Author: Shari Gannon

The Apostle Paul teaches here of the Christian life. He has just finished relating the life of a Christian as citizen (14:1-7). Now he turns to relating the life of a Christian as a neighbor. He does this by first dealing with the actuality of love (14:8-10) and then by putting the neighbor in the context of the dawning day (14:11-14).

In full realization that love cannot be commanded, Paul turns to the actual commandments of the past, naming them as concrete activities which promote the neighbor’s welfare. Love is first an act, not a sentiment. There is no righteousness to be had from such activity, though, if sentiment and activity do not align. One must both desire to promote the neighbor’s welfare and then, actually promote that welfare. Because of original sin and our bound wills, we simply cannot get ourselves out of the way: our love of neighbor is always tainted with self-love.

Consequently, since the alignment of sentiment and activity required for love of neighbor cannot arise out of obedience to past commandments, Paul turns to the future reality. He turns to the Lord Jesus Christ in whom Paul has previously said (2 Cor. 5:17) “there is a new creation.” Our resurrected Lord comes back in time to us from beyond the eschaton. Only as we are in him are we in the light of the new day and not in the darkness of this old world which is passing away. This light shines in faith alone; sight can only perceive the darkness (2 Cor. 5:7). This new creature existing totally in the reality of faith in Christ lives the alignment of sentiment and activity, spontaneously promoting the neighbor’s welfare.

You who have been taught that the good tree bears good fruit, now know that the good tree comes to you from beyond the eschaton. It is the future’s gift to you, not your commanded obedience to laws from the past. Being found in Christ, all your sin—even original sin—is forgiven. Being found in Christ, your bound wills have been replaced by His will. The debt of love owed to your neighbors is paid again and again as you, a new creature in Christ Jesus, act spontaneously for their good.

Table Talk: Talk of how our “good” works get tainted with self-interest.

Pray: Heavenly Father, make me new in Christ that I may be useful. Amen

Romans 13:(8–10) 11–14

(8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet, and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.)

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

In light of the Good Samaritan parable (the gospel reading for the 13^th Sunday after Trinity), these lepers pleaded for Jesus to be a neighbor to them… to be someone who showed them mercy (Lk. 10:36-37). These lepers are law-abiding. They stand at a distance, respecting the law forbidding them from having contact with non-leprous folk. By banding together, these ten lepers respected the law commanding them to leave home and family, gathering only with one another. We are not told whether they were ringing the required bell and shouting “unclean” to announce their presence. By being encountered at the edge of the village, we know they live on the outskirts of town and most likely had to scavenge for food or depend upon the charity of others. These ten knew the law but, in encountering Jesus, they anticipate someone who will have mercy upon them… someone who will be a neighbor to them even as they are outcasts. And so, Jesus becomes their neighbor.

Jesus delivers mercy upon these ten who are cast out. First, he commands them to obey the law. The law to which he is referring is the law that demanded lepers who were healed receive a certificate of cleanliness from a priest prior to resuming contact with any non-leprous person. Again, these ten obey Jesus’ command and head out to visit the priest. As they go on their way, Jesus provides them with the great mercy: he heals them of their leprosy; they are cleansed. Jesus is indeed a marvelous neighbor!

The Samaritan, in returning to immediately give thanks to Jesus… in falling on his face at Jesus’ feet… in this act of violating social distance… the Samaritan becomes a lawbreaker. What’s more, Jesus questions why the others haven’t become lawbreakers as well. Jesus concludes by praising the Samaritan’s faith (vs. 19) rather than praising his obedience to the law. Mercy, not obedience, once again conditions neighborliness.

So, you, as you go on your way, Jesus has mercy on you. Healed of your sin-sickness by the mighty mercy of your Savior, you can continue to be ruled by the law (like the other nine) or you can spontaneously thank and praise the agent of your healing, living out of faith rather than obedience.

Table Talk: Discuss the priority of mercy over obedience.

Pray: Father, grant me such faith that I, too, trust the mercy of my good neighbor, Jesus Christ. Amen

Luke 17:11-19

11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 When he saw them he said to them, Go and show yourselves to the priests. And as they went they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered, Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? 19 And he said to him, Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.

Understanding the dramatic impact of this “good” Samaritan response to the lawyer’s challenge escapes us who do not live under an oppressive caste system.  The peasants, those usual members of the crowd surrounding Jesus, had little or no social status and were considered deplorables by the members of the religious establishment, the political establishment, and the Roman occupiers.  This lawyer, as an expert in the Torah, challenging Jesus would have been a member of the privileged religious caste.  Jesus’ responses to the challenge turned it back upon the challenger, no doubt, delighting the crowd.

