Back in the ‘90s the pop singer Alanis Morissette came up with a song, ‘Forgiven’. She sings of her experience as a teenager at a religious high school where she and her friends had ‘no fun with no guilt feelings’. She wandered a long way from the religion she was taught.
Like many who have been put off religion because of its apparent coldness, it seems she made a decision to keep it at arms’ length.
But there’s a twist in her song. In the final verse she appears more thoughtful, even regretful of her past. The song is something that forces her to look at her life in a fresh way. She sings, ‘What I learned I rejected, but I believe again.’ But this raises an uncomfortable question, what she calls ‘One last stupid question’. In the last line of the last verse she yells it out: ‘Will I be forgiven?’
In a suggested ‘Coffee Conversation’ (December 6), we noted Jesus’ words to a paralyzed man who had been lowered through the roof of a house into his presence. Jesus’ words “Man, your sins are forgiven you” (Luke 5:20), and the man’s healing assure us that Jesus wields God’s authority to forgive sins.
However, knowing this as an idea doesn’t answer the question: ‘Does he have the inclination to forgive me?’ It’s one thing for Jesus to forgive a sick paraplegic, but it’s another thing for him to forgive someone who knows they have wandered a long way from the faith. Can someone who has walked away from God return and find forgiveness?
People may ask this because they have experienced condemnation from churchgoers. The condemnation may be unspoken, but the rejection is real.
Consider Jesus’ words at a dinner party where the focus falls on three people – a Pharisee host, Jesus, and an uninvited woman who interrupted the party (Luke 7:36-50). Luke tells us that she stood at Jesus’ feet weeping, letting her tears wash over his feet. Having no towel she let out her hair to dry them, before kissing them and pouring an expensive perfume over them. She couldn’t have attracted more attention if she had burst in screaming and shouting.
Her actions could have easily been interpreted as being sexually provocative – which is what the Pharisee host thought: “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner” – a prostitute (7:39).
However the woman’s actions are open to quite another interpretation. Jesus had the insight of a prophet and knew what his host was thinking. “Simon”, he said. “I have something to say to you..,” (7:40). It is the only time a Pharisee is named in Luke, suggesting that Jesus was concerned for Simon and wants him to understand how God, and others, see him. Interestingly, Jesus didn’t preach a sermon. Rather he told a story.
Like all Jesus’ parables the story is compelling. Drawing from the language of the financial world, which would have resonated with Simon whose pockets were deep enough to host a dinner-party, Jesus tells of two men who are in debt to a money-lender. One owed fifty denarii and the other one hundred denarii. Neither could pay. Both needed mercy and forgiveness.
And both do receive forgiveness (grace) for their respective debts. Both enjoy the same status as forgiven debtors. The parable challenges the conventions of relationships, but Jesus focuses Simon’s attention by asking, “Which of them will love him more?” Feeling the personal challenge, Simon’s response is indirect: “The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more.”
Turning to face the woman, Jesus continues to speak to Simon, saying in effect: ‘You call yourself a host, but consider how you have treated me. You didn’t wash my feet when I came in; you didn’t greet me with a kiss. You didn’t even offer to anoint my head with oil as a sign of honor when I came in. You call yourself religious and yet you have not shown to me just one sign of genuine neighbor love.’
In essence Jesus was saying: ‘Simon, from the moment this woman entered your house, she has shed tears of regret, kissed me and anointed me out of a heart-felt repentance for the way she has lived’ (7:44-48). To the woman he said, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (7:50).
It was her faith in him, not works that evoked Jesus’ words of forgiveness. Before she had come to the dinner party, she had understood that Jesus has God’s authority to forgive sins. His words, spoken personally to her, assured her she was forgiven. She could enjoy peace with God and peace of mind.
Because God is, as the Prayer of Humble Access (1662, BCP) puts it, ‘the Lord whose nature is always to have mercy’, we can all enjoy the assurance of his mercy and forgiveness when we truly turn him in repentance and faith.
