The Lutheran Hour
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"How Low Can It Go?"
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Text: Text: Luke 10:25-37
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O almighty and most merciful God, Your goodness to us has no limits. Keep us, we pray, from all those things that might hurt us in body or in spirit that we, being strengthened by Your great love for us in Jesus Christ, may gladly do for You and for all who are around us, those things that serve them and that give You the praise and glory that You deserve from us. In Jesus’ name do we pray. Amen.
It happened a long time ago. I was just a teenager. I only did it once. At the time I was in no position to refuse. I have tried not to think about it too often over the years. Now however, my oldest daughter is showing some interest in it as she sees other young people trying it. I feel somewhat helpless because I am not sure if my experience with it will be of any assistance to her.
What I am talking about is, of course, the high jump. Yes, that track and field event which will be part of the competition during next month’s Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. In the high jump, athletes compete against one another to see how high they can jump from the ground, and clear a crossbar without knocking the bar off its standards. There may be less than an inch of difference between the gold medal winner’s final attempt and that of the competitor who comes in second place.
When I was a freshman in high school, our physical education teacher had us try the high jump. I had never done it before. Despite my lack of experience I was able to clear the bar at four feet, 10 inches. Now I realize that is nothing compared to what we will see in the Olympic Games in a few weeks, but it was good enough for second place in my freshmen physical education class.
While you may never have thought of it in these terms, the way we naturally approach our life with God is very similar to taking part in a high jump competition. The crossbar is that level of goodness we feel that we need to achieve in order to win God’s favor, to deserve His love, and to earn our entry into eternal life. We believe there are certain behaviors that we must avoid, and still other types of acts that we must do in order to please God and achieve the right to be called one of His saved people. Whether we believe that our lives are driven by a purpose or simply a matter of aimless wandering, each one of us, in our own minds, has set that crossbar of salvation at a height just high enough to be worthy of our efforts but yet low enough that we still can clear it. To those who can live life better than we do and thus easily clear the crossbar of salvation at the height we have set, we say, “Good for you, more power to you.” But to those who do not live up to the standard of salvation we have established for ourselves, we say, “You need to work harder in order to be a better person like I am.”
There is one major exception, when it comes to likening our attempts at earning our salvation to competing in the high jump event. Instead of pushing ourselves to make the crossbar go higher and higher, we do all we can to bring that crossbar of salvation down lower and lower, to a level easy enough for us to clear. Jesus encountered this very type of thinking one day when an expert in the law challenged Him with the question, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus responds to this man’s question with questions of His own, “What is written in the law?” and “How do you read it?” Based upon his experience of reading and copying God’s Word, the expert in the religious law quickly answers, “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 love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus congratulates him on his correct answer. “Just do this and you will live,” Jesus says.
This expert in God’s law knew the truth. He just couldn’t handle it. The demands of complete love for God and for neighbor that God had placed upon this man in order for him to inherit eternal life, had set the crossbar of salvation at a level far too high for this expert in the law to jump over. Therefore, he had one more question for Jesus in an effort to see how low that bar could go. Perhaps he could get Jesus to lower that standard to a more manageable level. “And who is my neighbor?” is a question that was debated in the Jewish religion of that day. The answer typically given then was, “Only fellow Jews are our neighbors.” By asking Jesus who those people are whom we are to love as our neighbors, we really are wondering who those people are that we can eliminate from our list of those whom we should love. If we can identify some people as being outside of the love that we are to show to our neighbors, we can bring that crossbar of salvation down a little lower and thus make it easier for us to clear it, and enter eternal life by our own works.
The story that Jesus tells in response to this last question from the expert in the law is well known by the name, “The Parable of the Good Samaritan.” The steep and crooked road that went down from the heights of Jerusalem to the depths of Jericho was notoriously dangerous. The curves, hills, and ridges provided many hiding places for thieves who suddenly could appear, attack, and rob defenseless travelers. In Jesus’ story, the bandits leave a man they had beaten lying on the roadside near death. Help soon would arrive, as both a priest and then a Levite come upon the scene. These were men who served in God’s temple in Jerusalem. They would certainly show compassion for the injured man. But for them to come into contact with a dead body would make these men ritually unclean and disqualify them for service in the temple for a period of time. So as not to risk such ceremonial contamination, both men steer clear of the motionless body and pass by on the other side, without offering any type of assistance. These servants of a loving God could not be bothered to show God’s love to one who was in such obvious need of help.
Hope is fading fast in the view of Jesus’ listeners, as the next person to enter the picture is a Samaritan. The Samaritans and the Jews were shirttail relatives, but they had been embroiled in a nasty family feud for a number of centuries. Those who were hearing Jesus’ story for the first time would have expected the Samaritan to be the bad guy, but instead he turns out to be the hero. He takes pity on the unknown victim. Here is one creature of God looking with compassion upon another creature of God in the time of his need. The Samaritan administers first aid to the wounded man. Then he transports him to an inn where he pays in advance, the equivalent of two day’s salary, for the innkeeper to provide care for the injured man’s recovery. If the costs were to go higher, the Samaritan gentleman promises to cover the excess expense on his return trip. He does so with no thought of getting repaid, rewarded or celebrated.
