October 27, 2002 (Proper 25)
Exodus
22:21-27
Psalm 1
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46
We are in the middle of an information explosion. We are bombarded daily by instant newscasts; we are told what the news really means from our friends on CNN, NPR, PBS; we can explore self-help books on everything from obesity to Oedipus complex; web sites offer instant advice on investing or divesting; telephone solicitors are eager to help us out with vacations, magazines, and instant credit. Dr. Phil will help us with our lives; so will Dr. Laura. Judge Judy will determine correct punishment for our crimes. Do you feel overwhelmed sometimes? Well, this overload is not new. Let’s go back in time several centuries. The Jews took the Ten Commandments that Moses wrote on two tablets and extended them a bit. Did you know that in Jesus’ day, there were 613 commandments, 365 negative and 248 positive, derived and developed from the ten rules that God gave to Moses? There was definitely a need for some central simplicity. Who could keep track of all those laws, let alone follow them?
In today’s gospel, the Pharisees and the Sadducees are after Jesus’ again. Jesus had just silenced the scripture-bound Sadducees—beaten them at their own game we might say. Now, the Pharisees launched another attack. The Pharisees were the most powerful religious group among the Jews, and they were constantly opposing Jesus. For his part, Jesus denounced their external observance of the Law, their multitude of petty traditions and, particularly, their self-righteousness. My, how they enjoyed studying the law and were threatened by Jesus’ insistence on God’s forgiving and unconditional love.
To test him, trick him, one of the Pharisees asked Jesus, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Remember, we are talking about 613 of them. Jesus responded with the love commandments: “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. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Jesus’ response is short, it has its roots in both Deuteronomy and Leviticus, and it answers completely what it means to be religious. The famous rabbi Hillel the Elder had even said, “What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Law, and all else is commentary.” What Jesus said was not new, but it was definitive. It is the great commandment; it is the whole enchilada.
Let’s examine the two parts of Jesus’ great commandment. First, to love God with heart, soul and mind. Once my husband Jon and I took a flight to Chicago. We landed at Midway early in the morning and rented a car. We had an appointment in the city. The only information we had on how to get there was a city map, an address, and the information that the office was north of the airport. If you have ever experienced Chicago—or another large city that you aren’t familiar with—you know that by the time you get the rental car, find your way out of the airport and enter a street you can’t find on the map, you truly know the meaning of “lost.” I, being the navigator, anxiously scanned the map and watched for a street sign that held a recognizable name. We seemed to be getting nowhere fast. Finally, Jon pulled over to the curb. He sat there a few seconds, and then he looked at me and said, “How come the sun is on my side of the car? We must be going south, not north.” And so we turned around and headed in the right direction. When we looked to the only truly reliable source of help, the sun, we were able to get our bearings and proceed in the right direction. Likewise, we cannot travel on our life journey without depending on the only true source we have. Our deepest bond must be with Christ. We can have all sorts of information about Christ, but only in him can we learn the true purpose of life and find the power to fulfill it. The vertical line of life is THE line; only when we have rightly established a relationship with God can we hope for a stable and shining relationship with our fellow travelers.. Just as Jon and I could follow the map once we depended on the only sure source to head us in the right direction, we can travel our life’s path once we have established our sense of direction by accepting God’s love for us and by committing our heart and soul and mind to our God.
Once we have given God our total love, a love which dominates our emotions, a love which directs our thoughts and a love which is the dynamic of our actions, then, from that love comes our love for our neighbors. Because we love God and He loves us and accepts us and through His grace we are entitled to eternal life, we must express that indefinable and awesome feeling in some way. And that way is the horizontal way, by loving our neighbor. And, we know that loving our neighbor is not always easy. I think it was Charlie Brown who said, “I love mankind. It’s people that I can’t stand!” By calling us to love our neighbor, Jesus makes love individual. If Jesus had just said to love the world, we could pretty easily have a sort of general, inclusive love for the multitudes. It is easier to love the abstract than to love the particular. I can love all the people of Asia more easily than I can love our neighbor who has a swimming pool in his backyard and has noisy pool parties all summer and who has never—not even once—invited us to one of his parties. But Jesus wants me to love him, too. I can more easily respond to a plea for money for the nebulous poor of the world than to take the time to listen compassionately and attentively to the needs of one of the guests in the kitchen who smells sour and is probably responsible for most of his troubles himself. God knows this about us, and he is forgiving when our love does not quite measure up, but still He calls us to love Him totally—and out of that love, to love our neighbors as ourselves.
There is a story about the disciple John, who, alone among the 12 disciples, is said to have lived to be an old man. In his old age, John’s body, as well as his mind, became tired and worn out. He eventually was able to speak only a few words at a time. Finally, he was reduced to one expression, which he would repeat over and over again. As he was carried into the midst of the people who had assembled to see him, he would say this: “My children, love one another. My children, love one another. My children, love one another.”
In truth, the great commandment is achievable only in God’s love, and we love Him because He first loved us, because what we understand about unconditional love comes from God. St. Teresa of Avila put it this way: “Though we do not have our Lord with us in bodily presence, we have our neighbor, who, for the ends of love and loving service, is as good as our Lord himself.”
What about those 611 other laws that Jesus overlooked? For Jesus says that on the two commandments he has given “hang all the law and the prophets.” Jesus is telling us that these two commandments summarize the greatest wisdom to be found in Hebrew scripture—in all 613 commandments. He is also giving us our instructions for times when we are not certain what God would have us do. Jesus reassures us that, if we accept God’s love for us and if we return it with all our energy—and if we act in a loving way toward our neighbor by doing that which benefits our neighbor—we can be sure that we are in full adherence with God’s law. To echo John’s words, “My children, love one another. My children, love one another. My children, love one another.”
[10/27/02]