Let me ask, ‘Do people around us see this reality in our lives and our relationships? Do they see in us a ‘Simon the Pharisee’ or the signs of a truly repentant person? In his ‘model’ prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Father, … forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who sins against us…” (Luke 11:4a).
It is sometimes said that the most difficult thing for the Christian church today is to get people to believe. I think the opposite is true. Most people will believe almost anything, providing that what is said is communicated with a voice of authority.
GK Chesterton once observed, ‘When a man (or woman) stops believing in God they don’t then believe in nothing, they believe anything’.
Today we come to the 7th Coffee Conversation based on Luke’s Gospel. In Luke 24 three scenes portray Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead.
In Luke 24:36-37 we read: …Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them (the disciples),“Peace be with you.”But they were startled and terrified, thinking it was a ghost.
And even when he showed them his hands and his feet – no doubt with the imprints of the nails on them – in their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering (24:41). These hard-headed men were confused and perplexed, even doubting what it all meant. ‘Is this really Jesus or just a spirit, a ghost?’ they were asking.
Aware of their questions and doubts, Jesus, brilliant teacher and counselor that he is, addressed one issue at a time. “Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones…,” he said. He then asked for food (24:41). They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence (24:42-43).
One of today’s influential voices is that of Stephen Hawking. According to Dr. John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University, Hawking says of miracles such as the resurrection: “We either believe them or we believe in the scientific understanding of the laws of nature, but not both” (John C. Lennox, God and Stephen Hawking (Lion, Oxford: 2011, p.82).
Dr. Lennox observes that many scientists would say that, “miracles arose in primitive, pre-scientific cultures, where people were ignorant of the laws of nature and so readily accepted miracle stories”. However, he responds: “In order to recognize some event as a miracle, there must be some perceived regularity to which that event is an apparent exception!” (pp.84f)
We don’t need the benefit of modern science to define an extraordinary event.
Lennox also notes a second objection to miracles is that “now we know the laws of nature, miracles are impossible” (p.86). However, as he observes, “From a theistic perspective, the laws of nature predict what is bound to happen if God does not intervene… To argue that the laws of nature make it impossible for us to believe in the existence of God and the likelihood of his intervention in the universe is plainly false” (p.87).
It’s important we consider these matters. Followers of Jesus Christ accept the laws of nature that science observes. They are observable regularities that God the creator has built into the universe. That said, such ‘laws’ do not prevent God from intervening if he chooses. When he does, we are able to identify the irregularity and speak of it as ‘a miracle’. So, with respect to the resurrection of Jesus, the New Testament does not speak of it as a result of a natural mechanism. Rather, it happened because God intervened, using his supernatural power (Romans 6:4b).
To return to Luke 24. In each of the three scenes, the Scriptures and Jesus’ own words provide an explanation of what has happened. In the third scene, these elements are brought together: “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you”, Jesus said.Everything he had taught and done, had been foreshadowed in the Scriptures – even his death and resurrection.
Jesus’ resurrection has no significance without his death. It cannot point to forgiveness unless sin has been dealt with. The resurrection is a glorious message because it makes sense of Jesus’ death. At first the disciples felt his death was the end of all their hopes. But then they discovered it is the foundation of all their hopes.
Malcolm Muggeridge, one-time editor of Punch, speaker, and author once wrote: ‘Confronted with the reality (death is the one certainty in life), we may rage or despair, induce forgetfulness, solace ourselves with fantasies that science will in due course discover how we came to be here and to what end, and how we may project our existence, individually or collectively, into some Brave New World spanning the universe in which Man reigns supreme. God’s alternative proposition is the Resurrection – a man dying who rises from the dead… I close with, ‘Done’…: Christ is risen!’
Ask questions. Over these 7 weeks I have suggested points inLuke’s narrative to discuss with your friend(s). Luke has introduced us to someone who is like no other. You may want to return to the words of the angel to the shepherds: “…Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (2:10f).
