The way of the Lord is the way of Life, and the way of Life is Love. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus affirms that the lawyer has answered correctly. He has rightly summarized God’s Law, just as St. Paul in one of his Epistles summarizes the entire Law with one word: “Love.” And our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Truth, speaks truthfully when He says, “Do this, and you shall live.”
Your love for God is to be entire and complete, with your whole being, your mind, your heart, your strength, and your soul. With all that you are, in all that you do, look to Him, cling to Him, and know Him as your highest, best, and greatest Good, apart from whom nothing else matters.
To love Him is to be fixed on Him, as the One who delights your soul and causes your spirit to sing, as the One who gives strength to your body, peace to your heart, and clarity to your thoughts.
To love Him with all that you are and have is to have faith in Him. It is to trust Him. It is to look to Him for absolutely everything you need, trusting that He will provide for your body and soul. It is to commend yourself and all things to Him, every morning and as you go to bed each night. And that is to fix your hope in heaven, where Christ Jesus is, seated at the right hand of the Father.
And as you know and love the Lord your God, so will you also love your neighbor as yourself. That is the way of Life in Christ, the way of Love, which is the fulfillment of the Law.
To love your neighbor as yourself is to desire for your neighbor all those things that you desire for yourself, and to work for your neighbor as you work for yourself. It is to do unto others, not only as you would have them do unto you, but as you actually do for yourself, day in and day out.
If you were naked, would you not go to whatever length necessary to clothe your body? If you were hungry and starving, would you not go to any extreme to get food for yourself? Of course you take care of yourself! And the Lord commands that you love your neighbor in the same way.
To love your neighbor as yourself flows out of your love for God, your fear, love, and trust in Him. When you know yourself to be loved and cared for by your God and Father in heaven, then you’re not afraid to pour yourself out in love for your neighbor. You’re not afraid to feed and clothe and care for your neighbor in his or her need, to visit your neighbor in loneliness, in sickness, and even in prison; for your hope is in the Lord, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. As your eyes are fixed on Him who is your Life and your Salvation, so do you fix your eyes in love upon your neighbors, without any favoritism, partiality, or prejudice, but simply in the Love of Christ Jesus.
Of course it is true that, because you are not God but a finite creature with limited capacities, you do have to make choices and decisions based upon your own callings and stations in life, so that you do not neglect your own spouse and children, for example, in order to care for strangers.
But do not hide within your family and suppose that is where your love begins and ends. Rather, as you are given the ability, the means, and the opportunity, love and provide for the neighbors with whom the Lord surrounds you in this body and life. Consider how the Lord has loved you, and continues to love you and provide for you, purely out of His fatherly divine goodness and mercy; and so return thanks and love the Lord your God by loving and serving your neighbors in their need. That is the way of the Lord, the way of Life and Love. “Do this, and you will live.”
But if you attempt to use the Law of the Lord to justify yourself, as the lawyer wanted to justify himself, and as your sinful heart would presume to justify itself, then you have already failed, you have already sinned against the Law and broken it. In seeking to justify yourself, to save yourself and get life for yourself, you love neither God nor your neighbor but make a false god of yourself.
The Law is not given that you should justify yourself. It is given to reveal the good and gracious Will of God, to show you what He is like and what is worthy of Him and acceptable to Him. And in doing so, the Law also exposes your idolatry, your lack of faith, your misplaced trust, your love for things instead of God, and your love for your own self at the expense of your neighbor.
The Law commands you to love even your enemy as your friend. The Law commands you to love unselfishly and self-sacrificially. The Law commands you to love in a way that you do not love.
The Law says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And your neighbor is the person next to you. Your neighbor is the person next door, the person down the street, the person at work, the person here in church. You don’t get to pick and choose your neighbors; they are given to you by God, that you should love them as God loves both you and them. But you do not love as you should.
So, when you try to use the Law to justify and save yourself, you find that, not only does the Law not work for you that way, but it actually accuses and condemns you and brings you to nothing. Not because it is bad or defective, but precisely because it is holy and righteous and good, divinely perfect in every way, whereas you are sinful and unclean, unrighteous and unholy in all your thoughts, words, and deeds. You do not live as you should, but you do what you should not.
The lawyer tries to wriggle out from under the accusation and indictment of the Law by looking for a loophole and excuse. “Who, then, is my neighbor?” But if you listen carefully to the answer Jesus gives, you find that He turns that question upside-down and inside-out, for the lawyer and for you, as well. He concludes His Parable by asking a question of His own, “Who was neighbor to that man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Think about that: The lawyer asks, “Who is my neighbor?” And Jesus says, “Who was neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” That is where you and the lawyer are at first: beaten up and left for dead by the side of the road.
Who, then, is your neighbor? Who is your Good Samaritan? It is Christ Jesus, your Savior.
