Sermon from Matthew 22: 34-40 and Acts 4:32-5:11
It was a hot and dusty afternoon in Jerusalem
as the scholars and theologians gathered together
near the Temple to test this charismatic newcomer.
He’d been wandering around Galilee and Judea,
disturbing the peace with his teachings.
Now here he was in Jerusalem.
Everyone had been raising a fuss over him.
He was asked many, many questions
and he often gave shocking and daring answers
to these questions concerning the Torah.
So these theologians and experts of the law
prepared their questions in advance.
Some had bad motives,
hoping to trap and humiliate this young teacher,
yet others had good motives,
truly hoping to better understand the Torah
and the Lord their God.
So when Jesus arrived
they peppered him with various questions.
They asked him about the lawfulness of paying taxes,
and about the resurrection of the dead.
Jesus answered these questions skillfully.
Some thought he was some kind of whiz kid.
He seemed to have
an instinctive mind for these debates.
Or better yet,
he was intimately in-tune with the Torah,
with the living Word of God.
So then another young Jewish scholar
comes up and asks Jesus,
‘Okay, Rabbi, out of all the commandments in the Torah,
out of all of them,
which of these commandments is the greatest?’
Wow, this was like the ultimate question.
This question certainly cut to the chase.
The large crowd of curious spectators
who had gathered around leaned in close
and held their collective breath.
You could have heard a pin drop
as all eyes of the townspeople
and scholars gazed upon Jesus,
waiting for the answer to this big question…
Which commandment in the law is greatest?
In our reading today Jesus gives the answer
to this awesome question.
‘You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the greatest and first commandment.
And the second is like it,
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Many times when Jesus
was asked a question in these forums
he would tell a parable rather than give a direct answer,
or he’d pose a counter-question
that stymied the questioner.
But this time he gives a simple,
straight-forward answer-
Astonishingly simple, really.
Yet, to truly understand this greatest commandment,
we need to realize the love of the one who uttered it.
One theologian noted that,
“The command to love
can only come from the mouth of the lover” (Rosenzweig).
This means that only a God
who loves us with his whole heart, soul, and mind
can command us to love him with our whole heart, soul and mind.
Only a Savior who loves us and holds us in a higher regard
than he does his own life and wellbeing,
could command that we love our neighbor as ourselves.
An impersonal deity, one that is neutral and does not love,
or is full of anger and wrath,
cannot command love.
God does not issue commands
that he does not keep himself.
No, only a God who loves us with his whole heart, soul and mind
could command us to love him that way in return.
And because God loves us so much,
the greatest commandment must necessarily
be a two-part commandment
in which the love of God and love neighbor
are intimately linked.
We cannot love God without loving our neighbor.
We cannot love our neighbor without loving God.
Our Christian faith makes every relationship
into a God relationship.
Every encounter with our neighbor
is an encounter with a beloved of God.
Even the people whom we dislike or disagree with-
they are God’s people too.
They are people for whom Christ loved and died on the cross for.
This ups the ante significantly.
It raises the stakes in the way we treat God and others.
In light of the fact that God himself loves us
with his whole heart, soul, and mind,
in light of the fact that our lives
are so valuable to God that he sent us Christ,
now a Christian love ethic is raised
to an infinitely higher standard
than the world’s standard of love.
No longer can we inquire
as to what is reasonably asked of us
in any given situation.
Questions of reasonableness
don’t arise for the one who lives by this commandment.
Neither do questions
of the likeability of the other arise.
This is because God loves us
with his whole heart, soul and mind,
even as we are sinners and, at times, unlikable.
To grasp even a glimpse of this awesome love
makes us feel infinitely indebted to it.
We feel indebted and can do no other
than respond in love to the one who loved us first.
“The commandment of love is mild and merciful,
but ‘there is rigor in it.’” (Kierkegaard).
It is not a coddling, sentimental love of warm feelings,
but a mature love that takes action
and seeks the ultimate well-being of the neighbor.
It’s a constant striving to look out for the neighbor,
going beyond what is reasonably asked of us or fair,
just as God’s love goes beyond what is reasonable or fair.
