Sermon - October 23

19th Sun after Pentecost - Year A Pr 30
Matthew 22:34-46

The Greatest Commandment

“Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” I wonder how that question would be answered, were it not taken directly from the Gospel of Matthew? Heck, I wonder how it might be answered, even though most of us have read Matthew, or even committed 22:37 to memory.

“Which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

I really wish I had gotten around to this early enough to have taken a more credible, non-biased survey. What I did do was a bit of surfing - looking at phrases and slogans, at mission statements and guiding principles. What I found were a lot of references to “believing in our hearts and confessing with our lips.” I unearthed a number of “making a decision for Christ,” or more commonly “accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior.” Now, in fairness, one might say that all such slogans or mission statements assume the first and greatest commandment – but they don’t print it. And if you are doing a quick search you are more likely to find “One name under heaven,” than you are to find “love your neighbor as yourself.”

“Which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

Now, I am continually harping on how wrong it is to take a verse out of context. So, let’s make sure that I am not guilty of that infraction here. Jesus is teaching; but more precisely he is interacting with his detractors. We don’t know if he is still in the Temple. We were told back in the 23rd verse of the 21st chapter that that is where he was. There are a number of stories and encounters recorded in the verses which follow. We are never told that he has relocated. There is a reference to “the same day…” perhaps implying that all of these encounters occur during that same visit to the Temple.

Jesus has been confronted by “the elders of the people” (21:23); by the “chief priests and Pharisees” (21:45); by “the Pharisees (and) the Herodians” (22:15); by the Sadducees (22:23); and then, again, by Pharisees in today’s appointed text.

All of these encounters seem to hinge around the question asked of Jesus back there in chapter 21:23. They came to him, wanting to know, “By what authority (is he) doing these things.” They keep coming at him – all of his detractors. And none of them have been able to dethrone him; no one has been able to dispute his presentation of the will and word of God.

Finally, in today’s reading, the Pharisees come at him again. They ask him to tell them “which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

Back to context: the Pharisees were legalists. They were a lay movement within the religious community who felt that the rituals and traditions were no longer sufficient. They were looking for renewal through the observance of the commandments. So, when they ask Jesus which “law” is the greatest, they are really interested in his answer. They are masters at keeping the laws; they are zealous in doing what it is that God instructs us to do. The answer Jesus gives he gives in context. Perhaps he might have answered differently if it were someone else asking the question. Perhaps he knew that they would be most satisfied were he to point to a rule or law which supported their zealous attempts at righteous living.

Jesus opens the book they consider most dear, the book of Deuteronomy, and he quotes Chapter 6, verse 5. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

How are they going to argue with him? They can’t. Here they are, the extreme literalist, insistent on keeping so many laws and rules and obligations, and Jesus reminds them that all of that strict attention to sins of commission and sins of omission amounts to nothing unless it is built upon a foundation of love for God.

“You want to say that drinking alcohol is wrong? Fine. But avoiding strong drink isn’t the first commandment, loving God is.”

“You teach your children not to utter four letter words? All well and good. But a clean mouth won’t make a bit of difference unless that mouth is coupled with a loving heart.”

“You insist on baptizing your babies, and make sure that you commune at least once within a twelve month period? That is good practice. But such practices are outgrowths of loving God, not substitutes for it.”

The Pharisees really liked the precision of being able to say, “This is what you DO in order to be saved.” Jesus tells them it is not what you do but whether you love.

Those who have been coming at Jesus have been haranguing him, trying to entrap him. They have wanted to see his credentials and they have wanted to know his school of thought. When they have tried everything they can think of, they finally give him the green light and he hits them precisely where they live. “It isn’t the rules you keep which make you a faithful follower; it is whether your heart, your life, and your thoughts are consumed with love.”

He has them on the ropes. He has supplanted their attention to the “laws” with “loving,” and he isn’t finished. Turning, once more to their precious collection of stipulations, Jesus quotes for them Leviticus 19:18. Not only do God’s instructions regarding “love” mean loving God, it also is the guiding principal in your relationships with others. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

To add his crescendo to his dispelling their well protected notions of what it meant to be pleasing and perfect, Jesus adds, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

It is only in Luke that this encounter is followed with an attempt on the part of one of those who came to challenge him to save face. Only in Luke is just asked, “Well, just exactly who is my neighbor?” There, and there alone, are these words of Jesus followed by the telling of the parable of the Good Samaritan. In both Matthew and in Mark, the verses which follow are about authority and about getting it right. In Matthew, and in Mark, Jesus’ words on the Greatest Commandment are followed with an exploration of whether the one providing the answers might indeed be the One for whom they have been longing. If he is, then surely, they ought to listen to him.

I am about to run out of time. Some would say that I am already over my time limit. So let me bring this home.

We live in a time when there are lots of folks raising rules and regulations and insisting that to truly be a Christian one must abide by this or that code. The religious talk of our day is overwrought with presentations of what one must do to be saved – and way too much of that talk is preoccupied with obeying this or rejecting that. We are too much like the Pharisees. We have ignored “the greatest and first commandment. And a second (which) is like it.”

We are not going to be reading Luke’s rendition of this encounter. I will not try to cram in a short explanation of who it is that Jesus considers to be our neighbors. You already know. At issue here is whether you will follow, or continue search for an alternative path. We search for that other path because we are not ready to embrace Jesus’ words about loving our neighbor – when those neighbors include the undocumented Hispanics, or those with weird social habits, or even the followers of other gods. I don’t need to help you “understand” who Jesus is talking about when he says, “love your neighbor.” You already know and understand. My job – on this day – and with this text - is simply to force you to answer the question of whether you do follow Jesus and therefore are prepared to accept what he says.

‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

Amen.