Having finished His story, Jesus then questions the expert in the law. “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The answer of course, is obvious. Yet, the expert in the law cannot even bring himself to speak the word “Samaritan.” Instead he answers, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus’ instruction to His first audience as well as for us today is, “Go and do likewise.” We learn from Jesus’ story that anyone and everyone who is in need of our assistance is the neighbor whom we are to love.
This brings us back to the high jump and the crossbar of our salvation. Instead of giving us an answer that lowers the height of that crossbar and makes it easier for us to earn our way into eternal life, Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan raises the level of that crossbar and shows us how difficult, even impossible, it is for us to win God’s favor and to deserve our salvation by our own efforts. Are we on the lookout for those who may be in need of our assistance? Having come across someone we can help, are we adequate in our assistance? When we do provide help for those in need, aren’t we hoping for some acknowledgement, reward, or congratulations? Is our care for others in their need an act of love motivated by God’s love for us or do we deep down feel that we are earning points with God? If life in the sight and presence of our holy and righteous God depends on us not doing those things that God tells us are wrong to do, and instead doing all those things that God rightly expects us to do, then the crossbar of our salvation is set at a height so high, that not only can we not jump over it, we also cannot even see it because its height is so far beyond our reach.
The good news for us is this: that which is beyond our reach is that very thing which is in God’s hands. He has removed the crossbar of salvation that we have to clear by our own works, and has replaced it with the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ who has done all the work of our salvation for us. The expert in God’s law was convicted by God’s law, because he saw the focus of his salvation as being upon himself. Yet standing right there before him in the person of the one he rightly calls “Teacher,” was where the certainty of his salvation needed to be placed. We are freed from the condemnation of God’s law because the sure and certain hope of our forgiveness, new life, and eternal salvation is not in who we are or in what we do, but in who Jesus is and in all that He has done for us.
You may be inclined to think that Jesus is important for your life because He is the one who begins for you, the journey of salvation that you then complete by your good works. Or you may think that Jesus is the one who recognizes your natural goodness and then claims you as His own, thus giving you that last nudge you need to get into eternal life. Both of these views of Jesus fall far short. Jesus does much more than simply give us the boost that helps us to clear the crossbar of salvation. No, Jesus has done the full and complete job of that rescue from sin, death, and the power of the devil for us. The eternal Son of God took upon Himself our human flesh and lived our life. He did so, perfectly fulfilling the will of God that we reject every day of our lives. Jesus was obedient in each and every way to the law of God that we disobey in so many ways.
When it comes to clearing the crossbar of salvation by following the righteous requirements of our holy God, Jesus has made the leap that wins the championship for us. Jesus went to His death on the cross, suffering and dying there, not in punishment for His own breaking of God’s law, because He had kept that law perfectly. On the contrary, Jesus died as our sacrifice, bearing in our place the guilt we had earned by our sins and enduring the death we had deserved by our disobedience.
By His own death for us on the cross Jesus has removed for us the crossbar of good works, that we must clear in order to earn our own salvation. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the promise He gives us of our own new life in His name, and eternal life in His heavenly presence. The empty tomb of Jesus is the open door for us to enter into eternal life. Jesus has risen from the dead. The Holy Spirit uses this message to work faith in us, to believe in Jesus as our Savior from sin. Only then do we see that our physical death is not God’s punishment for our sins. Instead, it is God’s call for us to enter into eternal life.
The athlete who competes in the high jump event not only has to jump and clear the crossbar, that person also has to land. This landing would be the worst part of the exercise except for the large, cushioned pad that covers the ground on the other side of the crossbar. If the competitor happened to miss that padding and land directly on the ground, it would make for a hard landing indeed, most likely causing pain and injury.
Without faith in Jesus as the Lord of our lives and our Savior from sin, being placed into the grave at the time of our physical death makes for a very hard and painful landing. It means being separated from the love, the blessings, and the goodness of our God for eternity. In contrast, when we die in the Christian faith, that is, with confidence that the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has been shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and that He has risen from the dead as the Champion over sin, death, and the power of the devil for us, our landing in the grave is soft, even softer than that of the athlete finishing off an attempt in the high jump event. Through that physical death, our heavenly Father welcomes us into the eternal home that our risen and ascended Lord Jesus is even now preparing for us. This home is where we, as the people of God, will enjoy the full glory, majesty and love of our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is where our voices will unite with the angels in praising our God for His greatness. It is where we will be free from our sin and its effects upon our lives. It is where we will live without the threat of death hanging over us ever again.
