“. . . what must one do to inherit eternal
life?”
I only received one phone call from my
grandfather on the Keener side of the family.
It was on the day of the birth of our first son, John Andrew. The phone rang . . . I answered it. There were no greetings . . . no
identification from the caller, just a deep southern drawl asking, “Well, what
was it?” I answered, “A boy.”
Click.
That was it . . . the whole
conversation. It took me a minute to
figure out that it was my grandfather.
My grandfather who had had three daughters and one son . . . one son who
had had three sons and one daughter . . . and, only one grandson who had gotten
married. All bets were riding on me to
produce . . . to produce that one child that would carry on the “Keener” name .
. . that would insure the world would have to put up with us Keeners for at
least one more generation. That was all
that he wanted to know.
In a way, my grandfather was looking
towards eternity . . . that the legacy would not end . . . that the “Keener”
name would live on for eternity. I guess
my grandfather would be proud to know that the “Keener” name has not died. It has survived another generation beyond my
sons as our youngest has a son. Eternity
still has a chance for us Keeners!
“. . . what must I do to inherit eternal life?” asked an expert of the
law to Jesus. To which Jesus asked the
lawyer to explain what was written in the Law.
The guy responded that a person must “’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.’”
Jesus responded, “You got it,
buddy! Go and do it!”
But, Jesus wasn’t dealing with just any
old stiff off the street . . . he was dealing with a lawyer. It wasn’t enough that the guy got the answer
right . . . that he was told what to do; no, he had to split hairs. He wants Jesus to tell him who is a
neighbor. To which Jesus proceeds to
tell him the parable of the Good Samaritan.
We all know the story of the Good Samaritan . . . we know that the most
religious do nothing to help the man who is robbed, beaten, and left on the
side of the road . . . not the priest, not the Levite! Only a despised Samaritan stops, helps the
man, and makes sure that the victim is taken care of.
Jesus asks the lawyer, “Which
of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands
of the robbers?”
The lawyer answers, “The one who had mercy on him.”
“Go and do likewise,” says Jesus.
I want to warn you now . . . sort of a
“spoiler alert” . . . that we exist in eternity. When we proclaimed our allegiance to follow
Jesus . . . we stepped into eternity. We
are in the midst of eternity as we worship this morning. We are there.
How does it feel?
We received that “gift” when we
proclaimed our willingness to follow Jesus . . . his words and example. And, all we have to do to maintain that place
in the eternal life is to love God completely and to love our neighbor as we
love ourselves—love God, love others. We
are to do that in each and every moment of our lives . . . and, if we do, Jesus
tells us that we have eternal life.
Because of this, each and every moment
of our lives is an opportunity to wade into the waters of eternal life. Each and every moment provides us with an
opportunity to love God and others. Jesus explains, not directly—but,
indirectly, that eternity is in the moment.
The moment that is presented to us.
The question becomes whether or not we are going to take advantage of
those opportunities. Isn’t this what
happens as the Samaritan stops to help the man who had been robbed and beaten?
The Samaritan easily could have avoided
the man . . . he could have walked around him like the priest and Levite
did. But, he didn’t. No, he walked over to this stranger . . .
this man who saw the Samaritan as someone to despise . . . and, he helped the
man. He took care of the man. In the moment of caring, eternity was exposed.
Eternity is ours when we follow
Jesus. It exists in the present moment
because it comes down to relationships.
Relationships between the follower and God . . . relationships with
others. In living life in this manners,
we discover the gift and blessing of the eternal life. It comes down to relationships.
Eternal life is not passed on through
the birth of children . . . though I must admit, I am pretty pumped to know
that the “Keener” name will last at least one more generation. Eternal life comes to us in the moment we
agree to follow in the example and footsteps of Jesus . . . to love God . . .
to love others . . . to care. In this we
discover eternal life. There is no
finagling around it like the lawyer attempted to do. Jesus told us that there was only one way to
inherit the eternal life . . . only one: “’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.’”
Then Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.”
May we all embrace the gift of eternal
life as we live each and every moment.
Eternity is in the moment. Amen.
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