Do Unto Others (With Love). Matthew 22:34-40. 11/17/24.
Do Unto Others (With Love)
Matthew 22:34-40
Rev. Dr. Rhonda Blevins
November 17, 2024
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, an expert in the law, 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.”
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Today we conclude our series entitled, “Do Unto Others.”
· In the first week of the series, we talked about extending kindness, not only others but to ourselves as well.
· In the second week, our focus was compassion. I shared the “RAIN” model with you—a way for growing in the way of compassion.
· In the third week of the series, we considered humility via the prophet Micah’s instruction to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly” with God.
· Last week, we considered “respect” as a requisite quality for those seeking to live by the golden rule. When we “respect” others, we “re-see” them as we seek to understand.
· Today we conclude our “Do Unto Others” series with a focus on the most important thing we do as Christ-followers: love. We will discover today that the entirety of the Christian religion can be summed up with this one verb. Let’s get started!
There’s a story in the ancient Jewish Talmud about a Gentile fellow in the first century AD who was considering converting to Judaism, but he had one request. He would convert only if a rabbi could teach him the entire Jewish law while he, the prospective convert, stood on one foot. So, the man went to a well-known rabbi who was known for a strict interpretation of the Torah (Jewish law). The rabbi was insulted by this ridiculous request and threw the man out.
Could you blame the rabbi? Teach the entire Torah while the man stood on one foot? Impossible. Why, there are 613 laws in the Torah—how in the world could all of that be taught in the time an average guy could stand on one foot? I get the rabbi’s frustration. I understand why he sent the ridiculous seeker packing.
Religions are known for, well, complicating matters. Christianity is no exception. It was 507 years ago when Martin Luther tacked his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenburg Church. Part of what Luther was protesting was the church’s practice of selling “indulgences” to absolve people of their sin. Who wants to end up in purgatory or worse? Anybody have a little too much to eat this week? Gluttony! That will be $50! How about envy? $75! Hate? $100! Lust? (You know the church gets squirmy around sex.) $5,000! As far as a business model goes, genius. As far as religion goes, well you be the judge.
The revolution we now know as the Protestant Reformation happened just over 500 years ago. The preeminent principle, the “battle cry” if you will of the Reformation was (in Latin) “Sola Scriptura!” Only scripture. Martin Luther said, “a simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it.”[1]
Seven years ago, as church leaders marked 500 years since the Protestant Reformation, church historian Diana Butler Bass asked her Twitter (now “X”) followers, “Protestant friends: 500 years behind us. What's your dream for the next 500?” How would you answer that question? What would be your dream for this Christ-movement for the next 500 years?
As we consider that question, I think it’s prescient to look at what was most important to Jesus. Kind of makes sense, right? Of all the things Jesus taught, what stands out as the core, central teaching? Of all the things Jesus taught, how might we simplify it in a way so that we could explain it to some smart-aleck seeker who demanded to hear the entirety of the gospel while standing on one foot?
That’s kind of what was happening in the Gospel lesson we read a moment ago. A smart-aleck lawyer from among the Pharisees confronted Jesus trying to trap him into saying something that would get him in trouble. “Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?” he pressed. Let’s hear Jesus’ reply once again, but before we hear it, I want to see if it can be given while someone stands on one foot. Ready?
“‘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.”
Folks, that’s it. That’s the Gospel in a nutshell. All the law, all the prophets, all the popes, all the reformers, all the preachers, pastors and pundits—everything Jesus lived and stood for can be summed up in these two preeminent commandments. Love God. Love neighbor. Period. And what’s the verb—the action word—in both of these preeminent commandments? Love.
Some of you tease me about preaching love all the time. You’d like to hear one of those “hellfire and damnation” sermons you grew up on every now and then. But the thing is, hate and fear wasn’t Jesus’ style. He was more of a “love” guy! So here at the Chapel, we’re more of a “love” church.
Some churches place their emphasis on what people believe. Believe all the right things, and that’s the ticket to salvation. They create complicated systems of beliefs—systematic theologies—and there’s little room for difference of opinion. If you don’t believe the right things (the right things being the way I think, of course) then you’re doomed. Sorry ‘bout your luck.
Some churches place their emphasis on how people feel. They do a good job at helping people feel ecstatic in worship, the way a well-done movie can help you feel joy or sorrow or excitement or fear. If you don’t “feel” the Spirit, then oh my, you’re doomed. Close your eyes a little harder. Raise your hands a little higher. Still can’t feel it? God must have given you a hard heart.
But my question is this: what good are feelings and beliefs if they don’t translate into action? Jesus never said, “Here’s a systematic theology for living the Christian life.” He never said, “You must feel this way or that.” He did, however, say, that the greatest commandment is this action: love. This thing called Christianity is first and foremost about what we do.
And that thing we are to do, always, is love. God first. Neighbor second.
But here’s the catch. How do we best love God? By believing certain things? By feeling a certain way? No. We love God by loving that which God loves. And what does God love? “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son.”
Yet when God’s only begotten son was hanging on a cruel Roman cross, it didn’t seem like love was winning. Maybe it seems to you like love isn’t winning in our day either.
This week I was inspired by words shared with me by one of you, written by a pastor named Steven Koski. Maybe these words will inspire you as well:
I am exhausted from feeling exhausted. How about you? Our hearts and spirits are not made to hold, absorb and respond to everything coming at us. We are a 1930’s Victorian House with sketchy electrical wiring trying to cope with too many electrically charged things plugged into our minds, hearts and spirits. It’s not surprising when our emotional and spiritual circuit breakers keep overloading. It doesn’t mean something’s wrong with our hearts if we’re struggling. It means our heart was never meant to absorb our own tragedies and the heart-wrenching tragedies of the whole world every minute of every day.
Life is heartbreaking. Our challenge is to face life’s heartbreak without becoming broken ourselves. Our challenge is recognizing not everything is ours to carry.
What if our spiritual practice is simply asking each morning, “What is love wanting me to do today?” Love is not winning in the world. Yet, love endures. The story continues. How can I be brave with my heart being a storyteller of love in my corner of the world today?”
The pastor continued with a story to illustrate what this localized love can look like.
The picture is of a woman near the town of Irpin, northwest of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. She can’t fix the war in her country, but she said, “Yes!” to what love was asking her to do saving disabled dogs from abandoned shelters bringing them to a safe place. In the face of inhumanity and evil, she represents the very best of us, the best of our humanity, the best of our collective heart.
Remember the fellow at the beginning of the sermon who was thinking about converting to Judaism, but wanted someone to explain the entirety of the law to him while he stood on one foot? And the rabbi sent him packing? The fellow didn’t give up. He made his way to Rabbi Hillel. Rabbi Hillel was known as a humble man, and a bit more lenient in his interpretation of the law than the other rabbi. So, the man found Rabbi Hillel, who accepted his request, inviting the man to stand on one foot. Here’s what Rabbi Hillel said: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation of this—go and study it!”
Remember the question posed by Diana Bass: “Protestant friends: 500 years behind us. What's your dream for the next 500?” You want to know my response? “Sola Caritas!” Only Love.
If each of us were to ask each day, “What is love wanting me to do today?” and then we would do that thing, how much better would the world be with our daily, localized, loving contributions!
So, my dear friends, what is love wanting you to do today?
[1]Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1950), p. 165.