Our combination of assigned readings for today are rich with
opportunity for consideration. This
morning, let’s jump right into the first part of today’s Gospel reading, one of
the most beloved and often quoted passages (Matthew 22:37-40). One might argue that the totality of the
Bible is a testament about loving God with everything we are and everything we have. And, phrases translated as “love your
neighbor” appear at least eight times in the bible, E.g.: Leviticus 19:18 and Matthew 22:36-40 (part of this morning’s
lectionary readings), Matthew 19:19, Mark 12:30-31, Luke 10:25-28, Romans
13:8-10, Galatians 5:14, and James 2:8.
The setting for Jesus’s words this morning, as you’ll recall from
our readings for the last several weeks, is a series of responses from Jesus to
the religious leaders and temple administrators/priests – the Pharisees and the
Sadducees – who perceive his message as threatening to the established order of
things and are trying to discredit, entrap, and otherwise silence Jesus. Jesus has amassed a following from throughout
the territory and has brought their movement directly to the seat of power –
the temple in Jerusalem
What we’re hearing today is a deceptively simple summation of all
of the religious law and prophecies.
In Jesus’ day, as well as our own, orthodox followers of ‘the law’
went well beyond just the first ten commandments; they paid very detailed
attention to a total of over 613 commands (248 things we ought to do and 365 we
should not do, much of these recorded in Leviticus and Deuteronomy) and behavioral
expectations that had been developed and weighted greater or lesser through rabbinic
debate and discussions over time. Keep this in mind when considering what the
religious legalist is testing Jesus with as a question – which of the
voluminous list of commandments are we to pay most attention to? What is most important?
Jesus responds with a deceptively simple summation of all religious
laws and prophecies. He first emphasizes
a fundamental of Jewish faith by quoting a phrase from Deuteronomy (6:5) that
is used in their daily prayer known as the Shema (recited as an opening prayer
in the synagogues) that says that the one true God is to be given our full
attention and devotion. He then says
there is a second divine expectation that is like that first one, we are to
love our neighbor just as we want to be loved ourselves. Jesus says that these two commandments
together form the basis / the framework for all the other multitude of
behavioral laws. You get these two
right, and everything else will fall into place. Elegant, yes.
Yet, Jesus’s pithy summary is much easier to recite than it is to really
believe or follow. It’s a divine summary
that is often quoted, but rarely lived.
Loving God with all of who we are – heart, soul, and mind.
This greatest command seems so obvious… yet, it also requires a lifetime of effort. Not just a sentiment or state of mind, to love God with everything that we are requires more than a directional orientation, it requires constant intellectual mindfulness and discernment as well as heartfelt and soulful action. If we are to love God wholly, that includes sharing in God’s love for all of creation, no? It’s not as if we can love God in the abstract, separate and apart from all that God has created in and around us, including the sometimes disturbing or hard to understand and/or unlikeable bits of God’s creation. In fact, we’re told that we’re made in God’s own image and share in the responsibility for stewardship and care of all that has been created. Even when bits of it seem to go astray or seem to oppose each other, it’s all still God’s creation. Our ancient and sacred stories tell of God’s consistent intent to repair and restore goodness to ALL of creation. In loving God wholly, aren’t we naturally called into this godly process of constant reconciliation and invited to share in it? What is it to love God with everything we are and everything we have? (discussion)
This greatest command seems so obvious… yet, it also requires a lifetime of effort. Not just a sentiment or state of mind, to love God with everything that we are requires more than a directional orientation, it requires constant intellectual mindfulness and discernment as well as heartfelt and soulful action. If we are to love God wholly, that includes sharing in God’s love for all of creation, no? It’s not as if we can love God in the abstract, separate and apart from all that God has created in and around us, including the sometimes disturbing or hard to understand and/or unlikeable bits of God’s creation. In fact, we’re told that we’re made in God’s own image and share in the responsibility for stewardship and care of all that has been created. Even when bits of it seem to go astray or seem to oppose each other, it’s all still God’s creation. Our ancient and sacred stories tell of God’s consistent intent to repair and restore goodness to ALL of creation. In loving God wholly, aren’t we naturally called into this godly process of constant reconciliation and invited to share in it? What is it to love God with everything we are and everything we have? (discussion)
Now, what about this notion of godly neighborliness? Who is our
neighbor? Who considers us a neighbor? What does it mean to be a neighbor in the way
that Jesus intends?