When we recognize that we are holy, precious and pure in God’s sight through the person and work of His Son Jesus Christ, we will see that the hurdle, the crossbar of earning our salvation by our good works has been removed by the cross of Christ. Yet, by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, the soft landing of eternal life in the presence of our God is both our present and future possession. We look to serve others in their needs; not because we are trying to earn the favor of our God, but because in Jesus we know that we already live in the love of our God, and even now have His promise of salvation. It is our privilege as the forgiven and saved people of Jesus, to share this love with all those around us, who need us to be their neighbor. To God alone be all of the glory. Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lutheran Hour Mailbox (Questions & Answers) for July 25, 2004
Topic: Obnoxious Religions (Part 2)ANNOUNCER: Now Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer. Can people of different faiths go to heaven, so long as they’ve been sincere and live good lives?
KLAUS: Thanks a lot, Mark. This is one of those thorny questions that requires a very careful and considered response. If we’re not careful, we could end up alienating, in one stroke, two-thirds of the world’s population.
ANNOUNCER: That’s never stopped us before. So, of course, you’re going to pick your words very carefully, and what would be your answer? Can people of different faiths go to heaven, so long as they’ve been sincere and have lived a good life?
KLAUS: Picking my words carefully, the answer is this: the question is irrelevant.
ANNOUNCER: How so?
KLAUS: Because, my friend, in the whole scope of things, it’s totally inconsequential what Ken Klaus says or believes. It’s totally unimportant whether I or you or anyone else agrees or doesn’t agree with the statement.
ANNOUNCER: But is that all you have to say?
KLAUS: No, of course not. But it does get me to where I want to go. This question seems to suggest that religion is an opinion, that heaven is an opinion. The way we get to heaven is also an opinion. Since everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion, the question assumes that all religions are, to a greater or lesser degree, right or wrong, and the only common denominator between them is that we all need to live a good life.
ANNOUNCER: But that’s not right?
KLAUS: It’s not right. For a lot of different reasons, it’s not right. It’s not right because the statement shows considerable amount of ignorance about the different religions of the world. Leading a good life sounds like a good idea in a general sort of way; but leading a good life meant something quite different to David Koresh in Waco; it meant something different to Jim Jones and the members of the People’s Temple. It meant something different to Marshall Applewhite and the members of Heaven’s Gate who killed themselves so they could meet the Hale-Bopp comet. There are some religions that say, “Kill your neighbor, go to heaven.” There are religions that believe you must make yourself a human pincushion and suffer continuously so you might get to heaven. There are religions that say, “Take drugs and find heaven here on earth.” And then there is Christianity which maintains that, no matter what you do, no matter how good a life you lead, you can never earn your way to heaven. No, leading a good life is not a common denominator for getting to heaven. By the way Mark, exclusivism isn’t confined to Christianity. Ask the same question of most of the world’s major religions, and they will tell you the same, or at least they should. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t give two hoots and a holler for a religion that says, “We sorta-kinda think we’re correct, and then again, you might be corrector than we are.” It’s really hard to tell; we just can’t say, and maybe all of us are correct, and perhaps none of us is correct, and maybe, maybe, maybe.
ANNOUNCER: OK, I understand. Ultimately, what is the big problem here?
KLAUS: Mark, the big problem with this question and this kind of thinking, is it fails to take into consideration that there may be an absolute truth. Look at it this way. Suppose 50 people are standing on a street corner. Suppose, right in front of those 50 people there’s a car accident. The police come. They ask all 50 people for a report of what they have seen. The police end up scratching their heads, because they’ve got 50 differen,t and quite contradictory, versions of what happened. Mark, is it possible that in those 50 different stories, somebody told exactly what happened?
ANNOUNCER: Yes, but it’s also possible that all 50 got the story wrong.
KLAUS: I agree. Now let’s convert that to religion. Say we have 50 different religions. There are a lot more, but it works for comparison’s sake. We have 50 different religions; all of them look at the sinful world; all of them look at humanity; all of them look at god; all of them try to explain how the world can get back to god. Is it possible that in those 50 different and contradictory religions, somebody is telling the truth?
ANNOUNCER: I suppose. But like I said, it’s also possible that all of them are wrong.
KLAUS: Good. I agree. Now, how would you pick and choose which one is true?
ANNOUNCER: And that’s really what this question is all about. Do you have an answer?
KLAUS: I do, at least when it comes to religion. I would check out all the religions, and see which one can be proven.
ANNOUNCER: But you can’t prove a religion, can you? I always thought it was just a matter of faith.
KLAUS: That is the common thinking.
ANNOUNCER: And what’s your answer then?
KLAUS: Not to be flippant, Mark, my answer is – let’s talk about it some more – next week.
ANNOUNCER: And we hope you, the listener, will join us then.