Stewardship 2 Luke
10:25-37
“Let Love React”
Luke 10:25-37
25
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to
inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is
written in the Law?” he replied. “How do
you read it?” 27 He answered: ‘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, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
28
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied.
“Do this and you will live.” 29
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said, “A man was going down
from
36
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the
hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the
law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
“To inconvenience yourself so
that you can make things better for others.”
That’s the kind of love that God expects us to show when he says, “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” Unconditional,
joyful love that is willing to go the extra mile. Nothing less will suffice.
Now that kind of love is hard
to give. It’s hard enough to give that
kind of love to people who are stable and happy. It is harder yet to give that kind of love to
people who are hurting and helpless. And
it is harder still to continue caring for and loving the hurting and helpless
again and again. Yet God didn’t put any
limits on the command to love others. Letting
love react to ALL people – not just the ones we like; not just the ones who are
easy to help; not just the ones who don’t need that much – that is what God
commands. Here’s a question for you to ponder today - how do you use the
resources God has put at your disposal to show love to the people God has
placed in your life? A good rule of
thumb is “Let love react.”
Today in the Scripture verses
for the sermon, we hear about an expert in the Jewish law who thought he was
letting his love react pretty well. But
what did Jesus say? (read text)
The expert asked Jesus the
most important question anyone could ask.
“What must I do to inherit eternal
life?” Do you see anything wrong in
what he was asking? He thought you had
to DO something to inherit eternal life.
But you can’t. Sinners can’t DO
something to earn eternal life; it simply is not possible. But instead of brow-beating this expert for
asking a foolish question, Jesus patiently turned the question around. He asked the man what he had understood from
the Scriptures. And the man answered
with perfect doctrinal accuracy. “Love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as
yourself.” Bull’s-eye! “You’ve
answered correctly” Jesus told him.
Then he said, “Do this and you
will live.” Talk is cheap – it
doesn’t mean much if you don’t live the words.
It seems that the legal
expert felt guilty. He started to
squirm. He was uncomfortable, knowing
he’d have to admit that there were plenty of times he didn’t live those words. But his sinful nature was too stubborn to
give in. Instead of admitting his sin,
he scrambled for the loophole. “Who is my neighbor?” he asked. He reasoned that the term “his neighbor”
could be narrowed down to someone who is just like you, someone who is easy to
love, someone who loves you back. He
wanted to find a way to say, “Yep, I am keeping God’s commands to love others.”
To make his point clear to
this lawyer, Jesus told a story of a man who was traveling along the winding,
mountainous road from
Thankfully for this man, help
was on the way…or was it? Surely the
church leader walking down the same road would see him and help. But no, he didn’t want to get his hands dirty. Maybe he was afraid that if he helped the man,
police would accuse him of the crime because his DNA would be all over the
man’s body. Maybe he was afraid the
robbers were still close at hand and his life was in danger as well. Maybe he thought the man was really dead and didn’t
want to become unclean for touching a dead body and have to go through all the
temple procedures to become clean again.
Maybe he had an appointment to keep and he didn’t want to be late. Maybe he just didn’t care. Who knows what the real reason was? We could probably come up with a few more if
we tried. But the fact is he failed to
show even a hint of love to his neighbor.
He didn’t inconvenience himself at all to make things better for the
beaten down man; he kept things convenient and comfortable for himself. So did another church worker – a Levite – who
passed by the beaten up man as well.
Then Jesus described the person
that became the example of love reacting.
This Samaritan was the least likely to help and had every reason to keep
on walking. You see, Jews and Samaritans
were bitter enemies. If he could have
moved, the Jewish man lying on the side of the road probably would have avoided
the Samaritan when he came over to help him.
Yet this Samaritan sincerely cared about others. He wasn’t out to manipulate. He had no hidden agendas. He overlooked cultural differences and
prejudices and saw a man who needed help.
The thieves had seen a man who was an easy target. The church workers had seen a problem to
quickly avoid. But the Samaritan saw a
person to love.
That love made itself clear
with quick action. Take a look at how
love is not a warm, fuzzy feeling but an action. The man went…bandaged…poured…put him on…cared
for… took out two silver coins.
The question is not “Who
is my friend?” but “How can I become a friend to all?” Jesus says,
“Take a look at the Good Samaritan and go and do the same.” And doesn’t that bring us to our knees? How easy it is to become a friend to a few
but not to all! How simple it is to give
a little time and effort on occasion but not as a lifestyle! How quick we are to only help when it is nice
and neat and convenient and easy – and how easy to avoid those who are
difficult to help – but are in the most need of help. Jesus exposes our gimme
monster of a heart when he pictures true love and says, “Go and do likewise.” Only then do we begin to realize how hard it
is to love others as God wants us. God
condemns our sin and promises to crush us into hell for them.
Thankfully Jesus is not like
us. It was not hard for him to love
others. He inconvenienced himself for us
by leaving his safe haven of heaven and landing on earth to suffer. It’s as if he saw us victimized by our own
sins, lying their in a pool of guilt and left to die eternally. Jesus couldn’t stand to leave us like
that! His love reacted. He took care of all our needs and went the
extra mile – living a perfect life, dying an innocent death, paying in full all
that we needed. He did that for the law
expert, for the selfish priest and Levite, for you and me and everyone else who
has failed to be the perfect neighbor.
Then our Savior inspires us
to go and do the same with others. Not
everyone you know is easy to help. Some
of the people the LORD has placed in your life require a great amount of
effort, time and attention. Don’t walk
by on the other side of the road. Don’t
ignore the problem as though it didn’t exist.
Find ways to bring the Word to those who need it the most (which is
everyone). Ask the LORD to give you
platforms so you can share your faith.
We have another neat chance
to go the extra mile right now as we are in the middle of pledging money for
our new building. Don’t be afraid to go
the extra mile in your offerings for God’s kingdom work. Don’t be afraid to be generous. We all have a chance to provide for each
other’s gospel ministry needs – what a joy!
Watch Jesus’ love for you and let your love react.
It is valuable for all of us
to ask the question, “Why am I alive today?
Why did God put me here in this time and this place with these people?” You are here in this place with the people
God has placed in your life to share in the Word and love others in a selfless
way. May our Savior give you great joy
as you accomplish that more and more in your life. Amen.