Questioning Jesus: What Must I Do?

As we know from reading stories about Jesus, people are constantly questioning him as he goes about the countryside preaching and teaching and healing. It is kind of natural for people to have questions. People want to understand things better. They have their own particular interests to clarify. They have a need that they know Jesus can address. I suspect many of us today still have questions for Jesus.

As we noted last week, one of the groups that frequently questions Jesus is the religious scribes and leaders. The Pharisees are primarily interested in making sure everyone is acting in the way they are supposed to act. Want to know how you are supposed to act? Well, look at what scripture says. If it doesn’t address exactly your concern, let’s figure out what comes closest and go from there. Following God for them as described in the Gospels is an either/or situation. Either you are doing what scripture says or you aren’t. There is no concern for nuance or the reason why certain rules are as they are. According to them, our purpose is not to ask why but simply to follow the rules as we find them. Maybe you have met people like this. There are people like this both within and outside of our churches.

Because Jesus tends to not always follow the exact letter of the Law, opting instead to consider the purpose of the rule, the Pharisees are suspicious of him. As we saw last week, they often question Jesus in order to test him. They aren’t looking to understand better. They are looking for Jesus to admit he doesn’t follow the Law so that they can have a reason to denounce him.

On the other hand, this week we continue reading Mark 10 and find a man who approaches Jesus with a very different question (Mark 10:17-31). Following his encounter with the Pharisees and then his blessing of the children, Jesus continues down the road. A man runs up and kneels before him. “Good Teacher, what must I do to obtain eternal life?” Unlike the Pharisees, this man acknowledges Jesus as a teacher with authority. He wants to learn from him. “What must I do?”

God Beyond Boundaries: The Unexpected Neighbor

Today we return to a familiar parable to see how God pushes beyond the borders and boundaries we surround ourselves with to do something different. Today, we read the parable of the Good Samaritan again to see what this passage in Luke has to tell us about a God that doesn't see people and borders the same ways we do.

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Now those of you in our live studio audience and those that have been following along at home may have noticed that not only is our text today a familiar one, we just used it three weeks ago. But please don’t worry - I promise this is not a rerun.

When we read this text a few weeks ago, we were in the midst of our Vacation Bible School series on Going Beyond. We focused primarily in that service on the ways in which the Samaritan in the parable went beyond what was expected by not just helping a man in need but by continuing to provide for his care. He didn’t just bandage his wounds and send him on his way; he carried him to an inn, made sure the man would be cared for, and promised to pay back the innkeeper any additional expenses upon his return.

Today, we’re going to be looking at the reason and impact of this story for those that Jesus was dialoguing with. You see the text starts with a legal expert wanting to test Jesus. Some translations call him a lawyer. Others suggest that he was an expert in religious law.

Streams of Living Water: The Social Justice Stream

During this season of Lent, as we have focused on self-reflection and repentance, we have also been exploring some of the spiritual traditions present in the Christian faith. Over the last few weeks, we have discussed Holiness - the virtuous life that focuses on a transformation of the heart and the development of holy habits; the Charismatic life - a life immersed in, empowered by, and under the direction of the Holy Spirit; and the Contemplative life - a life of loving attention to God and the heartbeat of Divine Love. This week we turn our attention to the Social Justice tradition.

When we look at the spiritual streams we have discussed so far, this stream is a natural next step on our journey. We have discussed seeking to be more like God in our personal actions, we have discussed the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and we have discussed a life focused on God’s love for us. So it makes sense to extend that love that God has for us out to other people.

Now, even as I say this, I recognize that in some circles social justice gets used as a bad word. We see people on social media referring to others as SJWs, so-called Social Justice Warriors, as if it is (or should be) an insult.

But this does a disservice both to the concept of social justice and to our own tradition. You see, social justice is very much at the heart of the movement of Jesus in the world, both in the past and in the present.

Jesus, who summed up the law and the prophets by calling on us to love God and to love our neighbors.

Jesus, who constantly centered outsiders and outcasts as heroes in his stories.

Jesus, who told us to not only love the people who believe as we do but to also love our enemies.

Who is my neighbor? (Wakandan edition)

The theme scripture for our Annual Conference early this summer was Luke 10: 25-37. Commonly called the Parable of the Good Samaritan, this passage shows Jesus being questioned by a young lawyer about what must be done to inherit eternal life. Jesus turns the question around on him to ask what the scriptures say. The young lawyer responds, “You 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" (Luke 10:27), which Jesus says is the correct answer.

For Jesus, then, the totality of the Hebrew Scriptures (which we Christians commonly call the Old Testament) are summed up in these two phrases. But of course, as a lawyer, the young man wanted to push further to question the limits of this rule - "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded with a story about a man attacked by bandits and left for dead and three people that encountered him afterwards. Of the three, only one helped the man. To complicate matters, that one was a foreigner from an area the Jews considered inferior. But that is the one that was neighbor to the man, because he showed compassion.

I have been wrestling with this passage for months. How am I showing compassion to my neighbor, most especially those that I would consider if not quite an enemy, definitely not a friend? As well, I have struggled with how to deal with those who claim to be Christian and yet display so little compassion towards those that are different from them.

Last weekend we watched Black Panther again. It is such a well made and enjoyable film anyway, but this time I was struck by the way certain themes in the movie parallel this passage from Luke. I started to imagine a Wakandan retelling of the story in their own context.