The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Tuesday, 26 July 2016 - "Right command, wrong execution"

The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Tuesday,  26 July 2016 - "Right command, wrong execution"
Daily Scripture: Luke 10:25 An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking, “Rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?” 26 But Yeshua said to him, “What is written in the Torah? How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself.”[Luke 10:27 Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18] 28 “That’s the right answer,” Yeshua said. “Do this, and you will have life.”

29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Yeshua, “And who is my ‘neighbor’?” 30 Taking up the question, Yeshua said: “A man was going down from Yerushalayim to Yericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him naked and beat him up, then went off, leaving him half dead. 31 By coincidence, a cohen was going down on that road; but when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levi who reached the place and saw him also passed by on the other side.

Reflection Questions:
The story Jesus told in answer to the lawyer’s question is familiar. When we read it, we tend to think of it first (and maybe even exclusively) as being about responding to other people in crisis. But Jesus told the parable to answer a question about being a neighbor. His main focus was on how neighborly or non-neighborly the people who passed on the road were, not on the specific reasons why the man was beside the road.

• Verse 29 said, “The legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” Are there people in your neighborhood, your community or your world whom you’d rather not think of as your “neighbor”? Have you ever found one or more of the limits you wanted to put on your definition of “neighbor” changing after you got to know the person or persons?
• Since Jesus agreed with the lawyer’s answer, it may seem odd for Luke to write, “The legal expert wanted to prove that he was right.” Maybe Jesus’ words “Do this and you will live” (verse 28) hit a nerve. Maybe the lawyer wanted to say, “I’m already fine—I don’t need any more saving.” Have there been any times in your life when you’ve felt like saying, “Talk to someone else about grace and forgiveness—I’m fine”? What helps you accept God’s salvation gratefully every day?

Today’s Prayer:
Dear Jesus, let your story remind me that it’s not enough to just recite the right words. Grow in me a heart that notices others, and that actively cares about their needs. Amen.
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Insights from Randy Greene

Randy Greene serves in the Communications ministry as the Digital Media Specialist. He helps develop and maintain the church’s family of websites.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is one that probably all of us know very well as a story demonstrating what it means for us to love our neighbors. I often forget, though, about the context of the story. Darrell’s subtle reminder in today’s GPS reading – that Jesus told this parable in response to the question “Who is my neighbor?” rather than to about how to be a neighbor – hit me hard.
My wife and I moved into our house last November. As first-time homeowners, we’ve had a lot to learn, including dealing with a defunct water heater, tending both the interior and the exterior of our home, managing large expenses like new windows (next time, we won’t forget to plan for new blinds, too!), and so on. But listening to the message this past weekend, we were struck by something that had completely flown under our radar: we have met hardly any of our neighbors.
We did introduce ourselves to the gentleman on our left a few days after we moved in (his name is Al) and we talked to our neighbors on our right when our dog dug under the fence (they have a cat named Ino, apparently named after a manga character). But besides friendly waves as we walk our dog, my wife and I have completely failed to get to know anyone on our block.
The legal expert from today’s reading asked “Who is my neighbor?” and my wife and I find ourselves asking the very same question, but in a completely different sense. We literally don’t know who our neighbors are. I am ashamed to confess that if we were to walk past them dying on the side of the road we would not recognize them.
Pastor Wendy Lyons Chrostek challenged us in the Vibe service at Leawood to take the initiative in our neighborliness. She said that we cannot wait for the people around us to reach out – we must be the ones knocking on their doors and beginning the relationships. So my wife and I are committing ourselves to doing just that. We are scheduling get-togethers with some of our neighbors right now, and we are eager to embrace this small act of what it means to be Christian.
My wife and I might be extreme examples of un-neighborliness (or, who knows, maybe you can relate, too!), but I’m guessing that there is at least one family on your street that you don’t know. Will you join us in going out of your way to begin forming those new relationships?

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