Christ’s true mission – an Easter sermon FROM THE MICROCHURCH

Vince Dhimos
 
Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?"
He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself."
He said to him, "You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live."
But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?"

— Luke 10:25–29, World English Bible
 
Jesus then went on to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is well known in the Western world.
 
So why did Jesus choose a Samaritan for his story of a good neighbour who gave generously to save a stranger?
 
Because the Samaritans were generally hated by the Jews – just the Palestinian Arabs are hated by the Zionists today. Jesus was simply saying stop the hate. The key to the story is the word “neighbour,” which can have various meanings in Hebrew – which was not the language they were speaking at the time, although in the Greek of the New Testament, the word πλησίον (plisíon) has the same ambiguity. It can mean generally anyone close to you. But Jesus made sure the lawyer understood that your neighbour includes a person from a hated minority as well.
 
Note that in this case, Jesus did not tell the lawyer he had to believe in Jesus. And He discussed a text from the Jewish Torah, clearly showing He was not promoting a new religion.
 
Jesus knew this man was out for blood and wanted to trap him, so he was being very cautious.
 
Further, in so doing, Jesus was being as inoffensive as possible. And to be inoffensive, public figures say things that are universally accepted. Jesus was uttering a universal truth. It is telling that Jesus was talking about the Old Testament with its tangle of do’s and don’t’s but chose – like his interlocutor—not one of the do’s or don’t’s but a truth that no one could deny. In so doing, he was not talking about a new religion called Christianity, he was talking about a universal truth from Leviticus.
 
Today, preaching universal love would not offend a devout Jew, a Muslim, a Buddhist or an atheist, although it would offend the Pentagon, the State Department, the arms manufacturers, the Zionists and the millionaire TV mega-preachers who want you to believe in the plastic bobble-head they blasphemously pass off as Jesus.
 
The men who behead non-believers in Syria and Iraq are not Muslims, they are Wahhabists, whom every decent Muslim rejects.
 
The politicians and officials who planned and promoted the invasions in Kosovo, Libya and Iraq and imposed crippling and murderous sanctions on the people who live there – and on the Venezuelans today – are not Christians or devout Jews or Muslims, they are Satanists. Some of these politicians have boldly proclaimed in public “I stand with Israel.” As for the Westerners who believed the vicious lie that these wars were keeping America or Europe safe, God will judge them.
 
The men who shoot unarmed protesters in Gaza and the commanders who ordered this killing and maiming are not Jews, they are Zionists and, judging by their fruits, Satanists. As for the congress people and presidents who sent them the guns, fighter jets, tanks and munitions and sent them $billions to arm themselves and do their mischief, they too are Satanists. Not one of these same “Christian” Zionist politicians has ever stood up and publicly proclaimed “I stand for Jesus.” Because they don’t stand up for Jesus. They tacitly deny Him. As for grassroots American Evangelicals who support this killing in their hearts, they are at best fools who believe in a distorted version of the scriptures, ignoring the fact that Christ never taught His followers to support a secular state called Israel. He said instead, addressing Jerusalem: “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Matthew 23:39.
 
No TV pastor would dare preach a sermon based on this verse! And yet they preach that Christians can prepare for the second coming by supporting the secular Israel and the movement to make Jerusalem the capital of secular Israel – a doctrine cut from whole cloth without a shred of scripture tying it to the teachings of Jesus. In fact, in Bible times, a person without faith was not considered a Jew. A Gallup poll shows that 65% of Israelis consider themselves irreligious.
 
Whether you are a Christian or not, you can agree that if we want to get along in this world, we must extend our love and kindness toward every human being without exception. Jesus said if we do this we will live. The Jewish lawyer agreed.