Thought for the Week 16th April 2017

Joining Jesus in His Mission – ‘Don’t stay away’.

Luke 10:25-37

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?” In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

If you are serious about joining Jesus in His Mission that will mean that you have to be, or become, serious about seeing people as Jesus sees them rather than with your ‘natural’ eyes.   The truth is that left to our own devices we ‘naturally’ want to be and spend time with people who we find agreeable.

We can so easily choose to stay away from people that we don’t find agreeable.

At the heart of the famous ‘parable of the good Samaritan’ is Jesus’ emphasis on what it means to be in His Kingdom and what our heart and attitude should be towards people that He came to save and yet we often would rather stay away from.

I will look at a few of the key things that Jesus teaches in this parable over the next few weeks but want to start with a confession.  I was once in this parable!

I was at the Port Authority bus terminal in New York City and watching as hundreds of people kept exiting by the entrance door.  They didn’t realize it was the entrance door because it was open all the time and the ‘exit’ sign couldn’t be seen.  A nun, who was in a hurry, was rushing to exit and, as she did, she tripped an elderly short-sighted man with her bag that she was pulling along behind her.  He fell forwards and splattered his nose on the concrete floor.  She looked over her shoulder, pulled a face that showed her disapproval and then rushed onwards.  Immediately, a young man covered in tattoos and piercings ran to the elderly man, took his handkerchief from his pocket, wiped the blood away from the man’s nose and then picked him up and carefully walked along, half carrying the man, to the medical area. 

As I watched I thought how good it was for the young man to run to his aid and how bad it was for the Nun to have just left him there and done nothing, and then it hit me!!  I didn’t do anything either!

Joining Jesus in His Mission requires that we do more than just agreeing that the gospel is for everybody!

What opportunities are there around you to Join Jesus in His mission this week?