AVAILABLE TO THE LORD

Luke 10:25-37

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

July 15, 2007

It’s been nearly twenty years, but I can still see the change that came over her face. She was the woman behind the counter at a hotel in Pevely, Missouri. How I came to be in Pevely, Missouri that Saturday afternoon, along with one of my brothers-in-law and a homeless person, is a story in itself. We ended up in Pevely because our companion wanted to go to New Orleans and I had decided that the truck stop in Pevely—about fifty miles south of downtown Saint Louis—was as far as our company was going to go.

There wasn’t a trucker leaving for New Orleans until the next morning, so our friend needed a place to stay. That’s how we came to meet the lady behind the counter. I watched as her face changed from a smile that greeted me to the question forming in her mind as my brother-in-law entered to the scowl that greeted the third member of our party. She quickly surmised that this unkempt individual was somehow going to be staying in her very tidy hotel.

As I told her that I was a pastor in Saint Louis, those words changed everything for her. Her face changed from a scowl to a smile. Suddenly, this homeless person was not some obligation—he was her mission for God. Nothing had changed, except her attitude. She became available to the Lord.

We’ve spent the last couple of weeks together seeking an answer to the question that arose out of the story from Luke about Jesus’ healing the demon-possessed man from the land of the Gerasenes. Remember how after he was healed—had his inside and outside aligned—he wanted to follow Jesus. Jesus sent him back to his town with the instructions to “tell the wonderful things that God has done” to all he met. Jesus gave him his purpose—his reason for still being on the planet.

We asked the question: why are you still here? Why at your baptism—or coming to faith—didn’t the fiery chariot that swept Elijah up to heaven come get you? What purpose does Jesus have in mind for you? How does He send you back into your town, your family to “tell of the wonderful things that God has done?” We’ve talked about the integrity that begins in God’s heart, connects and changes our hearts to that our inside is expressed in our outside interaction with people. We talked about moving from success in the world to significance in the Kingdom of God. Today we address what the lady in Pevely so vividly demonstrated: becoming available to the Lord—to fulfill that purpose He has for you.

The lawyer that comes to Jesus in Luke’s story that is today’s Gospel lesson properly understands that living out righteousness is about integrity. He wants people who meet his “outside” self to know his “inside” self. We need to take a moment to explain that “lawyer” here doesn’t refer to someone we think of in a court room setting before a judge—this is someone who has spent his whole life studying God’s Word, he knows (or, thinks he knows) God’s laws inside and out. He probably comes to show the crowd that he knows more than this rabbi from Galilee—more than Jesus!

Because he thinks he knows the Law of God, he thinks that everything is about obligation—and about being right/righteous. So, it might bite just a bit when Jesus turns his question back to him and then congratulates him for getting the answer right. Jesus’ next words are designed to point the man away from obligation to mercy. Jesus tells him he correct and then invites him to live God’s Word out in his life—that’s what He means by, “Do this and live.” The man can’t get past obligation and so wants clarification—who is his neighbor. Jesus answers with a story that is all about mercy.

What began in the man’s heart as an integrity question—having his outside demonstrate what his inside knew—Jesus turns into an alignment issue—where is your heart? Is it aligned with God’s heart? God’s heart is all about mercy.

When I began this series about seeking for God’s purpose for you—for us—one of our members asked me if I would end up with the way some Christians would answer the question: the purpose of man is to glorify God. Those in some Christian communities focus on God’s power and sovereignty as the most important thing we know about Him, so they end up with man’s purpose being to glorify God. That’s not where Jesus leads us with the story of the Good Samaritan.

Lutherans benefit from Martin Luther’s struggles with his Lord. Luther’s big question wasn’t about God’s power—he knew that well enough in God’s demanding Law—he wondered about God’s mercy and forgiveness. How could he be certain of God’s mercy? Luther found that answer in God’s heart and how He expresses His heart in sending Jesus. For Lutherans, then, the thing we celebrate most about our God is His mercy—mercy for us.

In the Scriptures, we encounter mercy when we hear about God’s faithfulness, His love and His covenant with His people. Mercy is a relationship word. Mercy is God’s heart turned toward us. His mercy transforms us and it transforms obligations into opportunities for mercy. Mercy is God’s way with us.

