“Eternity in the Moment” (Luke 10:25-37)

“. . . 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.

A Matter of Interpretation (Luke 10:25-37)

     Apparently, over in Australia, they give a lot of tours by bus.  One day a tour bus broke down and was stuck by the roadside.  Baking in the hot heat the driver flagged down the first bus that came along . . . a bus full of Aboriginals.  The driver of the bus asked if his passengers could get a ride on the bus until they got to the city.  The other driver said, “Sure, hop on board.”  And, off they went down the road.

     It wasn’t long before it began to get noisy, but the driver didn’t pay much mind to it as the bus was at full capacity and it was apt to get noisy . . . so, on he drove.  Pretty soon, though, the noise escalated and there was shouting and screaming going on . . . a real ruckus was breaking out, making it difficult for the driver to drive.  For the sake of safety, he pulled over . . . “What’s the problem here!” he demanded to know.

     One of the tourist spoke up, “These people . . . these black skinned people won’t move to the back of the bus!”  One of the Aboriginals spoke up, “There people . . .  these white people think they can get on our bus and tell us where to sit!” Suddenly a fight broke out.

     “Knock it off,” yelled the driver.  “We are in a tight situation and there are no black or white skinned people on this bus—there are only green people!  Does everyone understand that?  If there are any more disruptions on this bus . . . everyone walks!”  

     And, everyone got on the bus and they resumed the trip to the city.  Things were going pretty well . . . it wasn’t noisy . . . there was no fighting.  At least for a while.  Soon the noise and the arguing started up again.  The driver pulled over and yelled, “I thought we settled this . . . there are no black or white people on this bus—only green people!”  Everyone shook their heads in agreement.  “Okay, then, what is the problem?” asked the driver.

     A tourist stood up and said, “These dark green people won’t sit in the back of the bus!”  An Aboriginal stood up and said, “These light green people won’t quit bossing us around!”

     All of us have our own ways of understanding and interpreting things in our lives.  I show you a picture of a glass of water, some of you see a glass that is half-full, others of you see a glass that is half-empty.  Which one is correct?  They both are.  It is all a matter of interpretation . . . none of us seem to see things simply as they are . . . the glass has water in it . . . everyone, no matter whether they are black or white, light green or dark green are still the children of God.

     A lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus asks him what is written in the Law.  The lawyer responds: “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 high fives the guy and tells him that he has it correct, and now all the lawyer has to do is to go out into the world and do it.  Now most of us would have been content with knowing that we had received Jesus’ satisfaction, but we are talking a lawyer here . . . The lawyer couldn’t quit while he was ahead . . . he wanted to know who his neighbor was.  Which usually means “story time” for Jesus.

     Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan . . . a story that is quite familiar to all of us here this morning.  A guy is making a road trip . . . along the way he is robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the side of the road.  The beaten man encounters three potential rescuers while bleeding on the side of the road.  The first, a priest, sees the man and takes a wide path around the man ignoring his situation.  The second, a Levite, also sees the man and does as the priest did . . . he takes a long way around the wounded man.  The third guy, a Samaritan, sees the man, attends to his wounds, takes him into town, makes arrangements for his care, and then heads on to do his own business. 

     Jesus wants to know from the lawyer, which of the three was the neighbor to the robbed and wounded man.  The one who stopped to help, replied the lawyer.  “Go and do likewise,” said Jesus to the lawyer.

     We like our reading this morning because, once again, Jesus puts the uppity up distractors in their place.  We like it because the enemy of the people—the Samaritan—is made the hero in the story.  We like it because it puts faith into simple terms that we can all understand—love God completely and love our neighbors.  But, the truth is, we probably don’t put any more stock into these words than did the first two guys, who walked by the robbed and wounded guy on the side of the road.  We know it in our minds, but our actions probably play out in completely different ways in real life.  Yes, we are all God’s children, but some of us are better children than others!  It is a matter of interpretation.

     The two guys—the priest and the Levite—had their reasons for not stopping and helping the guy on the side of the road.  According to their understanding and interpretations of the rules in which they lived their lives, they were doing what they were supposed to do.  That is how they saw it.  We can blast them all day long for not stopping to help, but we will never win the argument because these two guys only see the glass half-empty while the rest of us see it half-full.  In their world, they did what was expected of them.  It is a matter of interpretation.

     Same with the lawyer asking all the questions.  The guy gets paid to muddy up the waters by asking questions . . . gets paid for helping people skirt the issues . . . gets paid for finding the loop holes.  Who is my neighbor?  That is the question he asks . . . everyone, responds Jesus in his round-about way in a parable.  Everyone is your neighbor and it doesn’t matter what gender, age, race, educational level, rich or poor, or shade of green that person is . . . everyone is your neighbor.  It is as simple as that. And with that declaration we all shake our heads in approval . . . yeah, we get it.  We get it through that grey matter between our ears.

     Jesus does not leave much to interpretation.  Everyone is our neighbor.  Everyone is to be loved.  Go and do likewise.  What is to interpret when it comes to our own faith on a daily basis?

     We all have our likes and our dislikes . . . that is part of what makes us human.  Most of us, if not all of us, would probably consider ourselves not to be prejudice . . . but, we are.  We may not express it with our words, but we express it all of the time with our actions or non-actions . . . with our looks at others . . . with loose phrases we make in our jokes and humor.  Then we remark, “We were only kidding.”  The truth is we are probably more often the priest and the Levite more than we are the Good Samaritan.  It just depends on how we interpret things. 

     Jesus leaves no room for interpretation when it comes to loving God completely, not does he give any wiggle room when it comes to loving our neighbors.  Our neighbors are all of God’s children.  We are to go out and love everyone.  What more could Jesus do or say?  Amen.