"What Must I Do?" Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity August 30, 2015 Luke 10:23-37
The man in the Gospel reading asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus doesn’t answer the question but rather asks him a question. He is an expert in the Law of God. Jesus says, “What does the Law say? How do you understand it?” His response is exemplary. He is trained in the Law of God and knows it well. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus commends him and tells him that he already has his answer. Do this and you will have eternal life. It’s sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Keep the Law of God perfectly and you will gain eternal life. But this expert in the Law was not content with Jesus’ view of things. Luke says that the man wanted to justify himself. So he asks Jesus another question. “Who is my neighbor?” The Law says I am to love him as myself, so tell me who we’re talking about here. Yet again Jesus doesn’t answer the man’s question. This time He responds to the man’s question with a story. There was a man going down the road and got mugged. He was beaten half to death. As he lay there there was opportunity for him to be rescued because a priest was walking that way. But he walked right on by. No way he was going to get involved in that situation. However, there was hope for the man still, because a Levite, one of the assistants for worship, was also walking by that way. Here was his rescuer. Except, he didn’t stop either. The man was going to end up dying right there on the side of the road. Because the next person who came by was a Samaritan. And if a priest and a Levite weren’t going to help the poor soul, there’s no way a Samaritan would. But he stopped! And he got right down in the dirt and helped the man. He treated his wounds, bandaged him up, put him on his donkey, and got him to an inn where he could heal up. Then Jesus has yet another question for the man. So much for the man getting answers from Jesus. Jesus asks him, “Who was a neighbor to the man in the ditch?” The answer was easy, of course, “The one who had mercy on him.” But then comes the kicker. He says to the man, “You go and do likewise.” That’s where it ends. It sounds as though Jesus ends up telling the man, “If you just live according to the Law of God, you will be saved.” Every religion teaches that to some degree you must do something to be saved. Christianity is supposed to be the opposite of that. Christianity is supposed to teach that you cannot do anything to save yourself. But here Jesus Himself seems to be showing that if you keep God’s Law you will be saved. Here’s where Jesus is coming from and why he responded to the man in the way He did. Several verses before our Gospel reading, the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to record Jesus’ sending out of the disciples to make known the Gospel. They came back ramped up. If you judge by visible results, their little mission trip had been a success. They came back excited, telling Jesus that even the demons were subject to them! Yeah, exciting stuff, to be sure. Jesus did give them that. But Jesus brought them back down to earth, so to speak, in telling them that what He was truly grateful for was that their names were written in the Book of Life. You see, for Jesus that’s what it’s about. It’s not about what you must do or even what you have done. It’s about what He has done for you. And you know what He has done for you? He has done everything needed for your name to be written in the Book of Life. He has accomplished everything necessary for you to inherit eternal life. That’s why He went on to say to the disciples that it was a blessed thing that these eternal things are received by those who are as children. Not like the man in today’s Gospel reading, who would rather justify himself instead of humbly sitting at the feet of Jesus and letting Him accomplish what is needed for him to gain eternal life. And speaking of sitting at Jesus’ feet, that’s exactly what someone else did in the verses right after today’s Gospel reading. Jesus came to Mary and Martha’s home and while Martha sweated away being hostess to Jesus, Mary sat on her duff and listened to Jesus. Martha was, of course, not at all pleased about this situation. But Jesus brought her back down to earth. Martha, you can keep working away and you will never finish. But sitting at My feet is receiving the things that will last forever. You see, there is nothing you must do. There is nothing you can do. There is no way you can justify yourself. If you look at the Law of God and seek salvation, you will be dammed by that very Law. In the Epistle reading Paul says that “if the inheritance comes by the Law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.” And he asks, “Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the Law.” Paul also says in Galatians, “For all who rely on works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the Law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ But the Law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” The man in the Gospel reading wanted salvation this way, by the Law. By what he could do. Jesus would have none of it. Jesus was showing him that if you are going to go that route you must go all the way and keep God’s Law perfectly. If you try, you will fall short. But Jesus came to take our very failure in keeping the Law upon Himself, becoming a curse for us. If we, then, will learn where it seems this man just wasn’t, we will come to Jesus as children. We will sit at His feet as Mary did. And as good, right, and salutary as it is to go and do likewise, to love others as the Samaritan did, to have compassion on them so as to put them before our very selves, to truly love our neighbor as ourselves, when we come to Jesus in humility and despise anything we could do for Him, then we will see that it is a truly blessed thing to look at that first person in Jesus’ story and attempt to recognize him. Because if you have eyes to see as Jesus said that prophets and kings longed to see, and if you are humble enough to come to Jesus asking Him what He does for you so that you may be saved, then you will indeed recognize that person in the ditch. Because you will see that it is you. He was unable to save himself. He would have died without the Samaritan rescuing him. And so you are dead in your sin and your guilt. You are unable to save yourself, to justify yourself, to inherit eternal life. But your Lord in His compassion has come to you. He has rescued you. And He has done it in the craziest way. You see, He didn’t just pick you up out of the ditch. He took your place. He was not merely beaten half to death but suffered for your sin, receiving the death you ought to have died. If you seek to save yourself as the man did you will be left with yourself as he was. And you will be left in your sin and guilt and condemnation. What you must do is not the right question. The right question is what has Christ done. What He has done is answered at the cross. In your Baptism you are not left with yourself but rather are united with Christ, given everything Christ has done for you and inheriting eternal life. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