The story of the Good Samaritan is familiar. You’ve heard it before and perhaps heard it as an encouragement to show mercy to others—even people you didn’t like. That’s an okay way to hear this story, but it can easily lead us to think like the lawyer Jesus met thought—obligationally, that it is somehow up to you and me to live this out. If you and I think that we’re the Good Samaritan, we need to listen to God’s Word more intently. The lady didn’t make a decision that transformed her way of seeing that homeless fellow in Pevely—she was transformed by mercy, a mercy that began outside of her heart in God’s heart.

You see, there’s a deeper level to hear this story of the Good Samaritan—it’s why we capitalize the title. Samaritans were rejected and despised by the people. Can you think of Someone who was “despised and rejected by men” as described by Isaiah in Chapters 52 and 53? Can you think of Someone Who spent all His resources to help and rescue? Of course, Jesus is the One who spent His life—God spent His Son to help and rescue us.

You and I are man in the story beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. The thugs named Sin and Selfishness and the World have lured us to follow them, and then robbed us and left us for dead on the side of the road. We are powerless to do anything for ourselves until Jesus comes and spends His resources to help and rescue. Mercy begins in God’s heart, changes our hearts so that it can be lived out in our lives. This is a story of mercy in action.

Now, mercy continues in action. If the most important thing about God is mercy and we have been brought into His life, then, the important thing about us in our living out of faith and this new life breathed into us by the Spirit is also mercy.

What does mercy look like?

It looks like the Good Samaritan—they way you’ve usually listened to this story. It looks like someone who wasn’t expected to help—didn’t have to help—helping. This is a story of mercy taking hold in your life and mine and moving us into specific action—not intruding in some kind of selfish way, being led by mercy.

It looks like Mr. Don in Lincoln, Nebraska. A friend of mine was a pastor in Lincoln, Nebraska (he’s still a pastor, just not in Lincoln). One of his members came to him and told him that when he retired, he would want to get involved in some kind of ministry. My friend challenged him to retire right away, sell his business and be available to the Lord. Imagine, if I were to suggest that to you. What would you say—you don’t have to answer.

Anyway, the member called my friend the next week with the news that he’d taken the pastor’s advice. He’d retired, sold his business and was available to the Lord. What needed to be done? My friend, a bit surprised, told him he’d get right back to him. As he hung up, the phone rang. The funeral home director called. A Sudanese community in Lincoln just lost their pastor and needed someone to “do” the funeral. As my friend met the members of the Sudanese community, he found that they had a great need. As people were moving from the Sudan to Lincoln, they needed a place to live and stuff to furnish those homes. My friend called his member with a plan. They rented a warehouse and gathered the cast-off and seconds from other Lutheran churches and stores to meet the needs of those immigrants. The Lutheran Sudanese Ministry began in those actions—with Mr. Don, as he came to be known, becoming available to the Lord.

Now becoming available to the Lord in your life may not be as dramatic as Mr. Don’s story or as profound as Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan. It is simply the story of God’s heart changing your heart and living that mercy out in your life—where you work, where you live. It would be easy to hesitate here. It would easy to talk about your calendars and responsibilities. It would be easy to thank God for people like Mr. Don and others who have become available to the Lord in such marvelous ways, but to look for an excuse why it shouldn’t be you.

It would also be easy to hide behind Mount Olive or the Church’s skirts and say, “Yes, someone should do those things.” But that would be to take the role of the priest and Levite in Jesus’ story—to have the integrity of the man who thought he knew God’s Law but not His mercy. That would be wrong to look for a way to excuse yourself from involvement.

Listen to what Jesus says to the lawyer. I really appreciate the translation, here. He doesn’t say, “Go”—as if to leave the door open to the possibility He means the Church or someone else—He says, “You go and do likewise.” You go.

Let’s not fall back into the false integrity of the lawyer and think Jesus is talking about obligation. He is not commanding you—He’s calling you. His mercy calls you to live mercy. So, what is that going to look like?

Well, you’ve been praying about this for four weeks now. That’s what the pink sheet in the bulletin is for today. You’ve been praying for the Lord to open your eyes to see His specific purpose for you. Today, write that specific thing down.

How are you going to be available to the Lord to live mercy? Write it down. If you want, you can tape it to your bathroom mirror so that every morning, you are reminded. If you want, put it on your refrigerator door, so that every day His call rings in your ears. If you want, you can put it in the green box on the hearth today, and I will either pray for you to carry out this promise or, if you’re volunteering for something, connect you with the opportunity. You choose, but write it down.

Jesus has shown you mercy. He has given you this mercy. Now, He calls, “You go and do likewise.”