Last Sunday after Trinity
Reading: Matthew 22: 34-46
23/10/05
The week before Jesus’s death is an intense time of teaching, to the
disciples, to the people, to the religious leaders. Jesus is aware that his time
is short, and so he tries to make his teaching as simple as possible so as to
get his message across. Jesus is continually trying to reveal the God’s love,
build his kingdom and teach his disciples to continue the work. Meanwhile, the
religious leaders are still trying to complicate matters, to test Jesus, to trip
him up and discredit him.
“Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Not an easy question when you
consider that over time the Jews had added to the original ten, so that there
were a good six hundred odd commandments about what one should, or should not,
do to live a good life. And every individual, or sect, had its favourite; it
would be so easy to offend by choosing the wrong one.
But Jesus can see through the trap that has been set for him and sums up the the
whole law and the prophets in two simple statements. First:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your mind.”
He’s referring to a passage in Deuteronomy Chapter 6, explaining the first
commandment ‘Thou shalt have no other gods beside me’. It goes, “Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
The Lord is one. We believe in the trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But we
also know he is one God, undivided. A mystery that is difficult to mirror in
ourselves. We can be good at compartmentalising our lives, work/home,
religious/secular, heart/mind. But Jesus reminds us with these words that all
parts of our selves and our lives should be united and centred on God. Our
thoughts and emotions, our will and personality, and our physical bodies, strong
or weak, should all be devoted to God and His work.
Jesus then goes on, “And a second commandment is like it: ‘You shall love your
neighbour as yourself.’ ”
Love your neighbour, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, tend the sick, visit the
prisoners. Whatever we do for one of God’s children, we do for Jesus. We are
God’s heart and hands and voice in our world.
The Bible ties in love with obedience. In Deuteronomy, the Lord tells Moses:
“Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you”; Jesus
tells his disciples in John’s gospel, “If you love me you will keep my
commandments” and “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.”
To love our neighbour ‘as ourselves’ can be hard. We don’t all see ourselves as
loveable people. But God loved us first. God is Love, as John says in his first
letter. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his
Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us,
we also ought to love one another.”
We have Jesus as our model. Our neighbour doesn’t have to be our friend; he
could, indeed, be our enemy. Love, in this sense, is not about our feelings
towards somebody, but our attitude and behaviour towards them. And about our
ability to obey God’s command and help him in his work to bring about his
kingdom here and now, in our own community and sphere of influence.
So Jesus has used the lawyer’s trick question to set out his agenda for the
kingdom of heaven. It was a radical agenda. It did not dismiss or overwrite any
part of the scriptures that had gone before, but summed them up simply and
clearly. All those people who had not the time or the money to meet all the
prescribed sacrifices and rituals had a way in to the heart of God. “Love God
and love your neighbour.” This love was the purpose for which God intended his
creation. But is it the purpose we have adopted for ourselves?
Legend has it that a there was once a wealthy merchant who travelled through the
Mediterranean world looking for the distinguished Pharisee, Paul. He encountered
Timothy, who arranged a visit. Paul was, at the time, a prisoner in Rome.
Stepping inside the cell, the merchant was surprised to find a rather old man,
physically frail, but whose serenity and magnetism challenged the visitor. They
talked for hours and finally the merchant left with Paul’s blessing.
Outside the prison, the concerned man inquired, “What is the secret of this
man’s power? I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“Did you not guess?” replied Timothy, “Paul is in love.”
The merchant looked bewildered. “In love?”
“Yes,” Timothy answered, “Paul is in love with Jesus Christ.”
The merchant looked even more bewildered. “Is that all?”
And Timothy replied, “Sir, that is everything.”
And love is everything. God is love. Love was at the heart of Jesus’s life and
ministry. He healed the sick, because he loved. He raised the dead, because he
loved. He preached the gospel of peace, because he loved. He died and rose
again, because he loved. And he challenges us to follow him. Will you accept his
challenge and his purpose? Will you build his kingdom here? Will you live your
life in love with Jesus Christ? The choice is yours.
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