25th Sunday after Pentecost

Title

What Does Love Look Like?

Outline

For our age love is a warm fuzzy, full of good feelings, if not sexualized

It is a mother’s embrace when the mother is feeling warmly about her child

It is acceptance, warm relationships, and a wonderful meal

But, of course, while some of those things may be results of what the Scriptures mean by love, they are resultant emotions, not the thing itself

Ephesians makes it clear

Love is based in the high calling of God, which we received in baptism: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

Since we did not merit this call, no one has to merit love, seeking the good of the other, from us. We show it simply to be reflecting the love of the Father for us, reflecting a love we did not deserve, and therefore it looks like “walk[ing] in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2  with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

This type of behavior is needed when the other person is, well, unpleasant

Jesus, as usual, puts it in narrative form

The lawyer is certain that he is loving God and just wants to be sure that he is putting the right boundaries on the commanded love of neighbor - surely, he and his friends would say, one must not try to love everyone.

So Jesus pictures a good Jew like him going down a known long and lonely road, getting waylaid by highwaymen, and ending up helpless - no money, no supplies, no clothes, wounded, and half dead.

The priest and levite are also good Jews, Jews who surely believed that they loved God. But to get involved with that man was to risk themselves if the robbers were near and perhaps to contract corpse uncleanness. Tobit had buried a murdered unknown Jew, and had ended up in a bad state himself.

Then an enemy comes along, a Samaritan, one from a people with whom Jews had hostile relations. But they were a people who knew and used the Torah and so knew about loving God and neighbor.

What did the Samaritan do for his enemy? He had feelings, for sure, compassion, but more importantly he acted: ignored the risk to himself, gave what medical care he could, got the man on his mount, walked in front leading the animal down to Jericho where he found an inn. He nursed him for the night, then gave the innkeeper two days wages and a blank check should he need more. We never hear if the wounded Jew was thankful or even conscious.

That is love of a neighbor, says Jesus; what God means by love extends even to an enemy, even to the risk of one’s life for the enemy, even to significant expenditure for the good of the enemy.

The point is clear, brothers and sisters

Paul is talking about showing love to, that is, seeking the good of, those who are “part of our group.” They are Christians, perhaps not our type of Christians, but still have the same faith, same Lord, same baptism. There is no way we cannot count them as neighbors, if disagreeable neighbors, although there have been times when Christians killed one another.

Jesus is asking those he talked to to be like him. He went to people who were hostile to him, even ate with some of the more hostile leaders, never used his powers against them, and in the end died for them, died that they might be saved, rescued.

Now in the parable he does not go quite as far as he would go, but he does talk about risking one’s life caring for a member of the enemy. He talks about spending one’s money for such a one, taking one’s time and energy for such a one.

If we love God, if we love Jesus, we act like Jesus. We join him in loving others, even our enemies.

Glory be to God who loved us to that extent.

Readings

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 11-29-2020: Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

EPISTLE

Ephesians 4:1–6

4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2  with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 11-15-2020: Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

GOSPEL

(25th Sunday)

Luke 10:25–37

25  And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27  And 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.” 28  And he said to him, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.”

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33  But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, 34 and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) (11-29-2020: Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost)

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2021 | OCTOECHOS TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Dark Vestments

Matins Gospel Mark 16:9–20

Epistle Ephesians 4:1–6

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 11-15-2020: Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

Gospel Luke 10:25–37 (25th Sunday)

RED

St Philip, Apostle