I do not have a heartwarming
sermon to offer this morning. Instead, I have a whole course to present within
the allotted time. I have my professorial hat with me; let's get to work!
Years ago, when I used the word
"love" as a central point of a sermon, I noticed that a member of the
congregation dismissively rolled her eyes. She later told me that as she tries
to raise four children, contend with some obnoxious relatives, and help her
husband run their demanding business, she really didn't need to hear greeting
card slogans from the pulpit. To her and perhaps others, generalities about
love are fuzzy, impractical, simplistic, and even annoying. Conceivably, the
Summary of the Law taught by Jesus in today's Gospel is pleasant rhetoric about
affectionate feelings - but, devoid of substance. Perhaps, references to love
should be entrusted to Valentine cards or consigned to a retirement home for
clichés. On the other hand, it might be wise for us to explore Jesus'
Summary of the Law, the circumstances and meanings of his fundamental and most
general teaching about love for God, one's neighbor, and oneself.
The occasion for the Summary
included these circumstances: among Jesus' own people there were about 613 laws
recognized by the Jewish leadership. Rabbis debated frequently whether all the
laws were equally binding. In that context a lawyer, one of the rabbinical
scholars who taught and applied Mosaic law, challenged Jesus: "Teacher, which
commandment in the law is the greatest?"
Jesus began his answer with
words from the Shema - which means "Hear." Now listen to that watchword
of the Jewish faith from Deuteronomy [6:4,5], a sacred message of Islam,
a sacred declaration revered by Jesus and ourselves: "Hear, O Israel! The
Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul and with all your might." Whether translated
with "might," "mind," or "strength," this greatest and first commandment is
conceivably Judaism's greatest contribution to the religious thought of
humankind, the source from which Judaism repeatedly draws strength for
inspiration and rejuvenation. It is the great text of biblical monotheism, a
foundational statement of Christianity rephrased in Islam.
However, is there any
substance to the expression "You shall love the Lord your God"? In the
Bible, human love for God is much more than a generalized feeling of affection.
Moreover, we can say right away that our love for the one God of the Universe
does not require, as some would say, an ongoing exile from other people,
spiritual self-annihilation, or altered states of consciousness to commute to
supposed spirit worlds. Biblical love is not about any trance states, acute
yearnings to bask in ethereal spirituality, or other uncommon experiences.
Instead, as lived by Christ,
the love for God commanded in the Shema involves our ordinary life of
thought, emotion, and will committed entirely to God. Love for God includes our
devout, steadfast loyalty that is the very foundation of the covenant
community. Love for the Almighty embodies reverence before God's awesome
majesty, as well as our gratitude and joy. Love for God entails our respectful,
willing acceptance of the responsibilities of covenant living with the full
measure of our devotion. Love for God includes our quiet, personal trust in his
sovereign Spirit to comfort us, to give us strength to cope, and to heal our
hearts. Human love for God welcomes communion with the Lord, as we individually
and corporately pray in adoration, praise, thanksgiving, and penitence, in
self-offering, intercession, petition, and, yes, in venting our sufferings.
According to our Holy Writings, our love for God in its many ordinary
dimensions is the fitting response to God's numerous and benevolent initiatives
in creation, in the journey of the covenant community, and in our individual
pilgrimages. Clearly there is substance to the biblical charge to love
God; the combination of Godward affection, commitment, loyalty, reverence,
gratitude, joy, acceptance of responsibilities, trust, and prayerful communion
is the very "stuff" of our love for our Heavenly Father.
Jesus continued: "You shall
love your neighbor as yourself." Though he was not the first Jew to do so, our
Lord coupled the Shema with the love of neighbor law from
Leviticus (19:18). However, he made love of God and love of neighbor as
oneself inseparable and of equal importance. As an inward, personal response to
God's sovereign deeds of kindness and benevolence, the community of faith is to
walk in the way of humanitarian love and justice.
Who is the neighbor we are
commanded to love? Why is "neighbor" in the singular, and why doesn't the
commandment simply say "others?" In the Old Testament "neighbor" generally
means a fellow Israelite, including fellow Jews and resident aliens - "someone
living nearby." Love is for this particular person rather than for the
human race in general. In the New Testament Jesus expanded the meaning of
"neighbor" to include others, even those outside the community, regardless of
class, culture, racial or national heritage, and apparent worthiness.
Throughout the ages Christians have interpreted "those outside the community"
in various ways to include the entire cosmos, all living creatures, all
humankind, or, some or all persons with whom one comes into face-to-face
contact. Without a clear-cut New Testament definition of "neighbor," it is up
to the prayerful conscience of each Christian to determine at any given time
the extent of one's neighborhood, that is, the persons to love, with the
personal responsibilities love may call for in concrete situations. I would
hope that Christian congregations would recognize themselves as a communities
of neighbors and determine their range of responsibilities to each other.
What is neighborly love in the
Bible? Neighborly love begins at home and works outward; it is shown by deeds,
though it is a matter of the heart. God's people are called to champion those
among them who are weak or helpless, especially orphans and widows.
Unsentimental and practical, love of neighbor means imitating God's dealings
with Israel, in order that a spirit of sibling love and solidarity may pervade
the community. The substance of that love is to rejoice in a neighbor's good
fortune. To love is to show mercy, to offer forgiveness to the penitent, and to
show patience; to love is to hold one's neighbor in equal regard to oneself. To
love is to empathize and be present, even silently, perhaps economically, to a
neighbor in need. To love is to meet everyone in a life-promoting or enhancing
way; it is to treat each person with whom we interact as an end in him/herself
- whether employee or employer, whether patient or doctor, whether customer or
salesperson, whether friend or adversary, and so on.
A word of caution in this
regard: We do need to avoid an abstract and impersonal "love for people" in
general, which is more convenient than loving a specific individual near by.
There are people that supposedly love humanity, but who love no one in
particular. However "love of neighbor" is understood, I am convinced that
Christians should never be hard-hearted or indifferent to those considered
beyond one's neighborhood. No person anywhere is to be regarded as a "thing."
Is it not true that without exception, every human being is worthy of the
invitation to the new, baptized life in Christ? If not "love," an inclusive
compassion for all human beings would seem to be a right disposition for
Christian people.
And, now, consider Jesus words
"as yourself." Many women and men have been raised to be "givers." They have
been taught that only other people's needs matter. They can provide for others,
but are often difficult to provide for. They are ready to be helpers, but
cannot ask for help. Sometimes they have a desperate need to be needed, an
exaggerated sense of responsibility. The idealization of absolute selflessness
in some religious circles has too often encouraged the disregard of the final
two words of the Summary, "as yourself." Surely, pious self-neglect is not the
love lived fully by Jesus Christ. Self-love, holding oneself in equal regard to
one's neighbor, flows from the graceful self-acceptance we receive from God in
baptism. As a named, unique, sanctified child of God, each of us deserves the
love offered by our neighbors; each of us should take into account our own
needs, because we're worth it. Actually, we can best reach out in love toward
others when we are confident of our own worth and value. Other than in unusual
circumstances, a balance between loving others and self-regard is the norm.
My neighbors in Christ, our
Lord has freed us from any debate about six hundred thirteen laws. Our
liberation to live our lives as an art, unfettered by imprisoning mandates, has
been well stated and lived by God's Word, Jesus Christ. The Summary of the Law
is the absolute value upon which all other values, laws, and ethical decisions
depend. Although the appropriate loving action is not automatically obvious for
each situation, in the Summary we have been equipped with the context for
determining our choices. There can be no reasonable doubt about its substance,
that it is not mere rhetoric. With gratitude to Christ and with joy, hear it
again: "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."