Jesus’ ministry is a constant example of how to define neighbor
and how to be neighborly, is it not? Who
does he identify with and how does he treat them? In Matthew we have what has come to known as
the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12), but that can sometimes be misunderstood as a
simply a call to be nice to others. Our
Christ calls us to go further than that.
When challenged by someone
who wants to clearly define who our neighbors are (perhaps implying that those
who are not neighbors can then be ignored or discounted) Jesus offers the
provocative story of the Good Samaritan in which it is someone who his
listeners considered unclean who actually acts most neighborly toward one in need
when other members of proper society have neglected that responsibility (Luke
10:25-37). To drive this point further,
Jesus explicitly tell us that loving our friends is not sufficient… you are to
exhibit love and mercy toward even your enemies and prayer even for those who
do harm to you, just as God’s mercy and grace is poured out on everyone – the
good, the bad, and the undecided (humor) (Matthew 5:43-48; Luke 6:27-36). We could go on citing other places throughout
the Bible in which ‘neighbor’ is defined more broadly and inclusively than I
than many of us might like… but let’s now consider what it means to ‘be
neighborly’, that is, how we’re to treat each other.
 |
| from Germantown Church of Christ (Germantown, TN) |
In another Gospel, we’re told that Jesus extends the 2nd greatest commandment to make it even more challenging – we are to love our neighbors, not just in the way we’d like to be loved (because, frankly, that might lead to some dysfunctional examples of love – humor, again), but as Jesus has demonstrated love for us – “love others as I have loved you” / follow my example of being neighborly (John 13:24, 15:12). What does that look and sound like? How would you describe or define divine neighborly love? (discussion)
Some suggested discussion points:
Some suggested discussion points:
·
Outreach to the outcasts and the unclean (sinners, tax
collectors, lepers, foreigners, etc.)
·
show hospitality to strangers and even welcome them into your
home / out of harm’s way (Hebrews 13:1-2)
·
not only do not harm to others (Romans 13:12), but actually
seek to please and to look out for the interests of others (Romans 15:2; 1
Corinthians 10:33; Philippians 2:4)
·
don’t be so quick to judge (logs in your own eyes before
specks in others - Matthew 7:1-5; Luke 6:37-38) and don’t presume to cast
stones at others (John 8:3-11).
·
Paul, in Romans and Galatians equates loving your neighbor
with a summation of all God’s commandments and, in Galatians specifically
(Galatians 5:13) says that love is expressed as service toward others. Note: most of the ten commandments are addressing how we should treat each
other, essentially saying that we’re not covet, take what isn’t ours, or
violate the dignity of others.
·
What do we often hear recited when we’re making holy
commitments to each other? Love is patient; kind; not envious or boastful or
arrogant or rude; doesn’t insist on its own way; isn’t irritable or resentful;
doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing; rejoices in the truth; bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things; is never ending.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-8)
So, what gets in our way of truly believing and following these
two greatest commandments? Let’s give
some voice/name to specific obstacles we need help with… things in our life
we’ll now bring to God in prayer, asking our Christ for assistance with… (call
for specific words and phrases)
We’re told that God’s charitable and merciful love has been poured
into our own hearts (Romans 5:5). We’re
told that others will know us by how we express our neighborly love (John
13:24-25), we even sing a hymn about that – our love towards others is a
tangible demonstration of God’s love.
What will be cultivated
among us as we follow these commandments of loving God and our neighbor the way
Christ has shown us? Paul suggests that
we begin to harvest the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Let’s close in prayer – a
prayer asking God to unsettle us and to help us get real about who we all are
together and get on with the business of more fully loving and living.
Pry Me Off Dead Center
O persistent God, deliver me from assuming your mercy is gentle.
Pressure me that I may grow more human, not through the lessening
of my struggles,
but through an expansion of them that will undamn me and unbury my
gifts.
Deepen my hurt until I learn to share it and myself openly, and my
needs honestly.
Sharpen my fears until I name them and release the power I have
locked in them and they in me.
Accentuate my confusion until I shed those grandiose expectations
that divert me from the small, glad gifts of the now and the here and the me.
Expose my shame where it shivers, crouched behind the curtains of
propriety, until I can laugh at last through my common frailties and failures,
laugh my way toward becoming whole.
Deliver me from just going through the motions and wasting
everything I have which is today, a chance, a choice, my creativity, your call.
O persistent God, let how much it all matters pry me off dead
center so if I am moved inside to tears, or sighs or screams or smiles or
dreams…
They will be real and I will be in touch with who I am and who you
are and who my sisters and brother are.
Loder, Ted. Guerrillas ofGrace: Prayers for the Battle
(Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 1981)
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