Thoughts on Luke - Day 46

                                       Luke 10:25-37

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 Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
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.”


       Everyone, who isn't in denial that there is an afterlife, is interested in what does it take to get to Heaven. Times haven't changed in 2000 years in this regard. The expert in the law is asking, what does it take and not only that but what is the minimum standard. Like the rich young ruler, he is aware that it has something to do with keeping the Laws of God, which when summarized are, "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." To get this far is a good start because many unbelievers would reject the thought of one God who gives a universally applicable law that is a standard to follow and violation of it results in permanent separation from Him. Some would think that everyone, when they die, is entitled to a happy eternity because Love Wins. Some believe that there is no afterlife and when you are dead, you are dead. Therefore, like I said, to get to this point has put him light years ahead of most of the world. But he is just as lost as everyone else so really it does him no good.

       What he doesn't realize is that no one can love God with all (not most, not to the best of my ability) their heart, soul. strength, and mind. Why? Because we love ourselves that way. It is impossible to love God completely when we are busy loving ourselves. It's like polygamy - your love is divided and neither one is satisfied because one wants to be the object of your affection. So if complete and undivided love of God is a criteria for getting into Heaven, we are all out.

        Then he says the next criteria is to love his neighbor as himself, so Jesus gives him a picture of what that means. Your neighbor isn't just your immediate family who you would do anything for. Your neighbor isn't just the family next door who you grew up with that feels like family. Jesus says, in order to get to Heaven we have to love the stranger, the alien, the sick, the diseased, the downtrodden, the forsaken, the people that drain you physically emotionally and financially - as much as you love yourself. On a good day I may do a random act of kindness to those people but to love them like myself or family - impossible. If that is a criteria for getting to Heaven, strike two.

        So what Jesus actually is saying is even though you are searching down the right path to get to Heaven, you are going to find that there is a locked door on that path that says "No one may enter". That is the conclusion that Jesus is wanting people to come to. Yes, if we followed the sermon on the mount or the parable of the good Samaritan, this world would be a better place. However, Jesus didn't come to make this world a better place, that was just a secondary benefit. Jesus came to unlock the door that was blocking our way into the eternal presence of God by doing the things which we were incapable of doing and then ushering us into the presence of God, one by one, as we take Jesus' nail - pierced hand by faith knowing that only He can take us into God's presence. And then an amazing thing happens. He gives us the Holy Spirit, the very life of God comes inside us and starts transforming us to perform or at least get closer to performing tasks one and two which were completely impossible before. This is the gospel. This is what He keeps trying to get across to people that no one seems to be "getting". Thank you Jesus that I am seeing it from the completed picture looking at it from a bird's eye view, otherwise I am sure that I would be as clueless as everyone else.

          Thank you Jesus for loving in a way I couldn't and paying the price for my failures , sins, which were blocking my way to my creator's presence. Thank you for making a way when there wasn't one, when I was hopeless you gave me hope. Thank you for the Holy Spirit inside me and help me now to love you and humanity more completely and selflessly. Amen