Just Do It
You remember the Nike slogan “Just Do it”? This morning I watched the very first Nike “Just Do It” commercial ever run. It first aired in 1988 and featured an 80-year-old man named Walt Stack who ran 17 miles every morning! It showed him running across the golden state bridge in his Nike’s and ended with the slogan “Just Do It” on the screen.
Today we are going to be reading from 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?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 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.’”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
If you can truly love God, enough to love other people as much or more than you love yourself you will liveJesus says. Here you will start to live the life you were meant to live, one characterized by fulfillment and effectiveness, one absent of fear and worry.
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
What does the text mean by “justify himself”? It could be that this man was desperate to find a way to save himself, he wanted to make sure that he understood all the details, all the loop holes, all the possible pit falls so that he could know for sure that he was doing all the necessary things to save himself.
30 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.
31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
A religious leader who supposedly represented God walked past as far away as he could and, apparently, didn’t even pause. Why? It could be that he was afraid of becoming “unclean” in accordance with the ceremonial laws. He was more concerned with the law than a soul.
32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
Once again, a man who was supposed to be close God, one of the priestly class, sees the man, and walks right past, perhaps out of fear that the bandits were still nearby. He needed to protect himself first, of course.
33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was;
The Jews and the Samaritans hated each other. When hearing this parable, the audience would see the Samaritan as the obvious villain in this story simply because he was a Samaritan. They would assume he would at least pass by either because he was evil or because of the way he had been treated by the Jews. But Jesus, a master story-teller will shock his listeners,
and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 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. 35 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.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Do you notice how Jesus has flipped the question? The expert in the law wanted to know who should he count as neighbors – Jesus tells the young man, “It’s not about who is a neighbor to you, it is about you being a neighbor to others.”
It is also important to note that the two men that passed the man by were “experts in the law” just like the man asking the question.
Who is your neighbor? I heard someone put it this way, anyone who is in need.
Who might God be asking you to go out of your way to minister to right now? Look at Jesus’ reply to this man?
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” What did Jesus say here? Just Do It!
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