Grumpy Butt Tries Something New

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.”

If you were to open up Netflix on that big TV out there in the fellowship hall you’d find yourself signed into our family account which now includes a profile for the church for movie nights and such.  The other profiles there are “Mum” not “Mom” but “Mum.”  Purinpoppu which is Japanese for Pudding Pop.  That’s Hanna.  Maggie is “Maggie I Guess” and under my profile picture, which is an angry looking cartoon chicken, my user name is … “Grumpy Butt.” 

I’m Grumpy Butt.  That’s because my family knows I’m often… well… a Grumpy Butt.  And the thing that most often makes me a Grumpy Butt is not getting an answer to WHY!  I want answers and I am forever getting only more questions.  For example, it’s not enough for me to simply be mad at the Supreme Court for taking away half the country’s freedoms instead of defending them.  I want to know how these people came to think the way they think?  What is it that has made them so afraid?  After all, no one takes freedoms away from others except out of fear.  I want answers and all I get is more questions… which is why Grumpy Butt and the lawyer in today’s Gospel have so much in common.  

People usually assume the lawyer was “testing Jesus” to try and find a loophole in the law he could slither through, but we really don’t know his true motivation.  What if he was testing Jesus to see if Jesus could give him some guidance for living in this insane world of ours?  As I sat trying to figure out this parable and what it might want to tell us this time round, it occurred to me that whether the lawyer was looking for a loophole OR was looking for genuine help to live a better life, the answer Jesus gave works for both.  “Go and do likewise".

Then I started wondering if that might be the answer to even more?  Could that be the answer for the lawyer, the disciples, for you, and maybe even for my Grumpy Butt?  Could the answer to all of it be “Go and do likewise?”  It was, after all, the answer for the lawyer either way.  If he was a nefarious actor looking to justify his place on the societal ladder… Looking for Jesus’s approval for him and the people who looked and thought like him to be on top, while the people who were different by gender, race, sexuality, nationality, religion, sub category of religion,  sinfulness, cleanliness, political party or class were all down below… Jesus’ answer for that was “Go and do likewise.”  In other words, there is no ladder.  There’s only this guy, right in front of you, left for dead in the middle of the street.  Remember the guy in the story?  Go and do likewise!  

If however this lawyer was a Grumpy Butt like me and was the type that thought they just needed to figure out what it was that caused so many people to live out of fear in this life, maybe he could help!  If this lawyer was genuinely looking to Jesus for guidance in finding a solution to help the bonkers humans who seem to run roughshod over each other and the world, then Jesus’s answer works for that one just the same. There is no figuring out why.  There’s only this guy left for dead in the middle of the street.  See what the guy in the story did?  Go and do likewise!

Is that it then?  Is it not in the creating of ladders or the wondering why people make ladders?  Is it simply in the “going” and in the “doing” that our fear… our fear that leads us to look for loopholes… our fear that makes life into a fight over our place on the ladder… our fear that has us constantly trying to figure out the inner workings of our bonkers human world.  Could it be that it is simply in the “going” and in the “doing” of showing mercy and kindness to whoever we happen upon next… could it be in the “going” to that person, and in that “doing” of kindness for them, that we finally have an ACTUAL answer to our questions and not just more questions?

To be honest, I don’t know for sure.  But I AM sure we’ve tried finding the loopholes and that’s not it.  We’ve tried justifying ourselves and that’s not it.  We’ve tried to figure out why our broken world’s gone insane and that doesn’t seem to get us anywhere so that’s not it.  If my friend Kevin Polk was here he’d ask us all at this point, "How’s all that working for you?”  Yeah, not very good really.  Then he’d ask us, “Is there something else you'd like to try instead?” And I'm beginning to wonder if what I'd like to try instead is to just go and do likewise. I don’t know if it will work, but this Grumpy Butt thinks it’s worth a try.  How about you?  Amen.