Doing
“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” - The Gospel Of Luke
What does it mean to go and do likewise? What is the example we are to follow? There are millions of people “doing” things in the name of religion, God, and any other cause in the world today but Jesus had a specific kind of “doing” in mind. What kind was he talking about?
What Jesus had in mind was a “doing” that was motivated by our deep gratitude and realization that though we are absolutely poor and bankrupt, Jesus has given us the riches of God for all of eternity. And that although He was rich, Jesus became poor for our sakes.
And there is absolutely no amount of doing that can pay Him back. Nothing we can ever do will erase the enormity of our debt. So now, our “doing” is liberated by the knowledge that we aren’t working to earn God’s acceptance by our obedience, we already are accepted and because we are, our obedience can be radically generous and sacrificial. We can now venture everything because we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
And that type of “doing” will be absolutely winsome and be totally reflective of the kind of neighbor Jesus was for us. That type of “doing” will seek our enemies and those who hate us. That type of “doing” will seek out those who could never pay us back or give us anything in return and gladly sacrifice in radically generous ways.
That is the kind of “doing” we seek to have here at Eternity and what we envision when Jesus said “Go and do likewise”.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Audio / Video
-Neighbors : Blessed Are The Poor : Social Concern (Tim Keller)