RCL Year A (Proper 25) - October 26, 2008

The Rev’d Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year A (Proper 25) – October 26, 2008

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46

It’s on Sundays like today that bring back memories of when I was little… and the priest would stand up and say what is called the “The Summary of the Law.”

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith… “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.” This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” On these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets…

Some of you can probably remember…

This summary of the law was recited at every communion service, right after the 10 commandments… In fact, it is still done as part of the Rite I liturgy or as part of the penitential order that can precede Rite II… and it can be wonderful thing for us to profess together this unswerving call to total love…

But, so often it becomes just another part of the liturgy and it is so mundane that it is more like going through the motions. We all stand there and kind of reel it off together and drone on - without letting it permeate, challenge, or transform us.

Then we go through the rest of the service, and out the door to our nice cars, off to our beautiful homes, and to our comfortable American lifestyles.

But I would like us to stop… and take a minute this morning and let the reality of what Jesus is saying seep in just a bit… Seep in long enough to become part of our being…

Please take notice that the word used in this text is “commandment.”

It is an imperative! It is not a choice. Thou shalt! Commandments are requirements that are not meant to be ignored. Some of you that have been in the military, or have been around the military enough to know that a command is an order. It is something that you must follow, or you or someone else gets hurt and could possibly die, or even worse.

In our everyday lives, the 10 commandments have been getting lots of press. Some of you have probably seen or heard about the plethora of signs with the Ten Commandments along our streets or on private property, especially here in the south, all in reaction to the banning of the Ten Commandments from being posted in public places.

I even saw one in Salisbury the other day on someone’s front lawn. Many of us drive past these signs every day. I always wonder what some folks are thinking… It seems to me that some folks look at these biblical “commandments” as some kind of laundry list of God’s “rules” that we must follow… Forcing us to live by some sort of “purity code”… Others claim it is the foundation of our countries greatness… our wonderful (self – perceived) “Christian” legal system to be forced on everyone.

I feel that Jesus is teaching us today in this reading that it goes much deeper than that. Doesn’t it?… it goes deep down into the fabric of our lives, and penetrates our soul, and our very source of life… Love God with all… Everything… Love God with ALL your heart, ALL your soul and ALL your mind… Everything! Everything that we are… everything that we think… and with every breath we take… Love God with your everything… all your heart, soul and mind….

And then Love your neighbor as yourself… The other that has been created by the one you love. The one you love with everything that you are… To love the ones bound to you in this common life… the ones that may or may not look like you or talk like you, but all most certainly bleed like you....

So the big 10, the 10 commandments, the LAW of God brought to the Israelites by Moses is summarized into what it really means for us to be in a right relationship. How we truly should live in order to be in right relationship with God and with one another.

How profound - What would it mean if we really tried to do that?

What affect would it have on our lives or on even our community of faith right here at Christ Church? If we were to examine our lives right here, right now, what changes would we have to make? How would we live our lives differently? I have a feeling that if it were a test we would all fail miserably.

What does loving with all your heart, soul, and mind mean? How do we love with every ounce of our being: Let’s break that down see what it entails.

Let’s start with the heart. If we are talking about loving with the Heart we are talking about the way we love. The scripture says, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart will be also.” So what are your treasures?

Here is a definition of “treasure” I would like us to wrestle with: when your mind is empty, daydreaming, when you are sitting at a stoplight, standing at the kitchen sink, or even the last thing before falling asleep, where does your mind go? That is your treasure! It is the thing that fills up your heart with worry, concern, joy, or satisfaction. It is your first priority, your interest, it is the center of your energy and attention.

Would your love of God and the strangers called “neighbors” be on top of that list? On the top of your list? So -- Where DOES your heart turn most of the time?

