Blowing It

I have always believed you should quit while you are ahead.  Of course, I don’t always do that.

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘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 neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’ But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ - Luke 10:25-29

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus encounters a lawyer who got the answer he wanted but then he went after a higher prize, and that’s where he blew it.

If only he had quit when he was ahead, he could have avoided embarrassment.  When he asks who is his neighbor, Jesus tells him the parable we know as The Good Samaritan.

The interesting thing about the situation leading up to the parable is that Jesus  tells the an he has given all the right answers, and he has, but there is a twist.  Doing all the right things, following all the laws, can sometimes lead us down the wrong path, as the first two characters in the parable are shown to do.

They follow the law, but they fail to help their neighbor, perhaps because they fail to recognize him as a neighbor.  To them, he was nobody.

So, the message from Jesus is that we can have the right intent, but fail to do what God wants for us.  

In God’s eyes, we are not here alone.  We are all together, and we are here for each other, not just for ourselves.  So, when we do what is right for us, we may be failing to do the right thing for others.

So, the message is a surprise.  It goes too far, farther than the man wanted.  But is it too far for us?

More to come...