It’s worth observing that if this is true we need to give Jesus the highest level of attention. Ask what your friend believes. If they agree with Luke’s account but find it difficult to take a step of faith in Jesus, suggest that they ask God for help – help to make the step of turning to Jesus, help to ask for forgiveness, help to know the deep joy of knowing the love of Jesus in their life.
‘Money can’t buy life’ were reportedly the last words of the musician Bob Marley.
How can we prepare for life in the hereafter – assuming such a thing exists?
In a 6th Coffee Conversation let me suggest you explore with your friend(s) the question that a young magistrate who lived twenty-eight life spans ago (a life-span being seventy years) put to Jesus: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 18:18).
This young man seemingly had everything – status and success. Matthew and Mark also add that the man was wealthy. If the car you own, the property you hold, or the view that others have of you, have anything to do with life now and in the hereafter, this man had it.
He also had religion. When Jesus quizzed him about keeping the commandments, “…Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,” the man responded he had done so from boyhood.
Furthermore, he showed respect to Jesus. He called him, ‘Good Teacher.’ It would have taken courage for a young ruler to ask someone like Jesus publicly about life matters. Jesus was a nobody: he had no social standing and no formal education. Yet despite the differences, this impressive, self-possessed young man asked Jesus a significant question.
Consider Jesus’ response. ‘You know the law,’ he says. ‘Do you keep God’s rules of neighbor love? Do you respect other people’s marriages, their property, their reputation and, do you truly respect your parents?’ ‘I do all that,’ the young man replied.
Significantly, without commenting on that, Jesus pushes further. This time, drawing on the essence of the first commandment, he says:“One thing you lack. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Luke 18:22).
When we look carefully at Jesus’ words here we see that the key verb is not ‘sell’ or ‘give’, it is ‘follow’. Jesus does not command everyone to sell their property or cash in their shares, but he does demand discipleship. In the young man’s case discipleship meant selling everything. Money dominated his life. He couldn’t follow Jesus as long as he was entangled in his wealth.
Jesus is brutally frank: ‘You really want to love your neighbor as yourself? Sell what you have and give to the poor. How can you say that you love your neighbors while they go in rags and you live in prosperity? Do you really love the Lord your God, with all your heart, mind and soul? Let’s see if you are willing to give up your idolatry of wealth that has gripped your greedy heart.’
Money not only couldn’t buy him life, but ironically it could prevent him from obtaining life.
As the man turned away, Jesus’s comment is graphic: “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:24f).
‘Who then can be saved?’ the disciples asked. And we must ask the same for, generally speaking, most people in our western world have riches that exceed those of the disciples. “What is impossible with men and women is possible with God”, Jesus replies (Luke 18:27).
We need to remember the young man’s question: ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ ‘Do,’ Jesus says. ‘You can’t do anything to inherit eternal life through your own efforts. You simply don’t come near God’s just requirements’.
But there’s another verb in the original question we usually overlook. It’s the verb, to inherit. We usually inherit something through the death of someone with whom we had a relationship.
When we understand this we can begin understand why Jesus says, ‘What is impossible for men and women, is possible with God.’ We can’t inherit eternal life because of what we have or what we have done. The good news is that life is a gift from God. But to become beneficiaries we need to form a relationship with Jesus while we have life now. It means turning to him in repentance and faith, committing to follow him as our only Lord all our days.
C.S. Lewis once observed: ‘All your life an unattainable ecstasy has hovered just beyond the grasp of your consciousness. The day is coming when you will wake to find, beyond all hope, that you have attained it… or else, that it was within your reach and you have lost it forever.’
PS: You may want to suggest that your friend(s) read Luke 21-24 for a 7thCoffee Conversation.
In his article in The Weekend Australian (Dec 23-24), ‘2017: West Challenged in a Spinning World’, political commentator Paul Kelly observes, ‘People now assert their rights against established norms and institutions. They seek more control. Their distrust of institutions has escalated’.
