eternal life – Holy Cross Episcopal Church

Deuteronomy 30:9-14Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Luke 10:25-37Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

I think this may be a troubling sermon for you. At least it is for me. Thereâ€™s a good guy and a bad guy in the gospel today. The good guy is the Samaritan of course, who stops by the side of the road and cares for the man whoâ€™s been left there for dead. We know this Samaritan well; this is one of Jesusâ€™s most familiar parables. The bad guy is â€“ not the priest or the Levite who pass the injured man by â€“ no, the real bad guy is the lawyer whose question prompts Jesus to tell the parable.

Why is the lawyer bad? Because, Luke tells us, he â€œwanted to justify himself.â€ That is, he put himself forward, tried to assert his own cleverness, sought to cross-examine or test Jesus. He should simply have done what the good Samaritan did, which was to obey what he knew to be Godâ€™s law: â€œYou shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.â€

So, whatâ€™s troubling about this? Whatâ€™s troubling, I think, is that you and I are the lawyer, not the Samaritan. Putting ourself at the center, making ourselves the test of life â€“ do I like such-and-such, does it make sense to me, does it withstand my test of self-interest â€“ this is our default stance towards life. Maybe, if something meets our test, we go ahead and do what we should be doing according to Godâ€™s law. But often, I think, weâ€™re just more interested in testing for ourselves and never get around to doing. And sometimes, of course, God fails our test and we donâ€™t do his law at all.

Amos 5:6-7, 10-15Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Hebrews 4:12-16Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Mark 10:17-31

This is the story of three people. Theyâ€™re at the age where suddenly they realize theyâ€™re not kids any more, they canâ€™t use the excuse that theyâ€™re still growing up, finding themselves. Itâ€™s that point where we say to ourselves, my life isnâ€™t infinite, I need to settle down, set myself to something meaningful. For some people that time comes in their twenties; for some, in their thirties; for some itâ€™s later on â€“ for me it was almost 40. It can be any age. For some people, well, it seems never to come.