Proper 25 :: Leviticus 19: 1–2, 15–18; Psalm 90: 1–6,
13–17; Thessalonians 2: 1–8; 22: 34–46
This is the homily
by Fr. Gene Tucker that was given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
on Sunday, October 29, 2017.
“WHICH
IS THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT?”
(Homily text: Matthew 22: 34–46)
Just
which is the greatest (and most important) commandment?
Our
Gospel text for this morning puts this extraordinarily important question before
us, just as it was posed to the Lord by one of a group of Pharisees[1]. Another
way to characterize the importance of this question is to put it in terms of
“What does the Lord want us to be doing?”
When
asked this way, the answers that come forth from the scribes, the Pharisees,
and the chief priests are just about as different from Jesus’ answer to this
question as our imaginations can comprehend. The understandings differ so much
that it is impossible to reconcile them…..one set of answers (the answers of
the scribes, the Pharisees and the chief priests) focuses on the details of
keeping the Law, while Jesus’ answer embodies a much wider vision, seeking to
understand the main principle for which the Law exists.
Judging
from the record that the Gospel writers have passed along to us, Jesus’ enemies
would be interested in the keeping of the smallest detail of the Law of Moses.
They would be concerned about whether or not anyone did any work on the Sabbath
day. They would want to know if anyone walked too far on the Sabbath day, or if
they plucked grain from the fields as they walked along on that day. They would
be concerned about the fastidiousness with which cooking pots and vessels were
cleaned. They would want to ensure that no one had any contact whatsoever with
unclean persons (like tax collectors and prostitutes).[2]
But
Jesus’ answer is radically different:
Love, He says, is the greatest commandment.
Love.
“You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind,”[3] Jesus
says. Then, He adds, “A second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[4]
Love
uplifts the one who is loved, while the attitudes of Jesus’ enemies tend to do
just the opposite. Love values the one who is loved, while attitudes of
judgment and disdain devalue others and makes them slaves to mindless adherence
to the details of God’s Law.
The
scribes, the Pharisees and the chief priests all have their eyes firmly fixed
on the fine print in the Law as they examine it as if through a magnifying
glass. But Jesus’ answer provides a framework for understanding why the Law
exists. Such a perspective will inform those who adhere to God’s holy ways as
to the why of God’s commands, and not
just to the what of those commands.
At
this point, it’d be a good idea to talk about love.
Love,
as it is commonly understood in our contemporary culture, is regarded as an
emotion (often a sappy emotion). Love is equated with permissiveness, with an
attitude of laissez-faire.[5]
But,
really, love is a powerful force. Love can cause great changes in the way
things are. Love has an emotional component to it, but at its most basic level,
love has power.
Let’s
return to Jesus’ summary of the Law, and apply the idea of love as a powerful
force to the two ways in which Jesus says we are to love.
“You
shall love the Lord your God….”
Loving
God means loving all of who God is.
We say that “God is love”,[6] but
oftentimes, our concentration is fixed mainly or solely on God’s mercy and
forgiveness.
But
what about loving God’s holiness and God’s judgment? Do we love those aspects
of God as much, or as often?
Both
truths about God’s nature are equally important. God’s holiness and God’s
righteousness are balanced with God’s love and God’s mercy. Without God’s mercy
and God’s forgiveness, then all of us would be condemned by God’s righteousness
and God’s holiness. There would be no hope for us to have any relationship with
God. Turned around the other way, we can see that if God’s nature was solely
one of mercy and love, then God would be some sort of a big “Sugar Daddy” who
just wanted to give us “good things”. (Does this second way of regarding God
sound familiar? It is. Too many people in our world today regard God just in
this way.)
Loving
both aspects of God encourages us to respond to God’s holy standards for living
because we want to bear the image of God to the world about us. We are saying
that, because we love God, we want to pattern our lives after God’s nature as
much as we possibly can. We honor God in this way. This, then. is a matter of a
loving response, not a response which arises out of fear of God’s judgment.
“You
shall love your neighbor as yourself….”
Now,
we turn to the second of Jesus’ statements.
Loving
our neighbor, even as we love ourselves, bears a strong resemblance to our
loving response to God. Recall that we said a moment ago that it is critical
that we love both of God’s natures. The same is true as we love our neighbors:
We are called to love all aspects of who our neighbors are, including the good
and delightful aspects of who they are, but also the troublesome and
less-than-holy aspects of who they are.
Perhaps
this last statement needs some explanation.
If we
love only the good and pleasing aspects of a person’s nature, then the possibility
arises that we will exclude the less-than-pleasing, the less-than-holy aspects
of a person from the power of our love.
Here
the word power arises again. Love as
a power has the ability to change things, to make those less-than-holy,
less-than-pleasing aspects of a person available to God’s power to change, God
working through us.
If we
approach others in the spirit of love and acceptance, then we approach others
with the same approach God takes toward us: God reaches out to us in the spirit
of love and mercy (though God’s holiness and righteousness are not set aside),
and God – by this process – draws us more and more into a faithful relationship
whereby God’s image permeates more and more of who we are. We are changed by
this process.
So
we, too approach others, all too aware, perhaps, of the ways in which they fall
short of God’s righteousness. But by leading with a loving approach, we build a
relationship of trust so that those other areas of a person’s life can be
touched by God’s holiness and righteousness. God’s approach to us allows to see
the immense value of our lives, so that we can love ourselves. In a real sense,
it is difficult to love God if we do not allow ourselves to accept God’s love
for us, and it is also difficult for us to love others if we do not see the
value of ourselves as seen through God’s eyes.
In
this way, we act as conduits of God’s love, God’s love flowing through us, a
love that we return to God in mutual admiration. And then, this active,
back-and-forth love relationship bubbles over into love for others, so that
God’s love might touch and change them, just as it tends to touch and change
us.
AMEN.
[1] Apparently, this question came up more than
once during Jesus’ earthly ministry. Mark also records the encounter we read
about today (see Mark 12: 30, 33), while Luke tells us about another encounter,
which apparently took place earlier on in Jesus’ ministry (see Luke 10: 27).
[2] All of these things were points of
disagreement between the Lord and those who opposed Him.
[3] Jesus’ answer is a paraphrase of Deuteronomy
6:5, which follows the great declaration, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God,
the Lord is one.” (Known as the Sh’ma
in Hebrew.)
[4] Jesus’ statement has found its way into our
liturgy, for in our traditional language Rite (Rite One), it falls early in the
service and is known by the title “The Summary of the Law”.
[5] A term, coming from the French, which we
might characterize by saying it allows each person to act without interference
from others.
[6] I John 4: 8