Our actions of love may not seem like a big deal,
but they are a big deal to the people they touch.
It may even change their life.
In my seminary journey,
someone cared about me in a way that changed me.
At seminary many students are ardent followers of Martin Luther,
not only in his teachings but also in his love of beer.
Many gatherings and social events around the seminary
are celebrated with beer or wine.
And while few if any go overboard in their consumption,
I sometimes felt like an outsider.
I don’t drink anymore.
And I attended these events,
but sometimes I would feel a little out of place
being one of the only people not to drink.
One day I was talking
to a friend of mine in the library,
and I told her about my feelings
of self-consciousness and awkwardness
at these gatherings.
She listened to me and was sympathetic to my problems.
A few days later I found out
that there was going to be a birthday party
at a friend’s apartment coming up
and I planned on attending.
But something happened that really floored me.
A day or two before the party
I received an e-mail from my friend.
She wrote,
‘Hey Rick I’m going to the party too,
and if it will make you feel better about it
I won’t drink either.
We could hang out and drink Pepsi together!
Let me know what you think.’
After I read the e-mail I was like,
‘Wow, that was one of the coolest things
anyone has ever done for me.’
Here was a friend who was willing
to refrain from drinking at a birthday party
in order to show solidarity with me
and make me feel more welcome.
My friend’s very caring and thoughtful gesture
made me feel like I was cared for and accepted.
It was hard for me to believe that someone
would care so much for me
and make me feel so welcome.
I responded and thanked her for her consideration,
but told her I’d be okay
and that she didn’t have to change because of me.
And I went and saw her there
and we had a good time.
My friend was living out her faith
in a way that transformed me.
And living the faith today
is living out this greatest commandment.
Because God loves us
with all his heart and all his soul and all his mind,
we can do the same for our neighbor.
And when even one individual or group of people takes seriously
the awesome reality that they are a beloved woman or man of God,
it is very powerful and becomes the life-giving source
from which they draw from to do incredible things
for the sake of their neighbor.
We will be amazed at the power and love of God in our life
when we live by this faith.
The early church took this greatest command seriously.
We see in our reading in Acts today
the early church acting in one accord.
They were so captivated by the power and love
of the crucified and resurrected Christ
that they all acted as one.
But over the centuries and today churches
have been marked by division.
And when division happens among churches
there’s no chance of the unity
that Acts speaks of in today’s reading.
There’s no chance of being of one heart and soul
when there is division.
And to the outside observer,
to the world we are to be a witness to,
the church looks like any other worldly organization.
Our ability to demonstrate the love of God,
and to live out the greatest commandment,
is diminished when we are divided.
God does not issue commandments
that he does not keep himself.
God loves us with his whole heart, mind and soul.
And that love is larger than our thoughts and belief systems,
it is larger than our fears,
it is larger than our lives.
We worry about our job security
or our government
or the health of a family member.
We worry about our children and grandchildren.
We wonder about their future.
We worry about a lot of things.
Today the world
is a rapidly changing place
and it’s sometimes scary.
But God’s love sustains us through the storm.
It’s a love that sustains
and yet pushes us beyond our anxiety,
and pushes us beyond our desire to turn inward.
It’s a love that turns us outward
to serve and love our neighbor as ourselves.
Sometimes this turning outward
is a painful and scary thing.
It’s so much more comfortable
to turn inward and not face the world.
But precisely because God loves us heart, mind and soul,
that love will sometimes lead us
where we don’t want to go,
but to places where we need to go
for our sake and for the sake of God’s kingdom.
God’s love leads us to help and shelter those
who are being trampled by
the fast moving stampede of our times.
This love may mean going into prisons
or hospice nursing homes,
or helping some kid out whose family has given up on him. This love allows us to hang in there
with people we disagree with or don’t like.
It allows us to love even our enemies
and see them as people in whom Christ died for too.
No matter what happens to our lives or our families’ lives,
this love of God goes on and on.
It picks us up and carries us along
ever deepening channels of mercy and grace,
taking us to unexpected and surprising places.
It is a joyful, generous love.
A love that burns bright in us
and bears witness
to the burning light of Christ’s own love.
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