"LUKE 10:25-37 REFLECTION" Kids Ministry Coffee Break 50: Jesus gives clear instructions to the scribe seeking eternal life; go and do like the compassionate samaritan. Go and do are the key to life.
The story we call the Good Samaritan is so familiar to us that it can, sometimes, be unfamiliar.
We have heard it so many times that we can kick into cruise control and assume we know the story and its meaning based on what we’ve heard others say about it 100 times. When we do that…we can miss the details.
We could miss that the priest and levite were following purity code and obeying an interpretation of scripture by moving to the other side of the road. They were maintaining their purity as they made their way to Jerusalem…probably to fulfill their roles which would’ve been tainted if they had touched a dead person.
We could miss that Jesus never answers the question of the scribe.
Who is my neighbor?
Jesus doesn’t answer that question at all.
He says, “Who was the neighbor to the beaten man?”
Being a neighbor, as Jesus defines it, is an action we assume towards people…not a definition of someone else’s relationship toward us.
The last words are “Go and do likewise”
So the answer of the question “Who is my neighbor” is “You are to be the neighbor to others, not define which of the others are your neighbor.”
What makes someone your neighbor has nothing to do with them and everything to do with you.
Be the neighbor.
Go and do.
This scribe was trying to believe things the correct way…or at least test to see if Jesus believed the correct way.
Jesus constantly fights off this kind of thinking.
It’s not all about believing the correct way.
It’s about LIVING the correct way.
Go and do are actions.
Be is an action.
Sometimes we learn what to believe to know how to go and do…
but sometimes we go and do to learn what to believe.
The scribe was invited to see the answer to his question by an illustration of compassion and action of a person that, on the surface, was a hated enemy.
The ACTIONS taught him how to BELIEVE
The scribe accepted the invitation on the surface—he knew who the neighbor was to the beaten man.
Will he accept the invitation to put this newfound BELIEF into ACTION in his own life?
Will I?
Will you?
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Be the neighbor to all and know that this is how Jesus instructs us to live.
If you want eternal life (which is the original quest of the scribe), then go and do like the neighbor from the story.
Go and do…and you will live.
Message brought to you by Rev. Joseph Sanford of Sanford Curriculum (Student ministry resources available on The Sunday School Store written by he and Lauren Sanford).
Music by The Muse Maker
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By Rev. Joseph Sanford"LUKE 10:25-37 REFLECTION" Kids Ministry Coffee Break 50: Jesus gives clear instructions to the scribe seeking eternal life; go and do like the compassionate samaritan. Go and do are the key to life.
The story we call the Good Samaritan is so familiar to us that it can, sometimes, be unfamiliar.
We have heard it so many times that we can kick into cruise control and assume we know the story and its meaning based on what we’ve heard others say about it 100 times. When we do that…we can miss the details.
We could miss that the priest and levite were following purity code and obeying an interpretation of scripture by moving to the other side of the road. They were maintaining their purity as they made their way to Jerusalem…probably to fulfill their roles which would’ve been tainted if they had touched a dead person.
We could miss that Jesus never answers the question of the scribe.
Who is my neighbor?
Jesus doesn’t answer that question at all.
He says, “Who was the neighbor to the beaten man?”
Being a neighbor, as Jesus defines it, is an action we assume towards people…not a definition of someone else’s relationship toward us.
The last words are “Go and do likewise”
So the answer of the question “Who is my neighbor” is “You are to be the neighbor to others, not define which of the others are your neighbor.”
What makes someone your neighbor has nothing to do with them and everything to do with you.
Be the neighbor.
Go and do.
This scribe was trying to believe things the correct way…or at least test to see if Jesus believed the correct way.
Jesus constantly fights off this kind of thinking.
It’s not all about believing the correct way.
It’s about LIVING the correct way.
Go and do are actions.
Be is an action.
Sometimes we learn what to believe to know how to go and do…
but sometimes we go and do to learn what to believe.
The scribe was invited to see the answer to his question by an illustration of compassion and action of a person that, on the surface, was a hated enemy.
The ACTIONS taught him how to BELIEVE
The scribe accepted the invitation on the surface—he knew who the neighbor was to the beaten man.
Will he accept the invitation to put this newfound BELIEF into ACTION in his own life?
Will I?
Will you?
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Be the neighbor to all and know that this is how Jesus instructs us to live.
If you want eternal life (which is the original quest of the scribe), then go and do like the neighbor from the story.
Go and do…and you will live.
Message brought to you by Rev. Joseph Sanford of Sanford Curriculum (Student ministry resources available on The Sunday School Store written by he and Lauren Sanford).
Music by The Muse Maker