He notes the Gallup poll in the USA in June 2016, “confidence in institutions”. The poll revealed that in the 30 years from 1985 to 2016, ‘confidence in big business fell from 32 to 18 percent, in newspapers from 32 to 18 percent, … in banks from 51 to 27 percent, in the church and organized religion from 66 to 41 percent, and in the Congress from 39 to 9 percent.’
Kelly sums up, ‘In short, the Western establishment is being eroded from within due to lack of confidence and respect in the ability of leaders and institutions to discharge their responsibilities to the wider community. The causes are complex, multifaceted and not easily resolved…’
He further notes ‘the rise of a cult of individualism that threatens to entrench unhappiness at the heart of the democratic project… Rules and norms,’ he observes, ‘must be modified to meet the latest claims of individual rights and self-realization. The needs of the individual are being enshrined as paramount, and this recognition becomes the new morality.’
As we conclude one calendar year, what New Year resolutions might we adopt? Let me depart this week from my 7 Coffee Conversations with some suggestions for the New Year.
Changed hearts. Too often our lives reflect the narcissism of the culture. Like lost sheep, we go astray, following the devices and desires of our hearts rather than heeding the voice of God. We fail to be ‘the salt of the earth’ and ‘the light of the world’. Let’s plan to confess our sins to God daily with truly repentant hearts and, knowing the Lord’s forgiveness, resolve by his grace to press on in the new life he has given us. “Father, forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us.”
Heartfelt prayer. Too often we go soft, thinking that, apart from the Neros, the Hitlers and the Stalins of the world, God will welcome everyone. Not so. In Acts 17:30f we read: While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
C.S. Lewis wrote,‘It’s probably truer to say that God invented both prayer and work for that purpose. God gave us, small creatures that we are, the dignity of being able to contribute to the course of events in two different ways’.
Revival is always accompanied by bold, persistent prayer. If we have a passion for the lost, we will pray that God whose nature is to be merciful will, through his Spirit, open blind eyes, unstop deaf ears and soften hard hearts – turning hearts towards their true home in the Lord.
New Lifestyle. Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time (Colossians 4:5). All of us are called upon to act wisely and graciously towards people we live and work with.
It’s important to recall the world in which Christianity was born. 1 Peter is addressed to people who were experiencing intolerable oppression. They had no opportunities in life. Yet in 1 Peter 2:11-12 we read: Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Though Peter speaks of his readers, both slaves and free, as ‘resident aliens’ in this world, their lifestyle can draw others to God’s truth.
Abstain from the sinful desires which wage war against your soul, he writes.This is a reference to the desires of our hearts that are out of step with the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount – lies, false-witness, anger, greed, theft, the lustful look, the adulterous relationship – anything that stands against the mind of God.
Words. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone, we read in Colossians 4: 6.
Paul expects us to cultivate conversations that are kind and gracious but seasoned with salt – a metaphor for sparkling and interesting conversations that trigger questions about life. It’s worth working on ways to use news items, opinion columns, and films to spark such conversations.
In our changing world, let’s resolve, by God’s grace, to play our part in his unfinished task of searching for and rescuing the lost.
In the New Year the Anglican Connection is planning half-day meetings for ministers, church leaders and members to explore ways to promote more effective gospel outreach.
‘Christmas is all very nice’, people tell us. ‘We love the lights and the festivities, and even the music. But we know it isn’t true.’
In a fourth coffee conversation, and over Christmas, it’s worth praying for opportunities to take family and friends to Luke chapter 2:1ff: In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered.
Like a good newspaper reporter or historian, Luke identifies his narrative in the context of contemporary events – when Augustus was Emperor. It was the time when Augustus had ordered a census to be taken, when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
Here we encounter a problem. Mary gave birth to her baby during the reign of Herod the Great (Matthew 2:1). Herod died in 4BC and the Roman historian Josephus, tells us that Quirinius conducted a census in AD6 when he was governor of Syria.
