Between Sundays for Week of July 14, 2025
Even those not familiar with scripture have probably heard of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), one of Jesus’ best-loved parables. Given it’s familiarity, the perennial task of study isn’t discovering something new, but remembering what’s already there.
The parable begins with a question: What must I do to inherit eternal life? And then twice, Jesus uses the same word in his response – Do this, and you will live. Go and do likewise.
In Biblical Greek, each instance of “do” comes from the same Greek root (poieó): to make, to do. But the Greek verb tense is different when the lawyer uses the word and when Jesus uses the word.
When the lawyer asks the question, the tense and mood of “do” refers to a single, limited action. The lawyer’s question asks, in essence: what check mark on the do-gooder checklist can I mark off to ensure my eternal salvation? In other words: How do I earn my way, Jesus?
In contrast, when Jesus uses the word the tense and mood signals an ongoing relationship and action. Another way we say this in English would be to say keep doing this.
Which is all to say the lawyer asks for the checklist so he can do the right thing, and in his response Jesus invites an ongoing way of living that is grounded in compassion and love. Keep doing this!
Keeping doing what? the lawyer in each of us asks. Jesus’ story answers that question through its own selection of verbs: keep seeing, keep being moved with compassion, keep going toward, keep bandaging and treating wounds, keep taking care, keep being generous. In other words, keep showing mercy in all it’s forms.
In a world where the lawyer in each of seeks to define the limits of “neighbor,” Jesus says keep being a neighbor without regard! Jesus knows we can’t (and won’t) solve the world’s problems. Jesus knows we will miss the mark along the way, and his mercy is already ours. But in a world where the Jericho road is everywhere, Jesus teaches: “You yourself are the neighbor. Go and be obedient in acts of love.” (D. Bonhoeffer, see Ponderings below.)
P.S. View Sunday worship through our YouTube channel and listen to the Gospel and Pastor Amy’s sermon (beginning at 16:09). Links to previous worship videos on Facebook and YouTube are always available on our website.
P.P.S. The Grief Support group WILL meet as schedule on July 15. The Caregiver Support group remains on hiatus until the fall.
Faith Connection at Home
VBS will be held at BLC this summer from 9am – 12pm for ages pre-K through grade 6. Our theme is Compassion Camp — What Every Living Thing Needs. There will be songs, bible storytime, crafts, games and more — and it’s FREE! If you have time during the mornings of this week, we’d love the extra helping hands to shepherd groups or at one of our stations. Registration for children can be found here and registration to volunteer can be found here.
Ponderings
Reflecting on the story of the good Samaritan, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that “The question ‘Who is my neighbor?’ is the final question of despair and hubris, in which disobedience justifies itself. The answer is: You yourself are the neighbor. Go and be obedient in acts of love.” (Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, vol. 4. Fortress Press, 2001, 76) The neighbor in Christianity is not just a person we are to be compassionate toward but is an ethical category we are called to embody. To be the neighbor in acts of love, as the Samaritan is for the man on the side of the road, is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Bonhoeffer, navigating the horrors of the Nazi regime, was well aware of the despair and destruction possible when we quibble over who deserves to be called our neighbor, when Christians lose sight of our own call to be the neighbor. (Sundays and Seasons)