October 29, 2023 Sermon
Sermon title: "The Greatest Commandment"
Scripture: Matthew 22:34-46
(Other lectionary suggestions include Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Psalm 90 (selections), and I Thessalonians 2:1-8.)
Matthew 22:34-46
The Greatest Commandment
34When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" 37He said to him, " ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
The Question about David’s Son
41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42"What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." 43He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 44‘The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’? 45If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" 46No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
You should know from the start that I LOVE today's Scripture lesson! One reason I love it is that Jesus turns an attempt to entrap him into a positive thing. And he didn't shy away from saying that all the Law and the prophets hang on two commandments: Love God and love your neighbor. As far as the first commandment is concerned, Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6, verse 5: (I'll start with verse 4!) "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." Another translation might be: "The Lord our God is One." And the second most important commandment, according to Jesus, comes from Leviticus 19:18: "You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself." (It doesn't say anything about taking vengeance against the sons of OTHER people, but we'll leave that for another time! The Biblical writers had to leave SOME wiggle room, after all!)
But seriously, Jesus is laying down the complete definition of religion. Love God first, and then love your neighbor. As far as I'm concerned, if everybody did that, there would be no conflict, no war, and no hate. That might be simplistic on my part, but think how much better the world would be if everybody obeyed those two commandments. Later on, toward the back of the New Testament, in I or II Peter or in I, II, or III John, there is the verse that says, "Anybody who says he loves God but hates his neighbor is a liar, because how can he love God whom he HAS NOT seen while hating his neighbor, whom he HAS seen?" Isn't that a great statement? How can you say you love God whom you have never seen, and still hate your neighbor, whom you HAVE seen? Doesn't get any more clear than that!
This past Friday I went with Harlane to Anaheim for a seminar on AI, or Artificial Intelligence. The gist of the presentation is that AI can do some wonderful things, and it can also cause problems. One of the wonderful things it does for us is give us "wearables", which are watches and other things that check our blood pressure, our heart rate, and other things, such as sugar levels for those of us with diabetes. It can also help with sermons, such as today's topic of "The Greatest Commandment"! (I did look at one sermon on the topic, but it seemed pretty bland to me. However, think about it: AI in a matter of seconds could "read" every sermon that has ever been written on the topic, and then produce a sermon that in theory would make my life easier! As I say, this time I was not impressed!)
But back to MY sermon, and the Commandment that Jesus said was the Second Greatest: thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. It is important that loving our neighbor comes AFTER we proclaim our love for God. Says the Scottish scholar William Barclay, "It is only when we love God that other people become lovable. The biblical teaching about human beings is not that we are collections of chemical elements, not that we are part of the brute creation, but that men and women are made in the image of God" as it says in the first chapter of Genesis. "It is for that reason that human beings are lovable. The true basis of all democracy is in fact the love of God. Take away the love of God, and we can look at human nature and become angry at those who cannot be taught; we can become pessimistic about those who cannot make progress; we can become callous to those who are cold and calculating in their actions. The love of humanity is firmly grounded in the love of God."
That's what William Barclay says. His words make me think of something the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said one time: "Man's ability to do good makes democracy possible. Man's ability to do evil makes democracy necessary." Isn't that good? It's almost as if we NEED democracy in order to save us from ourselves.
One more time, William Barclay: "To be truly religious is to love God and to love those whom God made in his own image; and to love God and other people, not with a vague sentimentality, but with that total commitment which issues in devotion to God and practical service of others." Not so profound today, but important, nonetheless. How interesting that the love of God must come first! Amen.
Pastor Skip