Soul. Otherwise called our Psyche, or Spirit. The soul is probably the most difficult to define, but it is usually seen as the deepest part of a human being – the core, the intangible, eternal essence of a human. The soul of a person cannot truly be known by another; it is always in a state of being discovered. What is at the deepest core of your being, the part no one else really knows about, but the part that holds your most profound sacred and valued essence – your divinity? Is that God within you? Does that very, very deep core essence of yourself, love God beyond all things, totally, insatiably, constantly, and fully?

And Mind. Our mind is our rational, logical self… it is the key to understanding and reason. Some argue it is the part that makes us human. It is the way we think things through, our external value system, the scale upon which we weigh life. Saint Paul speaks of “putting on the mind of Christ.” To love God with our minds means that we do not see the world around us with the eyes of culture but we see it with the eyes of God.

Our mind is not faith, but our mind seeks to grasp our faith with understanding. If we love God with all our minds, our value system is not based on materialism… And things that, as Jesus reminds us, “moth and rust consume and thieves break in and steal.” It is total abandonment of power, possession, and popularity. The mind of God places its treasures in the Kingdom of God.

And, ah, yes: the neighbor. To love our neighbor as ourselves. So, “Who is your neighbor?” asks Jesus. Our neighbor is anyone who stands beside us on this small planet, our island home. Distance is no obstacle to neighbors. A neighbor is any other human being with whom we share the image of God, which is to say, ALL human beings.

A neighbor is not based on worth, on quality of life, on intelligence or beauty, on health or sickness, on moral development or religion, on race on color or sexuality or even geography. We are ALL neighbors to one another. So what does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?

Do we want to have enough food and shelter for basic human survival? Do we want medical care? Do we want an education? Do we want our children to flourish safely and develop into all they can be?

To love our neighbor as ourselves usually requires two things in our culture: a pocketbook and a suspension of judgment. If you own a house much larger than you need, and you know there are people being evicted in your hometown… What does that mean in terms of loving your neighbor as yourself?

If your closet is full of coats, hats, and shoes, and you know there are children in town without warm clothing, what does that mean in terms loving your neighbor?

If you buy a new car when the old one is still in fair working condition and there are others who can't even buy gas… What does that mean in terms of your total love of God?

If you eat steak and or dine out in restaurants, and you know a third of the world is starving to death, what does that mean in terms of loving your neighbor?

This is a list can go on and on and on. And we, brothers and sisters, fall extremely short.

The two great commandments that Jesus presents to us are simple, but they have teeth: they are tough and costly. Basically, we don’t comply and perhaps we weren’t meant to. That is one of the beauties of God’s call to us to love; it always stretches us, forming and transforming us… pulling us from wherever we are to be more and more.

It is like the horizon, always beckoning, but never reachable. The secret is our want to live out the commandments in our lives no matter how poorly we actually do it. The secret is in our heart’s desiring. Do we really desire to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and souls and minds and to love our neighbor as ourselves? Truth be told, many – some right here in this room - may say no. We don't mind loving God or our neighbor, but forget we forget that it takes our total commitment.

If we, in our own lives, want to make a choice, a decision, to love God and our neighbor as God asks us, what changes would that require of us? The answer for us may lie the word “hang.” “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” This is the word that usually gets overlooked in the text. “Hang” can mean the way we put our clothes in the closet, as we hang up our clothes, or it could mean what we do with our hat, as a peg we hang our hat on.

But in this text, the word “hang” is the same one used for “Jesus, whom you slew and hanged upon the cross.” That one little word shifts the entire meaning of the Great Commandment, doesn’t it? To love the Lord with all our hearts and souls and minds, and to love our neighbor as ourselves is a sacrifice. It is a crucifixion. It means to completely die to ourselves.

It means to come though our baptismal waters – and be reborn to life anew... Ready to love with a love that costs us everything. Everything… It is the Great Kenosis: a total emptying. God asks no less of us. God asks for everything. God asks for all… All that we are, all that we have, all the time.

Do we even dare? Do we dare to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind… and love our neighbor as our self… And what might life on this planet look like if we did?

(some of the images in this sermon taken from a sermon by the Rev. Sister Judith Schenck)