The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost ---- 29 October 2017 (Trinity Anglican Church, Aylmer, ON)

(Since I'm presently serving a Lutheran congregation AND an Anglican congregation, I thought I'd post both Sermons, especially since the readings and celebrations were different.)

Matthew 22:34-46

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’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.”

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “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?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?

·       The Pharisees come to test Jesus, to see if he is ready and willing to toe the line they’ve drawn. The Pharisees – whose name comes from a term that means “set apart”- were dedicated to the Law and Mosaic teaching. They opposed the mixing of Greek culture, philosophy, and thought with the Hebrew understanding of things, as opposed to the Sadducees, the upper-class party of the Temple, who were less strict on this. We might imagine that they were checking if Jesus was an ally of theirs since he was surely no Sadducee.

·       The “lawyer” among them (a teacher of the Law, a Pharisee specialty, rather than a barrister or attorney) asks what Jesus considers to be the greatest commandment. Jesus responds ‘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.’

·       We might wonder what answer the lawyer expected. Which of the 613 Commandments of the Law of Moses would Jesus single out as the greatest and the first-est, and best-est.

·       Was this a trap? A test? Or an honest question? Matthew implies it was a test and as I said earlier maybe it was a test to see how much of a Pharisee Jesus was, to see which side he was on in the religious squabbles of the day. Maybe they just wanted to see what his favourite was… like we’d ask what someone’s favourite hymn is.

·       The answer Jesus gives might not have been satisfactory to the lawyer and his crew. What he said encompasses all of human life, whether that would be our life with God or our life with each other. Jesus’ answer goes right to the root of the thing and he even says that On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

·       If the law and the prophets come out of these two commandments, it has an effect on us today. If we don’t love God, we won’t desire to keep any commandment. If we do love God, love of neighbor (and love of ourselves) follows like day follows night. Loving God and loving neighbor fulfills all the command-ments. Every commandment has something to go with either God or neighbor. No killing, no stealing, no lying, no infidelity, no idols, no using God’s name to curse… it’s all there.

·       Jesus also couches his answer in such a way as to remind his listeners of the most well-known and most prayed prayer in all of Jewish life. It is called the Shema, and it is the first and last prayer of the day for a Jewish person. Every person in ear-shot of Jesus that day would know it by heart: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” This was something they all KNEW; it was second nature to them.

·       You may never have heard this story but it has a bearing here. The famous theologian, Karl Barth is said to have been asked what he thought was the most profound of all theological truths. The man was brilliant and scholarly. Still, instead of giving some heavy academic answer using words like heavy calibre theological words or tems that wouldn’t make sense to the average person (or a preacher who knows his or her people, Barth simply said, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

·       It isn’t always that easy. But some days it IS just that easy. Simple and profound truths are often the toughest to apply. ‘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.’

·       When I leave here, I’ll be going to celebrate and worship with the people of St. John’s, where we celebrate Reformation Sunday. So I simply have to drop some Luther on you. How about this one. “What is it to serve God and do his will? Nothing else than to show mercy to our neighbor. For it is our neighbor who needs our service; God in heaven needs it not.”

Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? (You already know the answer.)