What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Not a question asked too often today!
How do I make more money – get more likes on Facebook
– how can I fit in and not rock the boat?
Jesus is the first to bring together Deuteronomy – the
famous “Shema” Hear O Israel – love the Lord your God & Leviticus – love your
neighbor.
Now – who is my neighbor? Someone I like or likes me?
Jesus tells his famous story - Robbers have beaten a
man, taken his clothes and left him half dead. Who is he? It was an important
question in that culture!
You can’t tell by his clothes & you can’t tell by
his accent – he cannot speak. This is a real problem for the bystanders.
The Priest sees him – now, if he is not a Jew or he is
even dead – if the Priest touches him, he would become defiled-unclean – and he
must go back to Jerusalem to get purified – there is no time for this – not his
problem. Not my problem!
Levite sees him – the priest is doing nothing, why
should he? – he follows his bad example. Giving bad example!
Samaritan – the outsiders from the conquered Northern
kingdom of Israel, the ones who intermarried with Assyrians, who only follow
the first 5 books of the Bible, who did not worship in Jerusalem. He also has a problem – he thinks - what if
the injured man wakes up and seems me – my touch will make him unclean – maybe
even his family will come after me.
Now the point is - This does not stop him from helping!
Act of Mercy – no matter what, this is a human being –
made in God’s image & likeness.
This is what we teach our teens when we go on a
Midnight Run – we look past the color of skin – we look past mental illness –
we look past alcoholism & drug addiction – to show mercy to a human being!
To see the Face of God in them! Act
of Justice – it means there are times that boundaries must be crossed – to do
what is right.
There are so many opinions about immigration – I
myself am a son of immigrants – but as our country tries to decide what must be
done – we must never forget that they are human beings – as Mother Theresa
would say – Jesus is there in the distressing disguise of the poor.
I read about a Religious Sister who was serving in a
clinic in Syria. This clinic served everyone in need, including wounded Muslim
soldiers. How could she do such a thing??? After all they are doing to
Christians?
She said - We don’t do this because of who they are.
We do this because of who WE ARE.
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Love God and love neighbor – and who is my neighbor?
