The Great Commandment

Sermon for 6/18/2002

The Great Commandment

Matthew 22:34-40

Introduction:

John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose.

His interest in her had begun 13 months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She now lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in WW2.

During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting- 7PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. “You’ll recognize me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my lapel.”

So at 7 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he’d never seen. I’ll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened:

“A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blond hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. “Goin’ my way, sailor?” she said while moving her hips. Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Miss Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind this sensual lady. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and held me up during the war. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her. This would not be passionate love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by my disappointment. “I’m Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; May I take you to dinner?” The woman’s face broadened into a tolerant smile. “I don’t know what this is about, son,” she answered, “but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!”

WBTU:

A. Arsene Houssaye wrote, “Tell me whom you love and I will tell you who you are.”

B. Who and what do we love? Not what you do, but what do you love to do. Do we love Jesus Christ and things associated with Jesus Christ.

C. Victor Knowles- The biggest test we will ever face is loving a God whose letters we have read, whose heart we have come to know, but whose face we have never seen.

C. Jesus said, “Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind.”

D. A wise man once said, “A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great church.”

E. Summary statements of Jesus teachings.

Thesis: WE should be committed to the Great Commandment. What is the Great Commandment and what does it mean to our lives? Matthew 22:34-40

For instances: