Living Wittily

A First Class Commentary on Hebrews for Preachers and Students.

Hebrews, Amy Peeler. Commentaries for Christian Formation. (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 2024) 482pp

This is a refreshing and reassuring commentary. By which I mean, Amy Peeler has written a scholarly commentary that combines careful exegesis with theological reflection, both aimed at encouraging the reader to engage deeply with a text originally intended to warn and reassure. The Preface is both Peeler’s personal testimony of Hebrews as a decisive formative text in the story of her Christian life, and an account of her writing and rewriting of the commentary to achieve its purpose as an exposition for Christian formation.

The Introduction starts with the theology of Hebrews, including Christology, Israel’s Scriptures, and the relation of the text to Jewish faith. In the background, Peeler recognises the tension between Hebrews as a sustained argument for the superiority and finality of Christ over previous forms of divine speech, and sensitivity to Hebrews being read as unqualified super-cession of Jewish faith and tradition. Her closing comment demonstrates exactly why this commentary is so helpful in nuance, sensitivity and faithfulness to the text:

“In sum, this author would never let go of God’s promises to the people of Israel, nor would he compromise on the sole sufficiency of the offering of Jesus Christ. To read this text well today in a post Holocaust world demands humble and honest conversation between Jewish and Christian interpreters of this text, which must take place in communities of mutual respect and deference before the sovereignty and wisdom of God that all desire to serve faithfully.” (11)

Peeler then discusses early hesitations about Hebrews’ place in the canon, its setting and authorship (“written by a member of the broad Pauline network of Gospel ministers”), genre (a hortatory sermon), audience (a community of Christ followers under social and cultural pressure and wondering if confessing Christ is worth the cost). Date, possibly pre 70 CE, since there is no hint of the fall of Jerusalem in the document.

Six pages explain Hebrews as a seminal text for Christian formation, aligning the commentary with the series aims. Two distinctive themes are considered important in establishing the writer’s purpose: a concern to reassure about continuing and gracious access to God through Christ, and taking heed of the warning passages which make clear this is a text to be obeyed by faithful perseverance in a faith which has to be practiced in the long run, looking to Jesus.

The commentary itself is clear, engaged with the text and alert to the goals of Hebrews, which are to stabilise and strengthen a community through theological argument and pastoral encouragement. The focus is Christological, and this is traced through the history and experience of the people of God from the beginning, through exodus, wilderness wanderings, covenant commitments and prophetic warning, example and exhortation, until God’s final spoken acts revealed through and in his Son. Along the way the writer of Hebrews (and the commentator) consider the exaltation and humiliation of Christ, the ascension and high priesthood of Jesus the Son, the warnings about apostasy and the dangers of decisions that may be irrevocable, the call to perseverance, and much else.

Peeler’s comments on Hebrews 6.1-8 are a model of clarity, written in a tone of theological convictions held with humility. Those using this commentary for preaching will be helped by her wise reticence about jumping to pre-judged theological conclusions about this controversial text:

“Teachers of this portion of the letter must exercise great care. The impact of the warning must not be dulled. To turn away from Christ is to turn from God’s blessing to God’s judgement. This is a space in which one would not want to live and would certainly not want to die or meet Christ at his return…On the other hand the text itself allows for the one who has turned away to return to the work Christ has already done…this reading resonates with the patience of God in the parable of the fruitless fig tree in Luke 13.6-9. Multiple chances are given, and time is given before the final end.” (169)

Time and again Peeler shows how well she has read this sermon, how long and persistently she has thought about it. This makes it an unusually engaging commentary in which exegetical skill, theological humility, pastoral awareness and good writing, help the reader get a handle on a text brimming with formative possibilities and bristling with theological argument. There are subject, name and Scripture indices, a select bibliography, and in keeping with the aim and format of the series, fewer footnotes than in the more traditional approach and sometimes footnote overload in academic exegetical commentary. 

The volume is a joy to read, and an education in how exegesis and theological commentary of the biblical text can aid Christian formation and Christian preaching. The conclusion is in the form of 10 questions followed by succinct discussion, and acts both as a summary of what has been learned, and a stimulus towards the so what of prayer, praxis and perseverance. Question 9 is a cracker! “How does Hebrews demonstrate the productive discomfort of liminality?”

However many other commentaries a preacher has available, Amy Peeler’s volume must have a place on any shelf, however crowded. Much more so if what is being sought is a treatment of Hebrews in which exegesis, while being an end in itself, then becomes a means of Christian formation towards being more persuaded, determined, and faithful followers of Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith.” In my estimate, this is commentary writing of the highest order, and on a New Testament document that requires and deserves an expositor who has both studied and lived within the disciplines and promises of its text, and therefore who is well informed about, and formed by, the text of this enigmatic New Testament sermon.

TFTD June 24-30: Thinking about what we think about!

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4.8)

Monday

Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true…think on these things.”

Paul is talking about what we think about, because what goes on in our heads directly affects how we behave, and reveals what we value. Right thinking leads to right doing. Of all places where truth is told, and where what is true is faithfully upheld, the community of Christ should be the safest place for truth. So when we talk about someone, we are called as followers of Christ to think with integrity, to choose our words carefully, to be curators of truth, and persons of trust.

Tuesday

“Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is worthy of respect…think on these things.”

In a culture that often glorifies the trivial, values the superficial, and takes pleasure in demeaning and diminishing others, respect is an important antidote. Christians are called to an inner life that honours each person, and refuses to play the game of not taking other people seriously. The word can translate as treating others with dignity, a recognition and respecting of the image of God in each and all human persons.

Wednesday

“Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is just…think on these things.”

This is a key word in Christian vocabulary. We are justified (made just) by faith; the just shall live by faith; God justifies, makes the heart right. The life that flows from being made right is characterised by right behaviour. Thus we welcome others as Christ welcomed us; we love because God first loved us; we forgive as forgiven sinners. In all our relationships and ethical choices, we live the life of the justified, walking in holiness, couriers of the love of God, doers of what is right, and just.

Thursday

“Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is pure…think on these things.”

There is a Glasgow saying that captures the exact opposite of what Paul means. It’s used when something is outrageously wrong and completely unacceptable. It is called “a pure disgrace.” To think of whatever is pure is to look for, consider, and try to emulate in our thoughts and actions what is pure grace! To admire and encourage self-giving service; to acknowledge and give thanks for acts and words of kindness; to see the good and recognise the worth of those whose lives intersect with our own. Paul is writing to a church where some folk are at loggerheads. This whole verse is a call to a changed mind-set, to think of each other with the mind of Christ.   

Friday

“Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is lovely…think on these things.”

Fill the mind with what is good, true and beautiful. Think about what is lovely, and loveable. Paul is pointing away from the ugliness of negativity, criticism, and never seeing anything good in someone else. This old chorus gets it spot on: “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me / all God’s wondrous compassion and purity / O, thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine, / till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.” Aye, that will do! With the heart and eyes of Christ, think about “all that is beautiful in creation and in human lives.” Think of whatever calls forth love - and do it!

Saturday

Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is of good report…think on these things.”

The word means commendable, whatever is good and praiseworthy. Think about the kind of things that enhance and enrich your life and the lives of others. Such thinking is the opposite of the spirit of criticism. Again Paul is encouraging the kind of thinking that is amiable, friendship-building, having a reputation as someone who is conciliatory, generous in spirit, and refuses to gossip to another person’s hurt. Throughout this whole verse Paul is describing the recovery of a healthy ecology of the heart and mind, in which by God’s grace, toxins are dealt with, and the channels of conversations and relationships are kept clear and clean.

Sunday

“If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

There you have it. Think! But think about what you are thinking. As someone wrote, “It’s not what you think you are; it’s what you think, you are!” Our inner life is mostly hidden from everyone else, except God. But if we seek to follow faithfully after Christ, then how we think, what we think, and why we think it, is an important and inevitable discipline of our discipleship. Of course we are all unprofitable servants; and we know, “every thought of holiness is His alone.” But the life of the mind is part of who we are in Christ. “We have the mind of Christ”, wrote Paul. And in this very letter he had urged, “Have this mind in you which you have in Christ Jesus…”

More about Jesus would I know, more of His grace to others show;
More of His saving fullness see, more of His love who died for me.

More about Jesus let me learn, more of His holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me.

TFTD June 17-23: Comprehensive Cover, Under the Shadow of the Almighty

Monday

Psalm 91.1-2 “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

This is a Psalm for dangerous times. The Most High is the title for God “that cuts every threat down to size.” Almighty is the name for God’s sovereign power. Lord is the name given to Moses, the delivering and guiding God, “I AM!” All this is made personal by the Psalmist who uses the possessive case, My God. Our safety and security are found in a personal relationship with The Most High, "my God in whom I trust."

Tuesday

Palm 91.1-2 “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

The metaphors for safety are equally rich and convincing. The shelter of the Most High; rest in the shadow of the Almighty; the Lord God as our refuge and fortress. These two verses put us in our place, “in the shadow of the Almighty.” No wonder Luther taught us to sing, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.” We live in the shadow of the Almighty and within the encircling providence of God. This is the God of whom we say, “My God in whom I trust.”

Wednesday

Psalm 91.3-4 “Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

The rest of this Psalm could be called the Terms and Conditions of a comprehensive Life Policy! Whatever is a threat and to be feared is covered, quite literally, because we live under the protective wings of God’s faithful mercy and steadfast love. The shield and rampart give protection to those who are under siege – and we’ve all been there, besieged, when it seems everything is against us. But in our worst moments and tightest corners, God too, is there, our refuge…and strength.

Thursday

Psalm 91.5-8 “You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.”

Life’s a battle. None of us escape the costs and consequences of being human, of living a life in which joy and sorrow, achievement and failure, wellbeing and suffering, safety and danger, all mix together in the everydayness of our stories. But around us and beneath us, above us and within us, is the God we have come to know in Christ. “Nothing shall separate us from the love of God!” We live under the shadow of the Almighty and Christ is our refuge and fortress. Whatever happens!

Friday

Psalm 91.9-10 “If you make the Most High your dwelling – even the Lord who is my refuge – then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.”

Yes, bad things still happen to good people. This text is not a promise of immunity from pain and loss, suffering and hurt. But when life collapses beneath us, or we are in a hard place, we are held and surrounded by a Love that will never let us go. Jesus commanded his followers to “Abide in me”, to “Remain in my love”. That, for us is to “make the Most High our dwelling”. We are held safe in the power of the risen Lord in whom we trust, kept before the throne of God by our great High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us.”

Saturday

Psalm 91.11-13 “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”     

This was the verse Satan quoted when tempting Jesus. There is no guarantee that all our problems will be solved, or that we won’t face times when life breaks beneath us. But God’s presence is promised, we are “guarded in all our ways.” The old hymn says it: “But God hath promised strength for the day, rest for the labour, light for the way, grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing sympathy, undying love.” Every minute, we dwell in the shelter of the Most High…under the shadow of the Almighty.

Sunday

Psalm 91 14-16: “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him.  With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

This is the Comprehensive Cover offered to those who love and serve God, who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, and who live under the shadow of the Almighty. We love because he first loved us, and so affirm our faith: “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

When a Biblical Text Is Guilty of Disturbing the Peace.

Like a number of others who I know pop into this blog, I'm waiting impatiently for the release of Beverley Gaventa's commentary on Romans, in the New Testament Library.

 

Having just finished three sermons on Romans 8 I've been discovering the strengths and weaknesses of some of the standard commentaries. I deliberately omitted N T Wright's new volume on chapter 8, as I wanted to have a conversation with the various exegetical friends I've made over the years - Cranfield, Dunn, Moo, Fitzmyer, Witherington, Longenecker, Kruse, Gorman, and Wright's full commentary from 20002 (in the NIB).

 

They all have something worthwhile to say, but what I missed in a few of them was the "so what?" question. Several of them did ask "so what" with compelling urgency and theological clarity. The challenge is not to reduce the power of the text to disrupt our intellectual status quo; a text does this by deconstructing our assumptions and recreating a vision of God adequate to such texts as:

• "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
• "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"
• "No in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
• "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

No commentary can, or should, do all our work for us as we wrestle with texts that must always come at us demanding our full attention, disturbing the peace of a mind made up, and daring us to make our own very personal response and risk the truth of the text. Two important questions 1) What are we to make of texts like these? 2) What will texts like these make of us if we take them to heart, think them through, and live into the realities they express?

 

On this occasion, on 8.28-39, I found it was mainly Wright, Dunn and Gorman who helped with the "so what" questions. But I gained from that wider conversation with those others I invited to my desk.

A Kingdom that Cannot Be Shaken: Being Seriously Hopeful and Hopefully, Serious!

This photo was taken in Back Wynd, just a few yards from the Oxfam Book shop and the Mcbean Coffee shop. I was heading for my usual quick browse in the book shop. It had been raining, and the wetness had highlighted the different tones of the stones. 

The cobbles were refurbished some years ago, but the street itself is one of the oldest in Aberdeen. Along its side for its complete length is the high stone wall that separates Back Wynd from St Nicholas' Kirkyard. For centuries folk have walked along that street, and for at least a couple of those centuries that wall has been a borderline, a clear division between the Kirk and the city at whose heart it sits.

The Kirk of St Nicholas is not used any more as a regular place of worship. This massive and dominant building now has no continuing purpose, other than as a monument, an architectural memory of a faith diminished in its social and cultural influence. But the decline of the influence and visible presence of the Church is not the only disconcerting perception. Back Wynd itself, like the heart of the City of Aberdeen, has fewer people walking through it, and has a much reduced sense of vibrancy, community, commerce and what I would call the social economy of relationships, conversations, and even that basic urban and human interchange of negotiating space on the pavements.

For a brief moment I had a surprising sense of sadness. Not so much nostalgia for what used to be; I think it was more like an anxious uncertainty in facing the question, "What now?" Not primarily, and not only "What now for the Church in our land?"  More a feeling that we are living through historic changes in city, country church and world. Such feelings invest the question "What now?" with a combination of low-grade but persistent uncertainty, but also with an inner defiance of hopefulness. It may well be that what is being asked of us as Christians at this particular moment in time, this kairos moment, is renewed resilience of faith, a defiant hopefulness and a determined refusal to let the seeds of resignation take root in the soil of despair.

I happen to be spending time with that enigmatic, but emergency tract for the times, the Letter to the Hebrews. One of its texts spoke powerfully into my uncertainties, and my hoped for resilience. "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is consuming fire." (Hebrews 12.28-9) My friend and mentor for many years, used to use that word 'shaken', in a particular way. If someone acted in a totally unexpected or hurtful way, or said something shocking, or powerfully challenging, he would say "I was shaken to the core."

What if God should also speak in an unexpectedly shocking and powerfully challenging way? And what if the language God uses is historical contingency, the things that happen, the changes in circumstance we can't control, the happenings around us that alter our sense of security, continuity and cultural stability. Hebrews was written to people whose faith was seriously shaken, whose inner core was being destabilised by events around them, and often against them. The preacher-pastor who wrote this long letter of encouragement and warning, aimed at hope building, faith strengthening, with the goal of instilling community resilience in the face of threatening change and felt inadequacy.

In the midst of all that is shaking, "we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken..." To put it in the equally astringent words of Jesus, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." T. S. Eliot echoed these words in The Rock:

There shall always be the Church and the World
And the Heart of Man
Shivering and fluttering between them, choosing and chosen,
Valiant, ignoble, dark and full of light
Swinging between Hell Gate and Heaven Gate.
And the Gates of Hell shall not prevail.

Darkness now, then

                             Light!

(From 'The Rock.')

The future of the church, as the Body of Christ, as the community built on the Rock of faith in Christ crucified and risen, is not in our all too human hands. A week after his death, I recall the first three volumes of Jurgen Moltmann's theological contributions. Taken together the titles, despite our legitimate questions about how he spells out his experiments in theological construction; taken together, those three titles are deeply embedded in the New Testament, and woven throughout that letter sent to the struggling-to-hang-on-in there Christians, and the great cloud of witnesses into which we ourselves, here and now, are incorporated: Theology of Hope, The Crucified God, The Church in the Power of the Holy Spirit. 

These are the things that cannot be shaken, in all the changes with which we are forced to come to terms. A theology of hope in the God of hope; a trust in the crucified God, the crucified and risen One whose purpose to renew and restore was unleashed into the cosmos in resurrection power; and an openness to the call and the cost and the consequence of a life to be lived in the community of Christ, the church in the power of the Spirit.

How does all this happen? The encourager of those long ago discouraged Hebrew Christians was no sentimentalist. "Our God is a consuming fire." (12.29) Fire cleanses, purifies and energises. God is not our pal, our buddy, and certainly not our ultimate back-up position. Awe and reverence are demanded and required. And from awe and reverence, worship that is so genuinely self-forgetting, that we bow and we wonder, we praise and pray, we surrender our own agendas, and we seek the wisdom and the energy, the life and the light, to act as who we are - children of the kingdom that cannot be shaken.

We are called to be those who hear in our hearts the reverberations of the Word of God in Christ. We are called to be self-evidently those who bow before the consuming fire of God's holy love, and emerge tempered and toughened, shaped and reshaped to whatever purposes God has for each of us and for every community of this coming and becoming kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Or so it has seemed to me, as I've reflected on Back Wynd, the Kirk of St Nicholas, and that unknown but brilliant pastor who some time after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE, wrote 'Hebrews' to struggling Christians to rebuild their hopes, lift up their hearts, and forge in them and in us, a more resilient faith.  

TFTD June 10-16: "O Lord, it's hard to be humble, but I'm doing the best that I can."

Monday

Matthew 11.28-29 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Meek and humble does not mean weak and docile. The word ‘gentle’ is also used for the yoked ox, which displays strength harnessed to purpose. The humility of Christ is shown in his gentleness of heart and the resilience of his love. Christian humility is likewise a willingness not to be served, but to serve, and a readiness to give rather than insist on receiving. “Lord, help me to take your yoke, and learn of you.”

Tuesday

Matthew 18.3-4 Jesus said: “Truly I tell you… whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

To take the lowest position goes against the natural grain of the ego. We are so used to the competitive stance; we like to be given our place; and we enjoy asserting our independence. Jesus’ words were given as an answer to the question, “Who will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” The child who trusts, says Jesus. The one who hasn’t yet been educated in cynicism. Humility is to know we have a lot to learn about God, our hearts, our neighbour, and how each one connects to the others!

Wednesday

1 Peter 5.5 “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Peter has been talking about spiritual leadership, and how we relate to other people. He is describing what it means to take responsibility for each other, by being the kind of person who is an example of God’s care. Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of others more. God can never bless arrogance, entitlement or power-seeking – he pours his grace into hearts open to others and full of the grace of Christ.

Thursday

Philippians 2.3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition, or vain conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves.”

That sounds like a counsel of perfection! Surely we have a right to have a good sense of ourselves, our gifts, our value, and what we bring to the table of those around us? Yes, but Paul is talking about when that sense of personal value becomes so important we don’t notice or deliberately ignore the gifts and value of others, whether in church, where we work, or in our families. C. S. Lewis gave good advice: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

Friday

Colossians 3.12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

Humility sits at the centre of the cluster of the well-dressed Christian mind and heart. When fastened together these five ways of thinking and feeling about others will transform relationships within any community. To have empathy, to act kindly, to think of the interests of the other, to show both concern and respect, and to take your time with people – that’s how the community called, sanctified and loved by God goes about its business of being and building the Body of Christ.

Saturday

James 3.13 “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom“.

This is about lifestyle, the life as an argument and witness to our faith in Christ, who is the wisdom of God. To serve others in the love of Christ, to look to the interests of others rather than our own interests, to bear one another’s burdens in obedience to the law of Christ, to welcome one another as God in Christ has welcomed us, to love as Christ has loved us – that is the humility that comes from wisdom.

Sunday

Philippians 2.5-8 “In your relationships with one another, have the same mind-set as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!”

The humility of Christ is the inspiration and pattern of Christian humility. These profound words give us the merest glimpse into the heart and mind of God in Christ. At the eternal centre of God’s loving plan of salvation is the triune love of God, revealed in the humble obedience of Christ Jesus, his death and resurrection, in the power of the Spirit. “He was rich, but for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich…thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.”

May the mind of Christ, my Saviour,
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.

