Advent Lutheran Church

"Tell Me Who Your God is and I Will Tell You Who Your Neighbor Is"

Selam!  Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,  Amen.

If your recall last week’s gospel reading and Pastor Susan’s sermon, (and I hope you do,) it was about Jesus calling and sending the 70 to proclaim the Kingdom of God and go with no resources and no support.

In Luke 10:8 we read Jesus saying “Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.”

What does “The Kingdom of God has come near to you” mean? I know this is a broad topic. However, in simple terms it means, God has come to you. It means, “For so long, you have been trying to reach God by your own means but failed.  Now, here is the good news, God has come to you.” Believe and live.

I believe the lawyer heard about this message.  He came to Jesus while Jesus was hearing the report of the seventy.  For a person like the lawyer who lived his entire life doing something to reach God, to hear news that says, “God has come to you,” would be kind of strange news.  Therefore, he wanted to check it out from the source. He wanted to know and learn from the one who send out the seventy. 

He asks, Teacher, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Listen, to his question.  “What must I do?”  Do you see a human nature in his question?  We all would like to know what we must do in order to get something, including eternal life.  As humans, doing is part of our DNA. Especially when you are born and raised in a culture that the motto is, “if you work hard you will be successful” you know that just working is not enough. You have to work hard.   One of Thomas Edison’s quotes is “There is no substitute for hard work."

I have no problem with hard working as long as it does not lead us to label each other as hard working society or lazy society. Or as white color and blue color society.  I have no problem with a hard working mentality as long as it does not become an obstacle to understanding the concept of grace.  I have no problem with a hard working mentality, as long as it does not become an obstacle to understanding and believing that we are justified not by our own works but only by the grace of God through faith. Sisters and brothers, hard work works as a means of getting money, fame, accomplishment... you name it. It does not work to bring the kingdom of God to us. It does nothing to bring God to us.

Since the lawyer came from a law perspective, Jesus replied to his question with questions that lead to the law.  Jesus said, “Well, if you want to know what you must do, tell me, what is written in the law? What do you read there?”  Jesus asked two important questions.

The first question is about the literal part of the law. It is about knowing what is written. The same is true with our Bible. We need to know the written word. That is why we need a Bible.  That is why we need to read daily.  However, the second question is as important as the first one. What do you read there? How do you read there? The problem is not always what is written. It is how we read the written word. Since the birth of the church until now, the question of how to read the word has been one of the main reasons for conflict and schism between the families of God.  That is why, we Lutherans read and interpret the written word of God first and most thru the Incarnate Word Christ. The heart of the written word is love. Christ is the revealed love of God.

If the lawyer had taken the question literally, or perhaps did not know how to read the law he would have come up with the 613 lists of the law or would have asked Jesus, “which part of the law are you asking me about?”  (By the way, Torah or the Jewish law contains the 613 which are divided into 365 negative restrictions and 248 positive commands.)  But the lawyer’s answer reflect not only that he knows the written law but that he also knew what the law meant, or how to read the law.

This is his answer:  “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.”

He seems to get what the essence of the law is. The heart of the law is about loving God and loving neighbor as ourselves. The essence of the law is based on God’s love. Because God loves his people, therefore we love God and our neighbor as ourselves.

Therefore, out of the 613 laws he came up with only the two foundational laws. In the gospel of Matthew, following the same story Jesus gave the remark about the two major laws saying, ^“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Paul also repeats this message in his letter to Romans chapter 13 Verses 9- 10

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Jesus said (to the lawyer,) “Yes you are right, good job, you got it. Just do this and you will live.”  The kingdom message is about living.  Whenever we think about the kingdom of God or eternal life, we often relate it with the future life, and immortality.  Yet, the kingdom of God has two dimensions. It is living here and now, and also in the not yet. In other words living in the present and hoping for the future. If you heard Jesus’ answer carefully, you did not hear him saying “Do this and you will inherit eternal life.” Rather he said to him, “Do this, and you will live.”