That said, an inscription in Antioch indicates that Quirinius was a senior military official in the previous decade. Dr Earle Ellis says Quirinius was ‘virtually the Emperor’s viceroy’ (Luke: 1974, p.80). Significantly, Luke doesn’t use the normal word for governor to describe Quirinius’s office.
It may be some time before we completely grasp all the details of Luke’s account, but we can say that when Quirinius was Augustus’ viceroy in Syria – which he was for many years, he commenced a census registration process requiring everyone to return to their family home. And that is what Joseph did, as we read in Luke 2:5.
All this is important. We learn why Joseph and Mary had to travel some eighty miles from the region of Galilee in the north to Bethlehem in the south. That the birth occurred in Bethlehem is also most significant. About a millennium before Jesus was born, David, Israel’s great king had also been born there, and Samuel, one of Israel’s great prophets, had spoken of the way God would raise up a descendant of David to be the greatest of all kings. Micah, another prophet, had predicted that this king would be born in Bethlehem (5:2).
Augustus’s decision to require a census of all the world (2:1) had brought about a conjunction of events that resulted in the fulfillment of God’s promises. God works out his purposes in the course of human affairs: God’s king, the Messiah, would be born in Bethlehem.
In Luke 2:6b, 7 we read: …The time came for her (Mary) to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
The birth of Jesus took place in humble circumstances. There is irony here. The title Augustus that Caesar Octavian had taken to himself, signified greatness and divinity. Jesus’ birth seemed insignificant. How could Mary’s baby be the long promised Messiah? Yet the angel had told Mary that her baby would one day be far greater than any emperor or monarch, president or ruler (Luke 1:32f).
Consider the angel’s words to the shepherds: “Be not afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the town of David a Savior; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10f).
Can it be true? The world doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Was the announcement that Jesus is the Savior, the Christ just another false hope? GK Chesterton once remarked, ‘Truth must necessarily be stranger than history; for fiction is the creation of the human mind and therefore congenial to it’.
Jesus’ biographers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are agreed: Jesus consistently displayed the kind of authority we would expect of God’s king. At a word he healed the sick, the lepers and the paralyzed. He overcame the powers of evil and declared forgiveness of sins. He even raised the dead. No matter what was thrown at him, he showed he was in control.
But while he clearly wielded the kind of power that could have smashed the might of Rome, he didn’t. He so gave himself for others that his feet and hands were bloodied as they were nailed to a cross. And he tells us he did this for us.
Throughout his public life he made it clear that what men and women needed was not a law-maker or a social-worker. We all need someone to deal with our deepest problem: our broken relationships – broken relationships with God and with one another. He knew there was only one remedy: a cross where a sacrifice to address our broken relationships would be made once and for all. The cross of Jesus is the only way our relationship with God, and in turn with one another, can be restored – and so bring us peace.
No wonder the angels sang that night: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, ‘shalom’, ‘peace’.
Significantly, the shepherds didn’t sit around asking if they were dreaming, or debating the possibility of miracles. Rather, they went to investigate: “Let’s go and see this baby for ourselves,” they said (Luke 2:15).
Their response sets a challenge for us. We weren’t there that night, but we do have the record of eyewitnesses. Like the shepherds we need to be assured that that baby is the Christ, our Savior. It means carrying out our own investigation and encouraging our family and friends to do the same. It is only when we turn to Jesus with changed minds and hearts that we can truly sing, Joy to the world, the Lord has come…!
May you know the deep joy and the rich blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ this Christmas.
Back in the sixties, Burt Bacharach sang: “What the world needs now is love sweet love …” The problem is, as the 60s generation discovered, it’s one thing to sing about love but quite another to live it. Yet love and its true practice lie at the very heart of genuine Christianity.
On one occasion a lawyer asked Jesus: ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25)It was a great question, but Luke tells us that the lawyer’s intention was to test Jesus. It was a ‘Gotcha’ question. Jesus knew this, but didn’t miss a beat and responded with his own question: “You know the law. How do you read it?”
