Daily Lectionary for October 21, 2010
Psalm 143
Micah 5:1-4, 10-15
Revelation 9:1-12
Luke 10:25-37
Luke 10:25-37
A lawyer is in the midst of a back and forth with Jesus. The lawyer wants to know what he has to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks him what the law says.The lawyer replies the laws instruction is to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus agrees. The young man then gets to the crucial question - "And who is my neighbor."(v.29) Here is the critical difference between Jesus and us. We want to know how big we have to make the circle. Or rather, how small. How many folks must we love and who can we leave on the outside looking in. What is the maximum required? What are the boundaries? And Jesus wants no part of exclusion, no part of boundaries, has no interest in limits. Who are your neighbors? Everyone. The people next door. The people up the street. The people you like. The people you don't like. Everybody is your neighbor. Forget trying to figure out where you can stop loving folks, because there isn't an exclusionary circle we can draw big enough to satisfy Jesus definition of neighbor. Until everyone is inside the circle. Once that's done, we've got it - they are all our neighbors.
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