Laudable Service

Rev. Andrew Brashier /September 15, 2025

The Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

Almighty Father, who dost give

The gift of life to all who live,

Look down on all earth’s sin and strife,

And lift us to a nobler life.

What praiseworthy, or “laudable service,” may we render to the Almighty Creator of the cosmos and earth? We are mere creatures and miserable ones at that, by virtue of the sinful state we find ourselves in through merit of our sins. There is no strength within us, as we are spiritually destitute and empty when we seek to draw enlightenment from the dark caverns of our hearts.

Yet the Almighty Father is also the “merciful God, of whose only gift if cometh that thy faithful people do unto thee true and laudable service.” (Collect of the Day). He is merciful, and He is the One who enlightens our hearts with His Son and our minds by the Holy Ghost. In His mercy, He also gifts us the will, the power, and the ability to render thanks via laudable service. Yet what is the laudable service we are called into? If you think it is glorification of self or accomplishing your greatest desires, then you are sorely mistaken.

The laudable service we are called to render is pouring ourselves out – a great emptying. As Christ emptied Himself from heaven’s throne and descended and condescended to incarnate as man, so too do we men who have been lifted and joined to Christ must empty ourselves to glorify our Lord God. The service we are enrolled into is foolishness and vile in the world’s eyes. Beware, for what you pray for in this week’s Collect, you just might get.

Lift up our hearts, O King of kings,

To brighter hopes and kindlier things;

To visions of a larger good,

And holier dreams of brotherhood.

Our Gospel lesson involves a learned “lawyer” or scholar and scribe of the law who encounters the Lord Jesus Christ. He too was seeking truth as each man is called to seek truth. Rightfully, as one of the chosen people, he relied upon the written revelation of Scripture in the Torah (five books of Moses). St. Luke’s Gospel reveals this lawyer had mixed motives, seeking to tempt Christ by asking, “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Gospel lesson, Luke 10:25, KJV). Setting aside this lawyer’s motive for a moment, the question He asks is the question we should all ask; indeed, it is the epitome of all questions in this broken and sinful world: What shall I do to inherit eternal life?

The inquisitor’s question focuses on self. What can I do? The lawyer’s question is flawed from the start. If he understood the true nature of the Law, then he would realize what St. Paul notes, “if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin.” (Epistle lesson, Galatians 3:21-22, KJV). The law illustrates our predicament. It demonstrates our sinfulness and need for a savior. Indeed, the Torah noted the promise of salvation and a savior predated Moses receiving the Law from God on Mt. Sinai, because “to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16).

In other words, St. Paul, who studied the Law under the feet of the learned rabbi Gamaliel, after enlightenment by Christ and the Holy Ghost, saw that the Law could only condemn men and not create new hearts within us. Yet God has not left us hopeless, but promised father Abraham a future seed, a future son, the promised Son of God, Son of Man, the Christ.

Let’s return to the lawyer. He questions how one might inherit eternal life on their own. Jesus answers his question with a question – a reverse uno moment, especially considering He is talking to a lawyer, asking, “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” (Luke 10:26). The lawyer answers with what the prayer book entitles, The Summary of the Law: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” (Luke 10:27). God incarnate responds, “Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.” (Luke 10:28).

Ladies and gentlemen, here we have the answer to the question, what can you do to inherit eternal life – why merely love the Lord God wholly and completely – heart, soul, strength, and mind! Oh, and one more tiny requirement: love your neighbor as you love yourself. Alarm bells should ring. Pause for a moment and realize how high the standard is set by Christ. Have you ever loved anything – even something sinful – with your entire being? Much less, have you truly ever loved a family member, your closest friend, or even your spouse for even a moment as deeply as your selfish heart loves yourself?

The bar is unreachable in our miserable state of affairs, yet we are so blind that like the lawyer, we perk up instead of shirking back when we learn what we must do. We ask, alongside the lawyer, just “who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). What a lawyerly question – it all depends upon your definition of “is” is! Yet we sinners ask the same because we know the answer and we frankly do not like it. We much rather “justfy [our]self” like the lawyer. (Luke 10:29). We love to divide people up and separate ourselves from the undesirables. They may not be lepers, nor Gentiles, but the same sinful hearts dwell in us as this lawyer. We distance ourselves from those based upon wealth, politics, race, the potential for being competitors at work, due to different personalities, or even because we simply do not like them for an undefined reason. We may not think of people as enemies, yet to the outsider and to the Lord God, we certainly do not love all people as ourselves.

