ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
August 29, 2020
Scripture: Luke 10:25-29
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 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.” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Thought for the Day: In this conversation that prompted the telling of Jesus’ most famous parable, the Good Samaritan, the expert in the law quoted the Shema (Deut. 6). We will be talking about the Shema in tomorrow’s worship service, but the idea of loving God and loving neighbor was not original to Jesus. It was woven into the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), yet Jesus seemed very intent on bringing back the radical nature to those commandments. We all know how time and life can water down what was once a powerful concept. Some breathtaking ideas can be pulled from their context, tossed around and misused, and before people realize it, these once amazing ideas become empty slogans that make for nice t-shirts but no longer pulsate as God’s most important claims upon the world. Every generation needs Jesus to shake the dust from the two great commandments, giving them new life for a new time.
Prayer: Let me hear the voice of Jesus, O God – the one who seeks to remind me of who you are and who I have been called to be. Amen.