You know lawyers, once they begin the dialogue they do not finish until they reach to a verdict. If there are lawyers here, this comment, by all means, is positive.  The lawyer continued the dialogue again with a question that made Jesus give him the most unexpected answer.  His next question was, “Who is my neighbor?”

My challenge for the lawyer and for all of us would be, before he asks about who his neighbor is, first it should be asked, “Who is my God?” He skipped this, because perhaps he thought he knew who his God was.  

Sisters and brothers, there is a saying in Amharic, “Gudagnahen Negregn Manenetihn Engrehalu” translation:  “Tell me who your friend is and I will tell you who you are.”  The idea of this saying reflects that our friends shape our character.  I want replace this saying with, “tell me who your God is and I will tell you who your neighbor is.”

Who is our God? Do we worship the God of Johnson County? Then our neighbors would be in Johnson County. Is our God the God of the United States of America? Then our neighbors are in United States. Is our God the God of Ethiopia or Africa? Then our neighbors would be from Ethiopia or Africa.

Everybody likes the invisible God. Why? Because it is very easy to make God in your own image. Playing in the ideal God playground is the safest place. There is no right and wrong in the ideal sense of God. There is no right and wrong in the invisible God. That is why we have so many religions in our world today. Everyone claims to have one or many gods.

History tells us that there had been many wars caused by religion in many parts of the world. There have been wars declared in the name of God. There have been oppressions and enslavement in the name of God. There has been genocide in the name of God.

“Tell me who your God is and I will tell you who your neighbor is.”

Brothers and sisters, we Christians do not worship the invisible God. We worship the revealed God. We worship the God “Who in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”  We worship the God, “who emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”

Our God is the one who crossed the boundaries both in his ministry on earth and in his death and resurrection. Who ate with sinners, who sought out the outcasts, who embraced all humanity in his love.  If this is our God, then all people are our neighbors.  And, all means all.

In the parable, Jesus redefined what neighborhood is all about.  Our neighbor is not the person or the family who lives next door. Our neighbor is the one whom we reach at his or her need. Therefore reaching out is not any more limited to our location.  Yes, neighborhood requires love and sacrifices.

I want to share with you a true story that my grandfather told me. It was during Ethiopian- Somalia war. My grandfather used to have a big farming land. He had many workers on the farm. One of his workers was Ahmed. He is from the Somali tribe. Some weeks before Somalia invaded Ethiopia, Ahmed came to my grandfather and told him that he would like to share with him a secret. Ahmed told him that the war was inevitable and he and his family should flee soon. Ahmed told him that he worked as a spy for the Somali government, but because of the relationship he had with my grandfather, he could not be silent about it. Of course, my grandfather listened to Ahmed and saved all the family and himself. On the other hand, there were others like Ahmed who were working on a farm, knew the war was investable, and did not share with the other farm owners.

After hearing the story, I asked my grand dad that what he would do if he were Ahmed, and knew Ethiopia would invade Somalia. You know what he said? “My son, to tell you the truth, I would not do it. Ahmed had been a holy person.”

I am a witness that the Advent community is living out this redefined neighborhood life. What you did in sponsoring over 70 children from Dominican Republic through Children International, your annual mission trip program and your recent gift to buy 500 bibles for Ethiopian children are remarkable signs how you are a reaching out community.

And, of course, the vicar program that brought me here to learn and grow and also gave you the opportunity of hearing different stories and perspectives is one of your great programs which I hope you will continue to support!

It is my prayer and hope you will continue to grow in living out the “redefined neighborhood lifestyle” that passes beyond this county and community. Amen. 

Endnote from Pastor Susan:  At the conclusion of his sermon, Vicar Anteneh repeated the one Amharic word that we all know now:  Selam.  Only this time it was not a “greeting selam” but a selam of farewell.  Vicar Anteneh’s last Sunday with Advent is July 18.