Jesus reads through the question and declines to directly answer it – for a second time if you are counting. Yet, instead of our Lord asking another question in reply, He tells the classic parable of the Good Samaritan.

Thy world is weary of its pain;

Of selfish greed and fruitless gain;

Of tarnished honor, falsely strong,

And all its ancient deeds of wrong.

Christ paints a picture most Christians and even non-Christians are familiar with. A man leaving Jerusalem for old Jericho is ambushed and left for dead by highway robbers. The victim is naked, wounded, and “half dead.” (Luke 10:30). However “by chance” a priest comes along “that way” but promptly walks around the victim, clearly intending to get as far away as possible by passing “on the other side.” (Luke 10:31). A Levite shows up next and our hope is kindled that this servant of God’s Temple shall do what is right, but alas, he too “looked on him and passed by on the other side.” (Luke 10:32). Presumably, the lawyer and listeners understand why. These two servants of God’s Temple and sacrificial rites do not wish to be rendered ritually unclean and then have to take the steps outlined in the Mosaic covenant to become ritually pure and clean again. It is inexcusable and violates the two commandments, the Summary of the Law, that the lawyer just recited correctly to Jesus as to what a man must do to inherit eternal life. Yet these two ministers to God refuse to give to God what He desires most – mercy and not sacrifice.

Then along came the Samaritan. The despised half-breed of mixed Gentile and Jewish blood journeys along the same beaten path. Something, however, is different. This sinner who worships God in the wrong city, at an imposter temple, and without the proper Aaronic priesthood does what the priest and Levite fail to do: “when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.” (Luke 10: 33-34). This Samaritan does more than rescue the near-dead man; he pays it all. He gives the innkeeper an advance of money to care for the stranger and even offers to pay more, for “whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.” (Luke 10:35-36). At this point, Jesus again answers the lawyer’s question by asking a question: “Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?” (Luke 10:36). The lawyer, his sinful heart of stone, cannot bear to say the word, “Samaritan.” He can only acknowledge “He that shewed mercy on him.” (Luke 10:37).

The Law convicts at the end of the day. It is righteous, and we are unrighteous. The Law does not have a problem; we have a problem. The solution is not trying harder, but trusting completely upon the promised Christ who drowns our heart of stone in baptism and raises us up with the enlightened heart, mind, and soul of a heart that loves what the Holy Ghost loves. As St. Paul explains, “the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” (Luke 10:22).

How do we give laudable service to God? We seek His grace; we pray daily this week: “Grant, we beseech thee, that we may so faithfully serve thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain thy heavenly promises, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Collect of the Day). By trusting in the promise fulfilled by Christ Jesus in His death and resurrection. Jesus looked at the lawyer, and looks now at us, and knowing who our neighbor is, He tells us, “Go, and do thou likewise.” (Luke 10:37).

This is a hard Way and involves taking up our cross and following Jesus. Our Lord took and bore His cross for us, so that we may follow after Him. He loved us when we were yet wretched and embittered rebels against the Father. He loved us when we spat upon Him and crowned Him with a crown of thorns. He loved us while we cried out, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!” He loves us, even when we mock Him, and then repent upon the cross of our own making, asking Him to remember us in His Kingdom. He turns now, yes even now dear child, and as you struggle with your last breath, He loves you and hears your repentance and says, “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

Our Lord God, Jesus the Christ, demonstrates what love for neighbor is by dying for each of us upon the holy Cross of our redemption. He tells us to love our neighbor, and He shows what that means by loving us when we were yet His enemies. He blesses us who once cursed Him. He does good and great things when we hate Him. His prayers for us echo from Gethsamane, from the Cross, and now before the heavenly Temple while we despise and persecute His body, the Church. Is it any wonder, our Lord who loves and saves us, also now commands us in His Holy Ghost to walk like Him?

⁴³ Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; ⁴⁵ that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? ⁴⁷ And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? (Matthew 5:43-47, KJV)

Love and love abundantly, even unto death, for what have we to fear if we are in Christ? Fear God, not man. Though the Evil One seeks to kill us in our bodies, he cannot take our souls nor prevent our resurrection. May we render such laudable service all our days by loving our neighbors, our enemies, our fellow sinners as Christ loves wretches like us. Christ is risen! So shall we.

Hear Thou the prayer Thy servants pray,

Uprising from all lands today,

And o’er the vanquished powers of sin,

O bring Thy great salvation in.