Jesus’ first response tests the lawyer’s knowledge regarding the letter of the law.  The lawyer’s answer receives commendation from Jesus, “You have answered correctly…” (vs. 28).  But the lawyer, who just has to justify himself (as do all those who are under the law), continues to test Jesus, “Who is my neighbor” (vs. 29)?  Jesus sets forth a situation that absolutely mocks the members of the religious establishment.  They, who would have been the cleanest of the clean, the most pious of all the pious, are exposed as unmerciful.  The priest and the Levite would not give up their piety to help the “untouchable” naked and perhaps dead man.  They, like the lawyer, may have known and followed the letter of the law but there was no mercy in them.  In contrast, the Samaritan (most likely a trader of sorts) was not even on the map of social status, no better than a dog.  This one, who would have had little knowledge of the law’s content, certainly knew the spirit of the law:  have mercy.  Jesus forces the lawyer to acknowledge that practicing the spirit of the law means more than merely knowing the content of the law.  Who was the victim’s neighbor?  “The one who showed him mercy…” (vs. 3 7).

You, who have been the lowest of the low, sinners all… you have been delivered into the hands of a good neighbor… a neighbor who shows you mercy, Jesus Christ who binds up your wounds, forgives your sins, and puts you into the care of the metaphorical equivalent of the innkeeper… he sets you under the care of your preacher.

Table Talk:  Discuss mercy as the spirit of the law and why simply obeying the law’s content is insufficient.

Pray: Heavenly Father, keep me merciful toward my neighbors even if it proves me impious under the content of the law.  Amen

Luke 10:23-37

23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 He said to him, What is written in the Law? How do you read it? 27 And he answered, You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself. 28 And he said to him, You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? 30 Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back. 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers? 37 He said, The one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, You go, and do likewise.

This opening of the deaf man’s ears presents many similarities with the opening of sight to the blind man (Mk. 8:22-26): an unnamed group brings a deaf (or blind) man to Jesus for healing; Jesus leads the person away from the crowd; Jesus applies his saliva; and there is success—hearing and seeing are restored. The similarities of these two accounts calls our attention to the place of hearing and seeing in the bible. The inability to hear and the inability to see are often used as metaphors for the unfaithfulness of the people of God. “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not” (Jer. 5:21). The source of this senselessness is ambiguous: sometimes it seems to rest innately within the people themselves (Jer. 5:21); sometimes it seems an affliction visited upon the people by God (Ro. 8:11).

Isaiah’s prophecy of that mighty and glorious day when the Lord comes bringing his salvation features the opening of eyes previously blind and the unstopping of ears previously deaf (Is 35:5). You might recall that when visiting Nazareth, Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. The text included “proclaim the restoration of sight to the blind” (Lk. 4:18). In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus laments the people’s lack of hearing and their inability to see (Mt. 13:15). The Apostle Paul breaks into celebratory language to rejoice at what opened eyes will see and what opened ears will hear (1Co. 2:9).

And so, to you, my brothers and sisters, you whose hearing is opened and unstopped… you whose seeing is unfettered in its vision of Christ alone. In such hearing, your tongue is loosened… released to “proclaim the mighty deeds of the one who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light” (1Pe 2:9). The mighty and glorious day of the Lord comes upon you in faith, providing you both hearing and speaking. While you wait upon that day becoming sight, “Two things belong to a Christian, that his ears be opened, and his tongue loosened” (Martin Luther).

Table Talk: Discuss the necessity of ears to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and what that hearing means for your speaking.

Pray: Father, grant me ears to hear the good news of Jesus Christ that I might declare those deeds that have brought me into his light.  Amen

Mark 7:31-37

31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.

One man listed his virtues.  The other confessed his sin.  Jesus uses this parable to emphasize distinctions… the distinction between the self-righteous and the confessed sinner… the distance between the so-called “clean” and the “unclean…” and the Temple as a place of conflict versus the home as the place of the saved.

For the self-righteous, their visible works set them apart from sinners.  Those that look to their own pious works and ask others—perhaps even God—to witness those works as well… those proud of their righteous deeds, cannot help but think themselves better than sinners.  In fact, their distinction from sinners becomes a matter of thanksgiving, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men…” (vs. 11).  This supposed distinction permits them to look upon sinners with contempt for their deplorable state.

Jesus uses the parable to emphasize the distance between these so-called “clean” Temple goers and the sinful “unclean” Temple attendees.  The clean Pharisee stands by himself (vs. 11).  The unclean tax collector stands far off (vs. 13) and won’t even look up and possibly violate that physical distance with the intimacy of a locked gaze.  The Pharisee’s perilous and self-righteous cleanliness would not survive even a brush against the tax collector and his unclean clothes.

Throughout the gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, the Temple is increasingly depicted as a place of conflict and persecution while the home grows increasingly important as the place where the saved abide.  Take, for example, how the Temple goes from a place of learning for Jesus (Lk. 2:46) to being a “den of robbers” (Lk. 19:46) to a place of testing for Jesus (Lk. 20:1-19) to a place of trial and condemnation for the apostles (Acts 5:27-33).  During this same time, we hear Jesus telling people, “Go home!” (Lk. 5:24; 8:39; 18:14; Acts 2:46).  The life of faith… your life of faith in Christ is not lived out in pious religious works but in the very plain duties of home and family.  That’s where the justified live!

Table Talk:  Discuss how religious duties and pious works interfere with the duties of family and home.

Pray: Father, let me not look to the works of my hands but to your nail-scarred hands for my righteousness.  Amen

Luke 18:9-14

9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get. 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.