Preparing for Worship - July 13, 2025

The Scriptures this week remind us of the command to “love our neighbor,” but keep bringing us back to what Christ Jesus has done for us in His love for us. The Old Testament lesson is from Leviticus (18:1-5) 19:9-8. Several times, the Lord God says, “I am the LORD” and then tells us to follow the Commandments and to love our neighbors - the people He has placed around us. We are to leave some of our harvest, so that the poor and the sojourner can have some for themselves through gleaning, gathering the leftovers. We are to pay our workers what we owe them. We should not take advantage of people with disabilities or treat people unjustly in court. We should not slander others or hate them or hold a grudge against them or act with vengeance toward them. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves, as we wish others would do toward us.

The Psalm is Psalm 41. David begins by calling us to “consider the poor and needy” and care for them, for the LORD has cared for and helped them, too (sometimes through us). David then remembers his own sins and asks the Lord to be gracious to him and help him as he faces many troubles and enemies, who wish him dead. Then, as in other psalms, the words of David become a prophecy of the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus. Close “friends” hate Him and betray Him (John 18:13). Others think the worst about Him and think He cannot rise again from the deadly things that happen to Him” (Mark 15:29-32). Yet Jesus knows, “My enemy will not shout in triumph over Me.” The Lord “will raise Me up” and “set Me in His presence forever.” But unlike David, Jesus does not die and rise again to take vengeance on those opposed to Him, but to forgive and save. This has been the blessed plan of the Lord, from everlasting to everlasting, in His love even for the sinners that we are. Amen and Amen to that!

The Gospel lesson, Luke 10:25-37, is the story Jesus tells of the Good Samaritan, who helps a man beaten and left for dead and provides for all his needs with his own resources. That is what God has done for us in the loving work of Jesus for us, purely by His grace and mercy, His resources. He was and still is the Neighbor we have needed, by His sacrifice for our sins and His resurrection to provide for us new and eternal life. Note especially the context of this story. Jesus tells this story to a religious man, a doctor of the Law of God, who seems to think he can inherit eternal life by what he does. The man knows that God expects complete love of Him and of one’s neighbor. Jesus says, “Keep on doing this, and you will live.” The man seems to realize, deep down, that he does not always do this and needs to try to “justify himself.” So, he asks, “Who is my neighbor, the kind of person I am to love?” In the parable, Jesus changes the question to “Who am I to be a neighbor to?” And He clearly means anyone and everyone, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His Son.” Jesus was teaching what only He could do, earning forgiveness for all by His love for all and His sacrifice for all. That’s what gives us all hope and joy - not our justifying ourselves, but Jesus justifying us, a gift given to us as we are simply brought to believe and trust in Him as the Neighbor and Savior who rescued us.

The Epistle lesson, Colossians 1:1-14, begins a series of readings from this letter to people in the ancient city of Colossae. Paul rejoices in the faith, hope, and love of people there who have “heard the Word of the Truth, of the Gospel,” and have come to believe and “understand the grace of God” in Christ the Savior. Paul prays that the believers, including us, will be filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding, giving thanks especially that God the Father has delivered us from the domain of sin and darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of all our sins,” by His sacrifice for us. We have done nothing to earn or deserve this. “God the Father has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints (all believers) in the light” of eternal life. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead assures us of this eternal future. What joy and confidence we have, not in ourselves, but in Christ.