Introduction
On Tuesday afternoon I pondered what to preach this Sunday morning. With the tragic events of the day, it seemed that a sermon should be preached addressing the questions and feelings that we would be wrestling with. But as I considered the text before me, I thought What better text to preach from? If the text presented – as I had titled the sermon – “What Most Matters to God,” then all the more in such a time as this we need to hear “What Still Matters.”
The Text
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
Jesus’ opponents have engaged in three rounds of debate with him, each time thinking they would shame him, each time finding themselves shamed. The verbal sparring is over now. This teacher of the law is honestly asking a legitimate question. Matthew tells us that he is testing Jesus. That may be true, but it does not seem to be in a hostile way. We often test one another with questions to see how well the other knows what he is talking about. This man seems genuinely impressed with Jesus and wants to know how he will reply.
His question is a common one for rabbis to address and for Jews to ponder. If, as tradition taught, there were 613 individual statues of the Law, surely one wants to have some kind of order of importance. This is just the kind of question Americans love to ask. We never simply ask what authors a person likes to read, or singers or movies. We want to know “Who is your favorite author, your favorite singer, your favorite movie, and so on. We can’t wait until a new year comes so we can rank the best or the most significant (we won’t have trouble with that one) or whatever.
So, Jesus, what commandment is more important to God than all others?
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
As before, Jesus is quick with a profound answer. He recites Deuteronomy 6:4, known as the Shema, from the Hebrew word for “hear”: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. It was, and is, the “watchword of Israel’s faith,” the Jewish creed recited by faithful Jews each morning and evening. Every Jew standing around would have nodded their heads in affirmation and approval, perhaps concluding with “Amen.”
The following commandment – 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength – is also the verse that follows the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4. As the Shema developed over the years in the synagogue, it included more passages, including verses 5-9:
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Again, the crowd and even most of the religious leaders would be nodding their heads in approval at Jesus’ answer. What he says next, however, would have made them wonder yet again at his wisdom. 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.
Again, Jesus is merely reciting a commandment, this one from Leviticus 19:18: Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. He is not unique in presenting concern for our neighbor as essential to the Law. Rabbi Hillel, a generation earlier had answered a similar question with this: “What you yourself hate, do not do to your neighbor: this is the whole Law, the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.”
Another anonymous writer in The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs several times speaks of loving God and loving man together.
“Lord the Lord and love your neighbor.”
“I loved the Lord,
Likewise also every man with my whole heart.”
Love the Lord through all your life,
And one another with a true heart.
What is unique with Jesus is the way he elevates the command to love one’s neighbor onto the same level as love God, and, indeed, makes the commands connected to each other in such a way that they cannot be separated. Jesus is not teaching “love God and also love man,” but rather “love God and man.”
To the great credit of the teacher of the law, he understood and affirmed Jesus’ teaching.
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
That last part was a profound answer of itself. To love God and neighbor is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. That statement would have made more than a few people pause, especially the priests. As William Lane comments:
The common scribal position is will summarized in the maxim of Simon the Just (ca. 200 B.C.): ‘The world rests on three things: the Law, the sacrificial worship, and expressions of love’ (M. Aboth I. 2).”
No wonder Jesus’ response: 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” We don’t know, but surely we hope that he was among the priests and Pharisees who believed on Christ recorded in Acts 6:7 and 15:5.
And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. Finally, they wised up!
Interpretation and Application
What did Jesus mean by love for God and man? How do we apply his lesson in the midst of the tragic events of terrorism?
For help, let’s turn to the scriptures he drew his answers from. The command to love the Lord comes from Deuteronomy 6:5, as mentioned before. Moses refers back to that command six more times in his great sermon (which is what Deuteronomy is) to the Israelites. As he does so, he gives us clearer understanding of what loving the Lord entails. The first reference is in chapter 10:
12 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? (10:12,13)
Chapter 11 includes three references:
Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always…
13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul…
22 If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him…
Let’s review what is being taught, first in chapter 10 which encompasses almost all the same elements as the others. This one is unique in that it is the only one in which “love the Lord” does not appear first. I don’t know if that is significant, but the opening command is the one that many religious teachers might have quoted in place of “love the Lord.” Fear the Lord. In my search, I could find eighteen commands to love the Lord. I found “fear the Lord, or God” sixty-nine times. Indeed, the only reason that no one would have debated with Jesus is that they would have all understood that to love God is to fear him.
We have a difficult time with that concept because of being modern Americans. We are taught, and rightfully so, that there is no person who by his very being is above anyone else. Different persons may be nicer, or smarter, or stronger, but we, when it comes to our essence, all created equal. Thus, though we may show respect to our president, we do not regard him as above mortals. But God is above mortals in his greatness and in his holiness. That is what fear recognizes. God is not our big grandfather in the sky. But then, that very fact, that he is unlike us mortals, perfect in power, majesty, and holiness, makes the other fact, that he is our compassionate Father even more wondrous. To love God truly means that we must also fear him.