He does not just happen upon you by chance, nor does He look the other way. He is on a journey, Himself, and you are His destination. And taking you into His arms, bearing you upon His back, He brings you home. He is your Neighbor, because He has come to you in compassion, and He has made Himself your Neighbor in love.
This word, “compassion,” is a profound and beautiful word in the Holy Scriptures, a divine Word describing the Lord your God and His grace toward you. His very guts churn with emotion, with tender mercy, in which He pours Himself out for you. He offers Himself as a Sacrifice, and with His own Flesh and Blood He makes Atonement for you and reconciles you to God the Father.
He is the One true and righteous Man who loves the Lord His God with all His heart and all His soul and all His mind and all His strength, with His whole Body, with all His Blood, sweat, and tears. He trusts His Father, and He lives perfectly according to His Word. He loves from a heart that is not the least bit selfish, a heart that does not consider Himself but the Father and you.
And with that same deep divine compassion which takes Him to the Cross on your behalf, He also comes to you here and now. He finds you, and in mercy He gathers you up and takes care of you.
He pours Oil and Wine upon your wounds. That is the anointing of Holy Baptism, the anointing of the Holy Spirit in the forgiveness of your sins; and that is the Wine of this true Vine, which He pours out as His holy and precious Blood for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of sins. Thus has He made a Covenant with you that He will not break.
He binds up your wounds, and in doing so He also binds Himself to you in heart, mind, body, soul, and spirit. He brings healing to all your hurt and sickness. And He lays you upon His own back, as though He were a Beast of burden.
He takes the heaviness and all the weight of your whole life, and He bears it all for you. He takes your tiredness and fatigue, your anxiety and stress, your worst fears, and all of your sins, and He carries them in His own Body to the Cross. He deals with it all, and He does away with it forever. But you He bears in Himself to His God and Father in heaven. He brings you home rejoicing.
To that end, He brings you first of all to this Inn where you can be cared for, where you have peace and rest, nourishment and care, all at His expense. He brings you to this Inn, His Church on earth, wherein He provides you with His Medicine of Immortality, with perfect healing, and with hope.
Here He takes care of you, for He is your Good Physician. He serves you and provides for you by those whom He directs according to His Word. He says to the Innkeepers, “Take care of this dear child, this poor man, this hurting woman. Do it for Me, for My sake, on My account, with My own ways and means, with My own Love. And when I return, whatever yet is lacking, I will fulfill.”
So He does for you, right here and now in this place. Here He lays you gently on a bed of peace. He tends your many wounds with His holy forgiveness. He feeds your body with His very own.
There is nothing lacking in His care, and there is no payment charged to you. There is nothing that you must do to inherit eternal Life, for it is already yours, pressed into your hand, fed into your mouth, laid upon your head, and poured into your heart through the Gospel.
As you know that Love of God, benefit from the Cross of Christ, and dwell here safely within His holy Christian Church, the Fruits of Christ bear fruits in you after their own kind. They truly do.
You are a poor, miserable sinner. It is true that you deserve nothing but punishment. It is true that, when you examine your heart, you find not love but greed and selfishness. And yet, Christ Jesus in His mercy loves you. You are His neighbor, because He has made Himself your Neighbor.
And see what Love He lavishes upon you, though you do not deserve even the least little bit of it. See how richly He cares for you and lavishes His grace upon you. And by this compassion of His, you learn compassion. By His mercy, you learn mercy. By His Love for you, you live and love.
You love your Lord Jesus Christ; though you have not seen Him, yet you love Him, because He has first loved you. And you trust Him, not because you are so trusting, but because He is so very trustworthy. He has served you, and He does serve you, and He promises that He will serve you; and there can be no doubt that His Word and promises are the Truth.
As He tends your wounds and cares for you with His free and full forgiveness, you also bear such fruits of love and forgiveness for your neighbors, for your family and friends, and for your foes; because you are not your own, and you do not live for yourself, but you belong to Him who loves you, who has given Himself for you, and who has thus purchased you to be His very own.
Walk in the way of the Lord by faith in Him. Love as He loves you. Not because you are afraid, nor as though to earn your place, but because you are free, and because you are safe, and because you have nothing to lose, but you have everything to give, because everything is yours by grace.
Love your neighbor. Trust your Father in heaven, rest yourself in Jesus, rely upon His Holy Spirit, and love your neighbor as the Lord your God loves you and shall never leave you nor forsake you. Your dear Lord Jesus Christ, who has brought you here to His Church and loves you with a Love that never ends, He shall return and take you to be with Him where He is, body and soul, to live and abide in the Father’s House forevermore. And whatever is yet lacking in your love, there is nothing lacking in His Love. Whatever payment was needed, He has paid. Whatever is broken, He repairs. Whatever is missing, He provides. And whatever sin there is in you, He forgives.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment