following his shocking way of love.
The expert in the law wanted Jesus to say something heretical, to prove that he was not the Messiah. He saw Jesus as a false teacher, who did not hold strictly to the Jewish laws and traditions, who seemed in no hurry to free the Jews from their Roman over-lords, and who seemed to believe that God was as fond of non-Jews as of Jews. His questions were designed to show Jesus up.
Jesus turned the tables on him. His first question had a stock answer, and Jesus got him to answer his own question: one inherits eternal life by loving God and loving one’s neighbour. Jesus agreed: if you do that, you will live. But the lawyer was not going away in a hurry. His follow-up question, ‘Who is my neighbour’, was much debated in those days, for surely God did not want his people to love godless pagans!
Maybe Jesus would expose unorthodox ideas in his answer. Again Jesus got him to answer his own question, after telling him the story of the good Samaritan.
The story would have shocked his hearers to the core. They would have understood the priest and the Levite not wanting to risk making themselves ceremonially impure by touching a corpse. But the idea of a despised Samaritan showing mercy was totally unexpected – they would assume the Samaritan would make sure the Jewish victim did not live! But Jesus imagines him going out of his way and spending time and resources to help one whom Samaritans hated like poison, with no expectation of any reward or thanks.
‘Go and do likewise,’ said Jesus. A life of love like that will inherit eternal life. But we all fall short. Therefore we are utterly dependent on God showing mercy to us – which he does, through Jesus, when we accept it in faith and follow him. But to follow Jesus means following his shocking way of love.
Questions
1) Why should we love like that?
2) What is Jesus calling you to do?
1) Why should we love like that?
2) What is Jesus calling you to do?
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