It Should Be Simple!
Matthew 22:34-46
When the Pharisees heard that he 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.
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Hook: I once wrote a letter to the IRS and received a letter in return.
Oops! - The Problem
Jesus’ adversaries are trying to trap him.
We are self-centered and try to preserve ourselves over others.
Loving our neighbor should be simple! But we make it complicated.
Why can’t we love our neighbors as ourselves? Or what keeps us from loving them the way Christ loves us?
Ugh! - The Discrepancy
It appears as though we invest more energy into tearing one another down instead of building each other up. So much so that we will team up with others, even if we don’t like them, to accomplish our misdeeds.
The Sadducees and Pharisees stood on opposite theological spectrums, but both attempted to put Jesus in a tricky position.
When we’re challenged or feel wronged, we lash out in unjust manners often, hurting innocent people or parties.
I once saw a news segment about IRS collectors whose only job was to process checks that came by mail. It showed the collectors who recalled people sending them torn up checks, hate letters, envelopes filled with nails or razor blades, and things that make you question the goodness of humanity.
Our failure to love one another is a failure to love God. Or put another way, our love or lack of love for God will manifest itself in how we treat others, which is a frightening thought.
Our relationships are horizontal and vertical. Horizontal meaning how we treat one another and vertical meaning how we relate ourselves to God.
How we love God will impact how we love our neighbors. And how we love our neighbors will affect our love of God. It’s an ever flowing continuum that when out of balance has devastating consequences.
Aha! - The Clue to Resolution
It is in the vertical and horizontal relationships where we find hope for restoration and renewal of ourselves and our relationships.
The heavenly and secular realms overlap to reveal our attitudes towards Gods, they also remind us of the ultimate gift of love that we find in the hope and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jesus models perfect love of neighbor and God in his incarnational ministry. God with us, God for us, God who shows us the way of life.
Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda (“The Church Reformed, Always Reforming.”)
Whee! - Experiencing the Gospel
Jesus continues to overturn our expectations, preconceived notions, and biases and transforms them. For all the times that we attempt to limit the scope of love, Jesus swoops in to expand our ability to love. Or at the very least, Jesus pokes, prods, and turns us in the direction we need to be going to embrace our neighbors in love.
It takes an act of love to inspire love, to be love, to live as love made incarnate by Jesus Christ. We should make loving our neighbor a priority. It is the good news of the gospel! And if we love more, and believe in that love we will embody it sincerely and authentically.
A few years ago, I wrote a check to pay my quarterly taxes, and I decided to include a letter of kindness. After seeing the type of hate-filled mail IRS collectors receive, I thought it would be appropriate to send a letter of affirmation and empathy. I didn't think about what I sent afterwards until I received a letter from the IRS, and I thought, "Oh no! Did I forget to pay my taxes?" Instead, it was a response of thanks for sending a kind word to the civil servants.
Love changes us. Love will change us and that’s a promise made by Jesus. Our hearts may be hardened now, but they will be broken and reformed soon, we pray.
“[L]ove has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals.” ~Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (“Loving Your Enemies”)
Yeah! - Anticipating Consequences
What do we need to let go of in order to love our neighbors?
Is it our pride? Our ill feelings? What do we need to release into the arms of Christ who carries those burdens for us?
Loving our neighbor as ourselves is only as hard as we make it. And we certainly try to make it difficult.
We can love our neighbor as ourselves and we can love God as God loves us if we take seriously the transformative calling of our faith. So let us make such love simple, by believing it with our hearts, with our minds, and with our hands that offer healing instead of hurt. Amen.