23 Pentecost

 October 31, 2021

Deuteronomy 6:1-9; Mark 12:28-34

+ In the name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen.

 

I know that I have preached many times here about my frustration with scriptures with which we must engage on a Sunday morning.

 

You have seen me approach this pulpit with a weary shuffle sometimes.

 

Or, worse…when there is a scripture I just don’t want to preach about…well, I don’t.

 

And that’s all right.

 

I can do that, as a preacher.

 

After all, sometimes that’s exactly what the Holy Spirit seems to be telling me.

 

But…today…

 

Oh, glorious day!

 

Today! Today!

 

What do we get?

 

We get IT.

 

Capital I.

 

Capital T.

 

THIS is what it’s all about.

 

These scriptures are the penultimate scriptures.

 

And these scriptures are where the rubber meets the road in our journey as followers of Jesus.

 

You don’t believe me?

 

If you don’t, you  have not been listening to me over these last 13 years.

 

Because, the message we find in our reading from both the Hebrew scriptures and the reading we hear in our Gospel reading…well, this is the summation of it all.

 

This is the point I keep coming back to, again and again.

 

And if you take nothing else away from all those sermons I’ve shared from this pulpit, please, PLEASE! take this away.

 

What we find in our Gospel reading for today is everything I believe as a Christian, as a priest, as loved Child of God and as a passionate follower of Jesus.

 

That question I am asked, again and again, is what must I do to be “saved.”

 

And right here, right there in our readings today, is the answer.

 

Let’s examine the story.

 

A scribe comes before Jesus after listening to the Sadducees arguing amongst themselves.

 

Now, a scribe, as we know by now, was important in Jesus’ day.

 

They are the ones who transcribed the scriptures by hand.

 

There were no printing presses.

 

There was no publisher of scriptures.

 

And scribes took their job very seriously.

 

Every word they inscribed, every jot and dash, was sacred, and they treated it as such.

 

In the process of their transcribing, they also became somewhat of experts on scripture.

 

How could you not?

 

Day after day of transcribing these words and commandments and sacred stories.

 

So, this scribe comes to Jesus and asks which of the commandments is foremost.

 

And Jesus, seemingly without hesitation, says,

 

“The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

 

Now, Jesus is not just a cherry-picked scripture, mind you.

 

Jesus and every good, loyal Jewish male there on that day—including the scribe and those Sadducees— was required to pray a prayer every day.

 

Jesus no doubt prayed that prayer that morning, as did every devout Jewish male (and no doubt many Jewish females) listening to him that day.

 

The prayer is a recitation of the scripture from Deuteronomy.

 

It’s called the Shema

 

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

 

The Shema is, of course, the summary of the Law.

 

It is a summary of all belief for a Jew.

 

But Jesus doesn’t just leave it there in regards to what is the foremost commandment.

 

Because let’s face it.

 

If it was just that—just loving God with all our hearts—well, we could do that right now, right at home. All the time.

 

But no.

 

Jesus doesn’t let it stand there.

 

He then adds the second commandment.

 

 ‘To love one’s neighbor as oneself,’

 

The scribe is impressed with this answer, and tells him that this is more important than burnt offerings and sacrifices.

 

That’s a big statement from a scribe.

 

It is then that Jesus makes a huge statement hidden right inside a seemingly simple statement.

 

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

 

In fact, they were all so amazed by this, they didn’t even bother to question him anymore.

 

So, what must we do to be saved, according to Jesus?

 

Nowhere in our scriptures, nowhere in this discourse or in any other, do we find that all too familiar answer from the televangelists and others to our big question:

 

“One must accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.”

 

It’s not in the Bible. Anywhere.

 

But what must we do to be saved, to draw near to the Kingdom of God, according to Jesus?

 

We must love God with everything that is in us.

 

And we must love others.

 

That’s it.

 

Anything else we add to that is just filler.

 

It really is just that simple.

 

Love God.

 

Love others.

 

Do those two things, and you will draw near to the Kingdom of God.

 

If you do these two things—if you strive to do these two things—in your life, you are a follower of Jesus.

 

You are doing what Jesus himself did.

 

You are living out your faith.

 

This is what it means to be a Christian.

 

It means to love fully.

 

It means loving God fully.

 

It means loving others fully.

 

It means loving ourselves fully.

 

It means living that love out in our lives.

 

I know.

 

It sounds so simple.

 

It sounds so basic.

 

We wonder why we ever thought it was hard or why others thought it was hard.

 

Well, it actually is.

 

It is a lot harder than it sounds.

 

Loving God sometimes is not easy.

 

Loving someone we don’t see with our eyes, or hear with our ears is not easy.

 

Loving others is definitely not easy.

 

People can be jerks. People sometimes ARE jerks.

 

Or worse.

 

They can be monsters.

 

It is hard to be a Christian in every aspect of our lives.

 

It’s hard to love God in all things.

 

It is hard to love our neighbors in all things.

 

It is hard, very often to love even ourselves.

 

Because, sometimes we are the jerks.

 

Sometimes we are the monsters.

 

And sometimes our ego prevents us from seeing that fact.

 

But that is what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

 

When we do those things—when we love fully and completely—we draw near to the Kingdom of God.

 

And not just after we die.

 

Not only when we have left our bodies behind.

 

Right here.

 

Right now.

 

When we do these things, we become conduits of that all-loving, all-accepting God.

 

We become bearers of that radical, all-powerful love of God.

 

Now, do you understand now why everything I preach and believe and do as a priest, as a Christian, is based on this scripture, on this belief?

 

As you know, I, like you, struggle with doubt and skepticism sometimes.

 

I get frustrated by the world, by the larger Church, by those in authority, by the unfairness and injustice of this world.

 

But one thing I do not doubt is the inherent truth that is contained in the summation of the Law.

 

Love God.

 

Love others.

 

Love yourself.

 

Do these things, and you will gain the Kingdom of God, both here and in the next life.

 

Knowing this, believing this with every ounce of my body, fills me with a strange, but very real joy.

 

I am so passionate in my belief in this that if I could do nothing else but preach this, over and over again, I would be content.

 

You, on the other, no doubt weary of your priest going on and on about this.

 

Well, that’s just the way it is sometimes.

 

You knew what you were getting when you hired me.

 

This priest doesn’t hide his flame under a bushel.

 

But, even so, let us truly take to heart what Jesus is telling us clearly today in our Gospel reading.

 

Let us truly love God.

 

Let us live out our lives in the love we have received from God. 

 

Let us live fully in this holy and all-consuming love, sharing what we are nourished on here with everyone.

 

And let us love others.

 

Even those terrible people who turn on us and make our lives miserable.

 

And let us love ourselves.

 

We are, after all, truly loved children of God.

 

Let us love ourselves as God loves us. 

 

And with God’s love within us in this way, let us be that radical Presence of love and acceptance to all those we encounter.

 

And when we are, it is then that we are bringing the Kingdom of God near.

 

Let us pray.

 

You, O God of Israel, are One. May we truly love you with all hearts, all our souls, and all our might; and may we truly love one another as you love us. And when we do this, help us to truly see your Kingdom drawing near to us. Amen.