A few years ago, shortly after my mother’s death, I was rummaging through her belongings. I must have spent the greater part of a day, going through the clothes, shoes, jewelry, and kitchen utensils. I spent a lot of time looking at old family photos, pictures, books, and her music collection. Along with my siblings, I was given opportunity to take and keep whatever I wanted, but I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for. It wasn’t until I was actually rummaging through all the stuff and finding there was not much I really wanted to take home that it dawned on me: what I really wanted was an heirloom. A family heirloom. Something special handed down through the generations to then be handed down to succeeding generations.
What was that one special thing? I thought I would know what it was when I found it. I did come home with a fair amount of photos, a picture for the wall, and a few other special items. I’m not sure I found that special heirloom.
It was some time later that I realized that indeed we did have an heirloom already in our possession. My mother gave it to us while she was still living. It is a cookbook, handwritten with several of her recipes. Britt loves it, especially the recipes for pies! What a great heirloom by which we can remember my mom and a wonderful treasure that remains and will continue to be life-giving. More than an ornament, it is a kind of living document that I am sure will be handed on to generations after us.
This is one of the ways we may think about the ministry of Jesus. Jesus rummaged through a lot of stuff in order to unearth that one thing, that one special heirloom that was hidden, buried, lost. By unearthing the heirloom, dusting it off, and setting before the people as front and center, Jesus was doing the work of fulfilling God’s law. And what he unearthed was the greatest commandment which was more than a remembrance of the past, it was life-giving.
What is most important? That was the question of the lawyer representing the Pharisees. Which of the 614 commandments is the greatest? If he cited one that some interpreters of the law really cherished, he would curry favor with them and inevitably offend others.
Instead, Jesus goes straight to the heart of all the commandments so that the commandments, the law, the covenant relationship between God and God’s people isn’t onerous but life-giving.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Jesus is quoting the Shema, the sacred prayer or creed of Israel. He places it again in the very center of the people’s imagination.
Jesus says nothing new but casts light and what had been forgotten. He echoes God’s word spoken through Moses. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, and the Lord alone. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
Chances are that the lawyer questioning Jesus and the Pharisees he represented recited these very words that day as part of their morning prayer ritual. The Shema, said twice a day in prayer, summons the Israelites to the all-consuming love of God. Though familiar, it was largely forgotten or compromised by succeeding commandments that produced a spirit of legalism.
So, Jesus joins this great commandment with another one very much like it from the book of Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” By joining them together, Jesus helps us see that God’s law rises above mere obedience to the very faith that must reside in our hearts.
And for this he gets resistance and rejection …
- Breaking Sabbath rules to turn towards people in need
- Preaching love of neighbor that includes even loving enemies
- Blessing the poor and giving dignity to outcasts and sinners
- Stooping to wash his disciple’s feet
- Identifying power in weakness even to the point of his body slain out on a cross
You see, instead of keeping all the rules, holiness becomes a matter of all consuming love that often gets you in trouble.
By placing love of God with our whole selves and loving our neighbor as ourselves front and center, Jesus is doing much more than recovering a relic. He is uncovering that which continues to gives us life and allows us to grow and to surprise us.
I was a little surprised this past week in sitting with this Gospel reading by noticing something I have traditionally glossed over or ignored.
“Love God, love your neighbor.” Great. “… as yourself.” Hmmm….
I’ve often met that part with disinterest or a shrug of my shoulders but have done so at my peril. And Lord knows, the church has often skipped over that part or skewed it into something very different.
You see, instead of keeping all the rules, holiness becomes a matter of all consuming love that often gets you in trouble.
By placing love of God with our whole selves and loving our neighbor as ourselves front and center, Jesus is doing much more than recovering a relic. He is uncovering that which continues to gives us life and allows us to grow and to surprise us.
I was a little surprised this past week in sitting with this Gospel reading by noticing something I have traditionally glossed over or ignored.
“Love God, love your neighbor.” Great. “… as yourself.” Hmmm….
I’ve often met that part with disinterest or a shrug of my shoulders but have done so at my peril. And Lord knows, the church has often skipped over that part or skewed it into something very different.
That is why in holding up the great commandment, Jesus shines a light not so much on what we do but on what God has done and what God is doing.
I was fed recently by reading a book on Matthew’s Gospel written by Stanley Hauerwas:
To learn to love ourselves is not easy because often the desire to love ourselves is on our terms … the challenge is to know you are loved by God so that you may love God, neighbor and yourself. Such a love requires lifetime of training in which we are given the opportunity to have our self-centeredness discovered and overwhelmed. To be Christian is to be called to a life of love, but that callings a lifelong task that requies our willingness to be surprised by what love turns out to be. We learn to love our neighbor by being befriended by God so that we will have selves sufficient for love.
Stanley Hauerwas, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible: Matthew, Brazos Press, 2015
Building a house where love dwells. This is the theme for the St. Luke’s capital campaign as you dive into your project for new spaces on this very property. The theme, To Build a House where Love dwells is nothing less than putting into practice the great commandment and building upon the gifts that are already here at St. Luke’s in great abundance – welcoming strangers and otucasts, feeding the hungry, tending to the very real human needs of neighbors, dwelling in prayer, loving all without pretense, learning from the saints who have gone before you, feasting on the Eucharist, dwelling in the scripture, and advocating for the least and the last and the lost. God has accomplished great things through your ministry and now, as you turn to a new future, God’s love will expand and touch even more lives and bear a rich witness to the neighborhood.
Like Moses in today’s first lesson, Britt often jokes that she may in this project enough to just see what it will be and know it will be accomplished and not necesarrily cross over into the promised land. I doubt that is true.
God will get you there. And Jesus is and will be with you and will keep the great commandment front and center. Continue to be befriended by God, and love your neighbor as yourself.
As Jesus says, “Come to me all of you who are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and learn from him for Jesus’ yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Amen.
Leave a Reply