In reply, the lawyer quoted: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength (Deuteronomy 6:4) and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).
The rabbis of Jesus’ day rightly understood that these two commands distill the law of love. And indeed Jesus’ responded with: ‘Correct. Do this and you will live.’ There the conversation could have concluded.
Which brings me to a third coffee conversation with your friend(s).
Having touched on questions of ‘authenticity’ and ‘greatness’ over two coffee sessions, it’s worth focusing on this fascinating conversation between a lawyer and Jesus (Luke 10:25-37). But first, don’t forget to ask your friend(s) if they have any questions about Luke chapters 5-9.
Hearing Jesus’ commendation: “Do this and you will live,” the lawyer wasn’t happy. His plan to upstage Jesus hadn’t worked. So, lawyer-like he asked him to define ‘neighbor’.
The story that unfolded that day and the flow of the questions around it are important today; for most people, if they believe there is an afterlife, think they can achieve it by their own efforts.
Knowing that he needed to puncture the mask of the lawyer’s self-satisfaction, Jesus told a story: “A certain man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead…”
These opening lines would have drawn Jesus’ hearers into a scene they understood – a hapless traveler on a road notorious for bandits. And the unfolding story would have resonated – a priest and a Levite seeing the unconscious man and asking themselves whether the man was a ‘neighbor’, requiring their attention.
But the priest and the Levite didn’t feel the need to stop and help. They may have thought, ‘I didn’t beat up this man and leave him for dead. It’s nothing to do with me.’
Many react the same way today, turning God’s positive command to love our neighbor into a passive form: ‘I haven’t done anyone any harm; I haven’t killed or defrauded anyone; I haven’t cheated on my spouse. I must have kept the law of love’.
“Who is my neighbor?” the lawyer had asked. Jesus’ hearers would have expected him to introduce a godly Jewish layman. Instead, a Samaritan is brought in – not only an unexpected figure but a hated one (10:33-35).
Yet it was the Samaritan who showed compassion, applying first aid and sacrificing a month’s wages to cover the cost of the man’s recovery. He did everything in his power to aid this unknown, unidentifiable, possibly Jewish man. “Which of these three,” Jesus asked, “proved to be a neighbor to the man in need?” (10:36)
By turning the lawyer’s question around, Jesus invited him to put himself in the place of the victim. It was brilliant. Jesus was challenging the lawyer to reconsider his definition and his practice of love.
“The one who showed mercy,” he responded. He couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘the Samaritan’. Yet by focusing on mercy Jesus may have achieved the aim of altering the lawyer’s understanding. He should look at ‘need’ from the perspective of the victim.
“You go and you do likewise” – ‘if you can’, Jesus commanded (10:37b). The you is singular making his words personal and challenging. God’s law of neighbor love means we need to care for anyone in need when it is in our power and wise to do so.
Over the centuries the model of the Good Samaritan has set a pattern for compassion and care. God’s people especially have become involved, positively, sacrificially, even joyfully, assisting people in pain – the hungry, the lonely and the elderly, the victims of abuse and of injustice, unemployment, and poverty.
But this was not the primary reason Jesus told this story. “Who is my neighbor?” was the lawyer’s second question, refining his first: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
‘Do?’ Jesus is saying, ‘you can’t do anything about your eternal state because you don’t keep God’s law. Your life is not good enough.’ The parable of the Good Samaritan reveals how morally bankrupt we all are. If we truly kept God’s law the gates into eternal life would be open to us. But we all fall short.
Consider the lawyer’s first question, “What must I do to inherit… ?” We inherit something, not usually because of what we have done, but because of a relationship we had with someone who has subsequently died.
As Luke’s Gospel unfolds we see that Jesus is not only great: he is also wonderfully good. For he is the ‘Good Samaritan’ who through his neighbor love has stepped out of his story and done everything necessary to rescue and restore us. When we form a loving relationship with him, we become his beneficiaries.
