An Invitation and a Challenge

It’s official. We have declared a mission theme for 2012. But what exactly is a “mission theme”? How can a slogan help us live faithfully as disciples of Jesus Christ? To see this, let us look at the passage that our theme comes from, Luke 10:25-37:

Just then a lawyer 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 justify 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 went away, 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 near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. 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." (Luke 10:25-37, NRSV)

This passage gives us an invitation and a challenge. First, an invitation. It’s an invitation to love - to live by the deep, real relationships for which we were made. Love has been at the heart of what it means to be the people of God ever since God called out the people of Israel. In the passage from Luke, when the expert in the law asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus doesn’t say anything groundbreaking. He fittingly asks the lawyer what the law says. And the lawyer quotes two of the most central passages of the Hebrew Scriptures, Deuteronomy 6:4 and Leviticus 19:8, which, in short, are commands for us to love God with all of ourselves, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The invitation stands. Being part of the people of God means entering into a loving relationship with God and with others. We can live in these relationships because Jesus healed them. He reconciled us to God and reconciled us to each other by making peace through the blood of his cross. In light of this passage, we hope that our mission theme will show us what it means to love God and love our neighbor.

But this passage also gives us a challenge. In an effort to justify himself, the lawyer asks Jesus “And who is my neighbor?” This opens him up to a challenge. By asking the question he shows that it’s not enough to merely know that we should love our neighbor. We also need to know who our neighbor is. The lawyer, perhaps unintentionally, gives Jesus an opportunity to expand his understanding of “neighbor.” He lets Jesus shift his paradigm. And so Jesus tells him the story of the Good Samaritan, a story of an unexpected neighbor and an unexpected way of acting “neighborly.”

As the story shows us, it’s easy to miss our neighbors, which makes it hard to love our neighbors. Whether we’re trying to justify ourselves or simply carrying on with daily tasks, we need to be challenged by the very question, “Who is My Neighbor?” This is why we take time to listen, learn, and live together with those around us. We hope our theme will help us do this. So as we enter this new year, let us accept the invitation to be in a community of love with God and with others. And let us be challenged to see our neighbors in unexpected places and serve our neighbors in unexpected ways.