October 23, 2005 - 23rd Sunday After Pentecost - Father Fred Myers

FIRST READING: Leviticus 10:1-2, 15-18
PSALM: 1
SECOND READING: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
GOSPEL: Matthew 22:34-46

(Audience participation will be noted in bold print and italics)

As I was looking over the lessons for today, there were certain words that jumped right out at me; and I had to underline them. "You shall not render an unjust judgment. You shall not be partial to or defer to the great. With justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer. You shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor. You shall not hate in your heart anyone. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people. Love your neighbor as yourself."

And then again, in Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, "We had courage to declare to you the Gospel of God, in spite of great opposition. We speak, not to please mortals, but to please God. We were gentle among you, like a nurse. So deeply do we care for you, that we are determined to share with you not only the Gospel of the Good News of God, but also our own selves."

Great words! Great words! In today's lesson, today's Gospel lesson, we see Jesus being confronted by the Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of Jesus' day, and they were somewhat like chancellors in the Church. They knew the Law. They knew the Canon Law, and they practiced the Laws as best as they could; and they admonished other people to practice the Law. There were 613 of these Laws, more or less. There were a great many of these laws, and they tried very hard to get everyone to practice these Laws. So, they come up, and they are with Jesus. I like to see this scene, not as a confrontation, but rather that they are sitting around talking with one another. They accepted Jesus as a Rabbi of sorts, but they wanted to test Him. They wanted to test His credentials, and so they asked Him, "What is the greatest law, then?" There are 613 of them; what is the greatest Law? And I can just see Jesus sitting there and thinking for a moment, "Well, what are they trying to do to me? What are they asking me?" He comes up with this, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and there is a second one", He is quick to say, "there is a second one, and it is like the first one: You shall love your neighbor as yourself". And then He goes on to add, "And on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" - those who have gone before to declare God's justice among all people. Jesus is challenged, but He meets that challenge; and He says to love God. This is the fourth time, you realize, that you have heard these words this morning! Jesus said, "Love God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, with your whole mind", and Mark and Luke add the words, "and with all your strength".

The heart. That's the place in us where our passions are located - or we think about it that way - the place of emotions, the place where feelings come from, and love, and anger, and hate, and sadness, all those kinds of feelings.

The soul. The soul is that place where faith comes from. That is the spiritual side of us - that part of who we are in our Image of God.

The mind. The mind is the place of reason and logic.

And then, as Mark and Luke add, the strength - our strength - that is the place of action; that is how we do things with our body.

So now, I am going to let you create your own sermon, because I am going to ask you some questions, and you can create your own sermon. When I was in Seminary, my homiletics professor - that is a fancy name for a preacher teacher - my homiletics professor said, "You know, if there are 60 people in your congregation, and you deliver a sermon, you have just delivered 61 sermons", because each of us hears what we need to hear in our own way; each of us hears our own sermon. So, I am going to let you develop your own sermon.

How do we love God? How do we love God with our whole heart? Do we have good feelings about God? Are we struck by the awesomeness of God's creation, including the creation of ourselves? Are we awe-struck by that? Or do we blame God for everything that goes wrong in our lives and approach God with anger and fear? That is all heart stuff. How do we worship God? How do we love God with our whole heart?

How do we love God with our whole soul? Do we have faith in God's Love and Grace for us? Do we really have faith? Do we pray to God? Do we talk to God? Do we listen to God? Do we hear God's words to us? Do we worship God in our community? Do we worship God in our quiet times? Do we give God thanks for the many blessings that God bestows on each and every one of us? How do we love God with our soul?

Next question - How do we love God with our whole mind, this part that does the thinking, the reasoning? Do we read God's Word and try to understand what God is saying to us in the history that is written in the Scriptures? Do we hear God speaking to us? Do we try to understand what the Prophets were saying to the people of their time? And do the prophets still speak to us in our time? Are there prophets today, and do we hear them and understand them? Do we try to understand them? Do we read about them? Do we talk with others about our own experiences of faith? Do we tell them how God has acted in our lives? And do we listen to others' experiences? Do we really, really listen? That is an activity of the mind. And do we try to relate their experiences with our own experiences? And do we seek parallels in today's world as compared to the Biblical world? And do we see differences in the knowledge they had and the knowledge that we have today, and think about those things, and reason them out?

And, finally, how do we love God with all our strength? This is directly connected to the second commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself". Do we truly love ourselves as Images of God? Can we see ourselves apart from ourselves and treat ourselves the same way we might treat someone else? Or do we put ourselves down? How do we do that? Do we respect the dignity of every other person that we ever, ever meet? Do we respect the dignity of every person as a child of God? Do we reach out to others in times of need, or in times of grief, or in times of sorrow, or in times of joy? Do we reach out? Do we go out of our way to help others? After all, Jesus gave His life for us, each and every one of us. And do we share in our abundance? We heard Buddy today make a plea for the Stewardship Campaign. Do we share our abundance so that the Gospel of Christ might be preached - that the Good News might be done as well as spoken?

As I said before, each of these questions, and others that you might think of - they preach their own sermon to each of us in the way we need to hear them, in the way we do hear them, and in the way that we respond to them. Now, the Good News in all of this is that Gods' response is to love us, without equivocation. God's Love is unlimited. It knows no boundaries, and It is all inclusive.

The challenge for us is to respond to God's Love in our everyday relationships with others - those who are closest to us, and those who intrude in our lives from the outside. Now, you know how, in e-mail's, you get these little snippets that people send you, and you have to pass this on, or you might lose your house, or whatever, and if you don't pass it on to ten people? Well, I got one of those, and I thought it was really good; so I am borrowing these words. These are words from kids about love - what is love, what does it look like - and it ties right in, I think, with loving God and loving our neighbors and loving ourselves with our whole heart, soul, mind, and body.

Rebecca, age 8, writes: Love is when my grandmother got arthritis; she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore; so my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis, too. That's love.

Billy, age 4: When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.

Crissy, age 6: Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.

Terry, age 4: Love is what makes you smile when you are tired.

Danny, age 7: Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy, and she takes a sip before giving it to him to make sure that the taste is O.K.

Bobby, age 5: Love is what is in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.

Nicka, age 6: If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend whom you hate. (Out of the mouths of babes!)

And Noel, age 7: Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, and then he wears it every day.

Tommy, age 6: Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends, even after they know each other so well.

Elaine: Love is when mommy gives daddy the best piece of chicken.

Love is when your puppy licks your face, even after you have left him alone all day.

And, You really shouldn't say, "I love you", unless you mean it, but, if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.

Love God with your whole heart, soul, mind, and body, and love your neighbor as yourself.

AMEN