The Golden Rule vs the Social Media Meme.

"Life is too short to waste your time on people who don't respect, appreciate, and value you." This advice has been going the rounds on social media. It sounds sensible, the words of someone who has life and other people sussed out. I can see why it's an attractive sound-bite, and why it might seem like the best way to deal with the difficult and challenging people in our lives.

But, and it's quite a significant but. I can't for the life of me hear Jesus saying this to his disciples. Oh, I know. He did say if people don't listen to your message of the Kingdom of God, move on and find people who will listen. But that isn't the get out of jail free card we might think.

Jesus said "Love your neighbour as yourself." For his homework, Jesus told Peter to do the maths and work out how much 70x7 was, and be ready to forgive that many times! And in case that isn't clear enough, "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

None of this was ever meant to be easy. But according to Jesus, the sign of the Kingdom of God is when we refuse to retaliate, write people off, or think taking time to work on difficult relationships is a "waste of time."  

We all want to be valued, appreciated and respected. Maybe that's why Jesus also said, "Treat others the way you expect each person to treat you." Loving others is to value, appreciate and respect each person, precisely because that's how we hope to be treated by them. 

The Good Samaritan: Compassion as Default Social Attitude.

Monday

Luke 10.25-27 “On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 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 neighbour as yourself.

So a lawyer cross-examines Jesus on the law. Jesus replies with his own questions, and the scribal expert on the law answers exactly and correctly. Before jumping ahead it’s worth weighing that answer. Love God, unequivocally and with all that you are, and love your neighbour as your very own self. That’s a big ask. But a vertical God-directed love that is wholehearted, and a horizontal love directed at those wee meet on the road that is our life – there’s the basis for a life pleasing to God!

Tuesday.

Luke 10.28-29 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied, “Do this, and you will live.” But he wanted to justify himself so he asked Jesus, ”And who is my neighbour?”

Trust a lawyer to insist on a clear definition of terminology! As soon as we ask “Who is my neighbour?” we are on the hunt for excuses, exclusions and evasions. Jesus will have none of it. So he tells the story we know as The Good Samaritan. One of the conditions of obedient discipleship is the refusal to reduce the demand of what God requires. Love your neighbour. No ifs and buts, no qualifiers. Just get on with it!

Wednesday

Luke 10.30 “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.”

Bad things happen. None of us are immune to unexpected hardship, whether illness, loss of a job, times of low income and anxiety about how to manage, loneliness and depression. It’s a long list. “Love your neighbour as yourself” is one of those social and personal principles that can make the world safer, life less hard, and can produce in our communities a safety net of kindness and compassion for those who are struggling. In various ways life beats up people. They, in their need, each one, is our neighbour. A follower of Jesus can never ask, “And who is my neighbour?”

Thursday

Luke 10.31-32 “A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.” 

“Passed by on the other side.” The person who doesn’t want to get involved. The ‘not my problem’ brigade. We shouldn’t assume this was only about religious scruples. The Law id full of instructions to care for the stranger, show mercy, provide refuge and practical care for those who are suffering. The motives don’t matter. The injured man matters. Levite and priest both saw the man, and walked on. Don’t miss the shock that those words had on the first hearers. If those supposedly closest to God don’t love the neighbour, then nobody else needs to bother either.

Friday

Luke 10.33-34 ^“But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  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.”

Follow the verbs – saw him, took pity, went to him, bandaged, poured oil and wine, put him and brought him. This is compassion in action. Verbs are what obedience is about, they are doing words. Love your neighbour as yourself is about what we do!

Saturday

Luke 10.35 “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.’”

Loving your neighbour is about doing words, including the verb ‘to give’. This isn’t small change which will never be missed. This is signing up to someone else’s need, and honouring the promise. “Love your neighbour as yourself” is miles away from feelings of sympathy, or ‘thoughts and prayers’! In the acts and gifts of agape love, there is an open-endedness that replicates the compassion of Jesus.

Sunday

Luke 10.36-37 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Question answered. Terminology defined. The neighbour is whoever needs our kindness, compassion, practical support. Neighbourliness is a sign of the Kingdom, no need to ask (WWJD) “What would Jesus do?” – you know perfectly well! Just do it!