Greetings,
Ready for the understatement of the day? Jesus sure is different than most people. I didn’t know how to put that without sounding trite, but it is amazingly true. Here we have the disciples all excited about casting out demons in Jesus name and while Jesus is pleased, He tells them not to rejoice in this, but to rejoice that their names are registered in heaven.
The truly perplexing part of this passage is when Jesus is asked a simple question by an expert in religious law, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” We often speak of Law and Gospel; I would expect a “Gospel” answer to this question such as “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved – you and your household” or “repent and be baptized” or “for it is by grace you have been saved through faith”. But Jesus seems to give a “Law” answer. In fact He asks the expert in religious law, “What does the law of Moses say, how do you read it?” The expert in religious law answers, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus says, “Right, do this and you will live.”
What!?!?! Did Jesus just say that if you follow the law (love God, love your neighbor) you will inherit eternal life? This perplexes me because we don’t inherit eternal life by the law, but rather by the gospel. In other words, there is nothing we can do to earn eternal life, it must be 100% a gift from God. But Jesus said, “do this and you will live.” If these things are true, did Jesus answer the question wrong? Of course not, He is Jesus!! But do you feel the tension here with me? This is not an isolated incidence either, remember when the rich young rule asked Jesus the exact same question? See Matthew 19:16, Mark 10:17, or Luke 18:18.
In both these occasions when Jesus was asked this question of inheriting eternal life the conversation didn’t focus on “love God” but on “love your neighbor.” Our expert in religious law wanted to be sure if he was loving his neighbor so he asked Jesus who his neighbor was. Does this mean that he thought he was loving God with ALL his heart, soul, strength, and mind?
Can we really love our neighbor in the way that Jesus described in the story of the Good Samaritan? If we went around helping people in this way, we would soon run out of money! Also, what about all those hurting people who we don’t notice. How can we help everybody, even our enemies? When Jesus was asked this question by the rich young man, the rich young man said, “I have done all these things since I was a child.” Jesus basically said to him, no you haven’t. If you really love your neighbor sell all your possessions and give to the poor!
There are two ways “to try” to get to heaven, but only one way works. The first is the way of Law, “love God and your neighbor perfectly.” The other is the Gospel, “Jesus has loved God and His neighbor perfectly. He has forgiven your sins and has credited you with His perfect life.”
Jesus was confronting people who were trying to inherit eternal life by way of the law. I think Jesus wanted to show them that this is impossible. Their correct response to Jesus should have been one of confession and repentance, “Lord, I can’t do this! I am a sinner. I need forgiveness.” Before the Gospel was proclaimed to these people, they first needed to be crushed by the law. They needed to realize that when Jesus said, “do this and you will live” they couldn’t “do this” – they needed a savior. The Savior was standing right in front of them, and they didn’t even know they needed Him.
Are you crushed by the demands of the Law or are you proud of your good life (like being able to cast out demons in Jesus name, like the disciples). The savior is standing right in front of us in the Bible, offering us forgiveness of our sins!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Adam Berge
1 comment:
Dear Adam-- I find your comments so refreshing and interesting. I can hear your voice. It is if you are standing in front of me preaching because your voice is so evident. You have presented us with the paradox that perplexes us always-- How can we do enough when the needs are endless? Clearly that is why we have an infinite God and eternity. God knows we are limited but in Christ we have the reach of the infinite. Although we may not see it, every time we show our faith in Christ in any form, we are reaching someone in someway that will have ramifications that we cannot imagine. Even this blog thing may not be read by everyone at BLB or responded to by only a few, but the thing that is happening here radiates out into places and people and situations we cannot imagine. God is at work in this world. Christ is a living presence. The word is alive. Thanks for your thoughts.
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