Then there is the phrase to walk in all his ways. I thought at first that was just another way of saying to obey God’s commands, but I think it has another dimension to it. Compare the phrase with Paul’s instruction in Romans 12:2: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The idea coming out is that we are not merely to list commands and then obey them, but
that we are be thinking the way God thinks, as much as we are able. We need to think
from the perspective of God’s kingdom, rather than the kingdom of this world. I
discussed that two Sunday nights ago, if you would like that tape. This may be more
subtle. Let me give an example.
One of the positive consequences of the attack is the rise in patriotism and in support and appreciation from other countries. Yesterday, at presbytery, a PCA minister who is English, told of the outpouring of love in England for American in her grief. He then expressed his appreciation for the help that America gave in WWII. As he said, “I would probably be speaking German if not for America.” We were all deeply moved.
I also was sent an email that was an article written by a Canadian columnist also expressing admiration for America. But as he would list all the wonderful things that America has done for other countries, he would balance each item by stating no countries had done the like for her. He then concludes that America has the right to thumb her nose at all the countries that are gloating over her present troubles. I appreciate the tribute he is trying to make, but I would say that he is either not a Christian or at least one walking in God’s ways with this attitude. “Thumbing our noses” is the world’s attitude, not the Christian’s. It is an attitude that turns righteous anger into bitterness and leads not to righteousness, but to arrogance.
After to love him, comes to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Isn’t that interesting how Moses speaks of serving God with almost the exact wording as to love: with all your heart and with all your soul. This makes clear that loving God goes beyond talk: to love God is to serve him. We do not serve him “as we’ve got the time.” We serve him all the time with all we’ve got. As our military personnel are now on the alert serving our country, so we are to serve our God, ever alert to being used by him for his kingdom. What are you doing now to serve your God? Do you begin the day asking him to use you for his service? How are you taking opportunity in our country’s tragedy to serve in the name of Christ – either through witness or deeds of mercy or prayer or modeling good citizenship?
Then Moses instructs us to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees. Needless to say, to observe means to obey. God has made clear his commands and decrees in his Word. To love him is to read them, meditate upon them, and, above all, obey them. Jesus is clear about this: Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me (John 14:21). Again, we can talk and sing all we want about how much we love the Lord, but if we do not obey his commands, our words only condemn us.
And then there is one more phrase found in 11:22: to hold fast to him. The context of these verses lies amidst warnings not to turn away from God and turn to the false gods of the peoples who live in the Promised Land. Instead, they were to “hold fast” to Yahweh. Why would they be tempted to turn away? One reason is the common one we face – the lure of the world. Their neighbors had cool looking gods and goddesses that you could see and manipulate to get your wishes. The other reason was again a common one for us – fear: fear of droughts, fear of enemies. A great test was before them – to hold fast to God whatever the dangers and temptations may be. Sound familiar? Do we need to hear that now? Hold fast to God. Do not give way to fear that things are out of control. Your God is in control. Do not give way to blind hatred. Your God is Judge and will mete out the right judgment for all of us. Do not give way to acting in the ways of the world. Your God remains Lord, and you are to live in his ways for him.
Then there is the commandment, Love your neighbor as yourself. This is the command that we Christians struggle the most with, isn’t it? We know the story of the Good Samaritan. We know that Jesus applied the term “neighbor” to everyone. How are we to love our neighbor in a time like this?
It is not difficult to love the victims and all who are connected with them – their loved ones and the people working at this moment to remove bodies, provide security, and restore order. That again is the positive consequence rising out of the tragedy – that a nation known for selfishness and divisiveness has come together in great displays of heroism, love, and unity. New York, which has served as an emblem for materialism and danger, is at this moment the emblem for self-sacrifice and mercy.
But what about our enemies? How do we love those involved in a wicked, horrible crime? First, by not becoming like them. Our enemies, because of what they perceived to be injustice, broke God’s laws and became wicked themselves. Consider the other commandments listed in the Leviticus passage.
11 ”‘Do not steal.
”‘Do not lie.
”‘Do not deceive one another…
13 ”‘Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him…
15 ”‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
”‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD.
17 ”‘Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.
18 ”‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD (19:11,13,15-18).
All these laws they broke because their hate was so bitter. Our love must prove to be more powerful than hate so that we remain faithful to our God. Therefore, we do not personally slander and commit acts of hatred; we do not nurture hatred in our children as our enemies have done. We do not bear grudges against the religious and ethnic groups that our enemies were associated with. Instead we express kindness.
Second, seek justice. There is no tension between justice and love. If we are to show love to all our neighbors, we must be angry at wickedness and yearn for justice to take place. Romans 13:4 says that those in authority are given their position to be God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on wrongdoers. Whatever religion or nonreligion of the authorities, they are responsible to protect the innocent and punish the wrongdoers. Therefore, we ought to be vocal that we support government action. Even if we pray (and we should) for the conversion of our enemies, they must still bear the consequences of their actions. Even God in saving us did not forgo justice, but instead it was meted out upon God the Son.
Third, mourn with those who mourn. This certainly is not the time to be throwing blame, whether blaming airport personnel, or intelligence, or government, or whatever group we think is immoral and has brought on the judgment of God. One who loves knows that. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven, as the teacher of Ecclesiastes says (3:1). Now is the time to weep with those who weep, to heal those who are hurting, to embrace the frightened, and share the peace of the gospel. Now is the time to love.
