Fourth Sunday after Trinity
“Go and do likewise”
Summary
Before they enter the promised land, Moses urges God’s people to keep the law (Deuteronomy 30:9-14). The blessings that Moses promises they will receive are not a reward for keeping the law, rather the law itself is the blessing. Following it is not a burden because it is what allows us to flourish, to “choose life”. It is rooted not in stone or ordinance but within us, on our lips and in our hearts. It forms our very identity as children of God.
This is the point that the scholar in Luke 10:25-37 is missing. He regards the law as something to perform, something that defines others. He asks Jesus to define his neighbour, to categorise those to whom he owes an obligation. When Jesus replies with the story of the Good Samaritan, he does more than widen the class of those who fall within the scope of the law, he asks instead who has the law within their hearts: who was a neighbour to the one in need. The story is not about who is the object of our care but who is the one who cares for us. Being a neighbour is our deepest identity: we act from love because it is who we are, who God called us to be. Choosing love, is choosing life, not just for the one who receives love but for the one who gives it. When we go and do likewise we too choose life and blessing.
FIRST READING
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
and the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
“Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
GOSPEL
Luke 10.25-37
“An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 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.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Image from “Who is my neighbour? the global and personal challenge” edited by Richard Carter and Sam Wells. Pub. SPCK
