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In previous weeks we have heard how Jesus has been questioned by
a group of Sadducees and Pharisees who have been trying to undermine his
authority. In response to each question Jesus answers by telling a
parable, some of which have sounded confusing to most of us as we try to
grasp their meanings. In today’s gospel Jesus is again asked a
question, this time by a lone Pharisee. One might imagine the scene
something like this.
After several days of vigorously questioning Jesus in the temple,
the group of Sadducees and Pharisees decide enough is enough! They are
exasperated at their failed attempt to trip Jesus up, and they throw
their hands in the air and go their separate ways. One very
self-confident Pharisee has been listening with interest to the exchange
between Jesus and the group. Now that the others have gone, he steps
forward to take a stab at Jesus himself.
So he poses this question: “Teacher, which commandment in the
law is the greatest?” Jesus answers, “You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Finally Matthew concludes this passage with Jesus asking the
Pharisee a question: “What do you think of the messiah? Whose son is
he?” The Pharisees answers, “the son of David.” Jesus then asks,
“How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your
enemies under your feet.’ If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be
his son?” Jesus’ logic shuts the Pharisee down, and never again does
anyone ask Jesus questions to try and trick him.
The Pharisee’s question and Jesus’ answer seem so obvious to
us that one may wonder why Matthew wrote about it in his gospel.
Jesus’ answer to the Pharisee’s question, what we know as the Great
Commandment, is something most of us have known since our confirmation
classes. We can also presume that any Jewish child would know these
commandments. The first, as it is written in the Book of Deuteronomy,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your might.” The second, in the Book of
Leviticus, “…you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Together
they formed what the Jews know as the Shema prayer. In Jesus’ time it
was written on small scrolls and put in boxes (phylacteries) that many
pious Jews wore strapped to their foreheads. The Shema was to be prayed
as part of their daily prayers. As you may be suspecting by know, there
is more going on behind this seemingly simple question and its answer.
Palestine had been under foreign domination for centuries before
Jesus’ birth, and during his lifetime the Romans ruled the land.
Matthew writes that Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration
when his exchange with the Pharisee occurred. The population of
Jerusalem would swell during the weeklong Passover festival. The Jews
resented Roman presence at their sacred celebrations which, occasionally
lead to riots and violence. Herod, the Roman ruler, and in particular
the perfect of Jerusalem, Pontius Pilate, were known for their cruelty.
The Roman’s used terror tactics to ensure obedience.
The Sadducees were a group of wealthy, aristocratic Jews. Most of
the chief temple priests were Sadducees, and they had the most direct
connection with the Roman authorities. The middle class Pharisees were
sincere and pious Jews who intended above all else on keeping the Law
that God had given Moses. These groups had established a fragile but
peaceful relationship with the Roman government. The Jews would be
allowed to practice their faith as long as they followed the political
rules. These Jewish leaders believed the messiah would be a warrior king
who would lead to an overthrow of the government and return the land to
the Jews. Jesus was hardly what they had in mind for a messiah;
therefore, they believed Jesus’ ministry was a threat to the peace and
their existence. So during the politically tense week of the Passover,
they banded together to undermine Jesus’ authority and silence him.
When the Pharisee asked Jesus which commandment was greater, he
was forgetting the very essence of the Shema prayer, and the Israel’s
covenant with God. Israel’s response to God was conceived in personal
terms, not a vertical relationship of God over humans. Their response
entailed service to neighbor, indeed all of creation. Jesus’ point
was that these commandments were of equal and intertwined importance.
We cannot love God without loving our neighbor and vise versa. So what
does this mean for our community and us today?
The key to all other relationships is our relationship with God.
Through corporate worship we foster our faithfulness. God has given each
of us a unique combination of spiritual gifts. It is our responsibility
to use them in ways that promote faithfulness, mercy, and justice.
As we join together serving in various capacities in the church
we must work in harmony as we attempt to achieve our goals. Yet, the
bottom line isn’t if everything went perfectly, or that everything our
vestry, teams, and other groups try to accomplish is a rousing success.
What does count is how well we have loved and cared for each other while
we are trying to fulfill our goals. A puffed up self-image, lording our
accomplishments over one another, or meanness and spite when others are
less that successful isn’t part of our promise to love God and our
neighbor. Remember how Jesus told his followers, “I was hungry and you
gave me food…I was sick and you took care of me”, and then he
gestured to the people around him and said, “Truly I tell you, just as
you did it to one of the least of these…you did it to me.” (Matt25:
36-39) We serve Christ directly when we serve and care for each other.
This is grace.
God and life are interconnected. In all our relationships within
the community and out in the world, loving God and our neighbor means
responding to the needs of others, even strangers. At times this will
involve self-sacrifices to ensure others have their basic human needs of
food and shelter met. Most of the time our love for God and neighbor is
lived out in the everyday things we do. Every one of us here today has
great potential to be the face of Christ to others. Never underestimate
the power of the smile or greeting you extend to the clerk in the store
or the stranger on the street – it may be the best thing that happens
to them on an otherwise rotten day. Believe it or not you and I do make
a difference!
Israel took very seriously their covenant with God. God promised
there would by many blessings for those who kept the commandments, but
God also promised there would be consequences when humans fail to do so.
These consequences can be devastating. Broken relationships are hurtful,
and we all have known that hurt from time to time. And we know how some
people’s poor choices have negative consequences on society as a
whole: ethnic cleansing, Al Qaeda, greedy CEO’s, and snipers randomly
shooting innocent people.
Each of us needs to think seriously about our
actions, and let us pray for God’s wisdom as our leaders discern the
benefits and costs of our country going to war.
In the end, I believe, if each of us truly follows the great
commandment we will be able to personalize the words we heard this
morning from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians - “so deeply do [I]
care for you that [I am] determined to share with you not only the
gospel of God but also [myself], because you have become very dear to
[me].”
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