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Finding Religion

by Lyn Perry  
3/14/2007 / Christian Living

Heard an amusing story, probably apocryphal, about W.C. Fields upon his death bed.

A friend caught Fields, a notorious agnostic, flipping through the bible. "What are you doing?" his friend asked. "Finding religion?"

"Looking for loopholes!" came the reply.

In Luke 10 an expert in biblical law approached Jesus looking for loopholes. "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" he asked to test the waters.

"Love God; love your neighbor," Jesus responded.

This gave the lawyer pause. Impossible, when it comes right down to it. And this duty to one's fellow man, so inconvenient!

"But who is my neighbor?" he asked, spotting a possible out. Depending on the definition of neighbor, this command might be "do-able" after all. If you can pick and choose whom to love...

In response, Jesus tells a story about serving those in need. You know the parable. It's about the Good Samaritan. But is it really?

"...So finally, there was this Samaritan," Jesus concludes in a surprise twist of plot. A surprise, that is, for those listeners who were snug in their relational blankets. For Jesus did not ask the expert "Who is your neighbor?" Our traditional answer has been, "Those in need." But you see, we're answering a different question.

Instead, Jesus asked this bible lawyer - and asks us - "Who played the neighbor in this story?"

"Hmm. Well. [Cough, cough] I suppose the Samaritan was the neighbor." It's a grudging admission.

So the answer forced by Jesus' plot twist reveals that it is not so much the person in need of help whom we are to love (although surely we are to serve those less fortunate than ourselves), it is the Samaritan. That alien, that half-breed, that less-than-religious person we look down on - that's the person we are to love.

The answer today is the same. We are to love that Samaritan-type person over there. The person who is the outcast, the person with whom we wouldn't naturally associate, the person of a different race, color, nationality, culture. That's the type of person we are to serve.

For that is the way of Jesus. It is a difficult path of service, but one we are called to tread.

But for us mortals who, like the ancient bible lawyer, are bent on securing immortality through self-righteous acts, we'll give it a try. If that's what we have to do, we sigh, then we better get busy.

We clarify, however, with one more question. We want to know if our efforts will be enough. "Will this hard path of service truly lead to eternal life?"

The bible answers, honestly, no. For even good Samaritans fall short of perfect obedience to God's standard of perfect love. Loving one's neighbor is a great command to follow, but we can not follow it to heaven. Good works don't move us toward salvation. They are merely expressions of it.

This, then, is the real test. God will place both the needy and outcast in our path. Is our service for Christ an expression of gratitude, flowing into the lives of others whether friend or foe? Are we acting neighborly out of a response to Christ's love or do we serve out of duty and in order to score points to win a trip to heaven?

The expert in biblical law thought that he was testing Jesus. But it's Jesus who actually provides the exam. We each face a daily take-home exam which I, at least, often fail. But there's freedom even then.

No, I haven't found a loophole. I've simply discovered that in Christ I'm set free of the tyranny of trying to secure eternal life through self-effort.

You see, at one point, I was that alien on the side of the road, helpless and dying. And the Good Samaritan stopped, bound up my wounds, and soothed my soul. In response to his great and awesome neighborly love, I now, imperfectly yet aided by God's Spirit, watch for others who need to receive the healing touch I've experienced.

This is finding religion.

(c) 2007 Lyn Perry, permission given to reprint this article with acknowledgment. Let me know if you use it! :-) Also visit Thought Renewal at http://thoughtrenewal.blogspot.com
A former pastor and happily married, Lyn enjoys reading, writing, and arithmetic. Well, two out of three anyway.

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