LETTER for OCTOBER 1993

Dear Friends,

Our attitude as we approach God is of crucial importance. It is our attitude in coming to God in prayer and worship which will determine the response we receive from God. God will always be true and courteous, but his response will be tempered to fit the need which our attitude requires.

We have examples of this in the Gospel’s in the way Jesus responded to people as they approached him.

There is the case of the lawyer in St. Luke 10:25-37. We are told that this lawyer stood up to test Jesus. His question was one designed to trip Jesus up. He said with spurious humility and enquiry, "Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life".

The question was, not a serious searching of one in need. The lawyer was full of pride because he felt that he really knew the answer to his question, and wanted to find out whether Jesus would give the correct answer.

The response which Jesus gave was one which was calculated to break down this lawyer’s pride and change his attitude. Jesus knew the answer that the lawyer would have given; the answer the lawyer felt was right. Jesus tackled him in this direction. Jesus says to the lawyer, "What is written in the law". The lawyer’s answer to his question would have been that we have to obey God’s law, and by doing this, God would reward us with eternal life. So the answer the lawyer gave to Jesus about the law was predictable. He said concerning the law that we must love God with alt our heart, soul, strength and mind; and our neighbour as ourselves.

The lawyer was shaken by Jesus response to his answer. Jesus said, "Do this and you will live". Jesus said it in a way the lawyer had not heard it before. It was a word of command which searched his heart and mind and made him realise for the first time exactly how high and demanding was the requirements of God’s law. He began to see for the first time that he was not keeping God’s law as it ought to be kept.

The lawyer did what we all do in such circumstances. He tried to wriggle out of the problem. He turns to what the law says about our relationship to our neighbour because he felt he was more ‘secure here, and asks Jesus "Who is my neighbour?". We are told that the lawyer was seeking to justify himself when he asked this question. This reveals how convicted he was by the words of Jesus telling him to obey the law of God.

The whole point of the parable of the Good Samaritan which Jesus then tells is to answer the question of the lawyer as to who is his neighbour. The parable was told to add to the lawyer’s sense of conviction and break down his pride. The way the Priest and the Levite responded to the battered man left as dead was exactly how these Jewish leaders would have behaved as they sought to live according to their interpretation of the law. They would avoid ceremonial defilement from contact with one who may be dead. Their understanding actually perverted the true meaning of the law. Jesus drove the lawyer to see this when Jesus asked him at the end of the story who of the three was really neighbour to the man assaulted by robbers.

The point is this, that because this man came to Jesus with pride in his heart, the response he received from Jesus was one which was designed to effectively convict him of his pride and wrong understanding. The way he came to Jesus determined the way Jesus dealt with him.

We have another case in the rich young ruler who came to Jesus sincerely with the question, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life". (St. Luke 18:18-22). It is the same question as the lawyer, but his attitude was different, and so he received a different response from Jesus.

The rich ruler was sincere in his question, but he still needed his attitude corrected. He felt that he was a good man, though still without eternal life. His question showed that he felt that eternal life was something we earn by our own effort. He said, "What must I do". So although Jesus dealt with him in love, Jesus’ response was still one to correct his attitude and make him understand where he was wrong. The crunch came when Jesus asked him whether he was willing to give up everything and put himself in Jesus hands and care. The sad thing in this incident is that the rich young ruler found it too difficult to trust only in Jesus.

Then again we have the incident of the Tax Collector praying in the temple in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (St. Luke 18:9-14). The attitude of the Pharisee was all wrong and Jesus says that God just did not answer him at all. The Tax Collector, however, just asked for mercy. "God be merciful to me a sinner’ is what he prayed. Jesus tells us that the response of God is immediate in forgiving and giving eternal life, This was illustrated in the case of the thief dying on the cross beside Jesus. He prayed for mercy - Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus Immediately responded with the gift of eternal life. "Today," said Jesus, "you will be with me in paradise".

This is the truth about our approach to God. If we come with any sense of pride and in our own goodness, then God’s response will be something tempered to change our attitude and understandings until our heart is humbled, and we understand that as sinners we can only plead for mercy. But when we come with nothing in our hands to offer to God, and throw ourselves on God’s mercy, then God, for Christ’s sake, forgives all our sins and gives us eternal life.

Our approach to God ever after must be in the same way and with the same attitude. We thank God for his mercy, and continue to plead only for mercy. Whatever we may be able to achieve in good works is only our duty, and has been enabled by God’s grace. In ourselves we achieve only sin, and therefore can only with all humility come to God for mercy.

Your servant for Christ’s sake,