It's simple - just love !

from Helen 

Have you ever had that moment when a child trounces you… that moment when you feel really in control and then a child reasons with you. My nephew Jack did just this to me when he was 9 years old. He was out playing with his friends and clearly decided that it was time for him to have lunch. I was at my Mum in laws house and she had said that when Jack came back in I was to make him wait while she finished what she was doing and then she would make him lunch. Now to be honest at this stage Ian and I hadn’t been married long and I wanted to get everything right. So, when Jack came in I explained that he needed to wait because Gramma was on her way to feed him. Jack looked and informed me that he was busy playing, I said well it won’t be a long wait. He looked at me patiently and then very nicely said that the problem was his friends were eating at their houses right now and if he wasn’t quick he would miss the game. I said well, just wait… then Jack explained that he wasn’t going to be a bother after all there was some bread that he would use. I explained that there was fresh bread on the way. Jack said that he was really happy with the bread that he had and after all this way Gramma wouldn’t need to start a new loaf for him. By this stage I was starting to realise that Jacks very polite and reasoned approach was getting the better of me. I made one last attempt and he once again smiled at me patiently and said, ‘thank you, Aunty Helen but I must go back out to play now, don’t worry Gramma will be fine and if she isn’t I will explain it to her.’

Sometimes no matter how many objections you put up to something the answer is already sorted. In our gospel reading (Luke 10:25-37) this morning we heard of the lawyer who wanted to do what was right. He approached Jesus and whether he wanted to show off how good he was, or whether he wanted to check that there wasn’t more that he could do, we can’t be sure. But, he went to Jesus and asked what was needed to gain eternal life.

The response Jesus gave was too simple for the lawyer. It was as if he could not believe that gaining eternal life was only about love. The lawyer wasn’t satisfied he almost wanted a big list that he could tick off.  A bit like a to do list …. There is a Christian speaker called Vicky Beeching who said that when she was a child she wrote a list of all the things that she could and couldn’t do, she read a puritan book about holiness – to be honest it would have been pretty hard core stuff and if she hadn’t met the requirements that she imposed for herself she would get really cross and mournful. 

It is sad that she as a child had set limits on herself so that she could be perfect and holy. A bit like the lawyer she could not believe that it was all quite simple… we are to love God and to love others.

I often say that I spent so long concentrating on the fact that Jesus had died for my sins that I forgot that it was not for me to spend my time feeling guilty but to enjoy God and His love.

Jesus explained to the lawyer who his neighbour was by telling the incredibly well known parable of the good Samaritan. This parable is often thought of the Samaritan being one of the type of people that the people of Israel hated. This is thought to be a bit like preaching in a Church in Swansea when you are a Cardiff girl !! umm .. that would be me !

Actually there was hatred between the Jews and the Samaritans because the Samaritans were a nation that had gone their own way. In fact the two groups were incredibly similar but they had built up a suspicion. It makes me think that out neighbours are actually people that we are suspicious of, the people who are sort of like us but not quite the same, the people whom we are not sure of, the people whom we may have a grudge against, the people who have hurt us or someone we love. 

Our neighbours are everyone. In God’s world and kingdom it is all about love, it is all about acceptance. It is letting go of the past and moving forward. It is all about love. 

This is what community is, this is what we as believers are meant to be like. In our epistle reading (Col. 1:1-14) we heard of a community that believed and had love for all the saints. They were a group who loved each other. As Paul wrote this he was congratulating the Colossians that they didn’t just believe but they loved and that love meant that they were joined together. 

It is so easy to talk about the love of God for us, it is so easy to talk of the need for us to love each other and anyone that we meet. 

It is easy but it’s not so simple. God calls us to love one another, God calls us to love Him with all that we are. There is another very important bit missing and that is that it is God alone who gives us the strength to do this. 

God, as it says in the epistle reading, ‘has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’ 

Perhaps the answer can be simple as we love each other and God who has rescued us. God, who loved us so much that He came amongst us, died and rose again. He gives us the strength. As we seek to be more like Jesus may we remember that He gives us strength, may we be ready to turn to Him and ask Him to help us love. AMEN