Be the Message

October 26, 2008
Rev. Alan Claassen
Matthew 22:34-40


The scribe asked Jesus, "Which commandment is the first of all?"
Unlike the Pharisees whom we discussed last week, who tried to trick Jesus with the question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?”
there is no indication that the scribe in this week’s reading was trying to trap Jesus.
In their deep affection for the law, the scribes continually examined it from all sides as a jeweler would examine the facets of a precious diamond, always hoping to discover a treasure.
Working with 613 commandments, they would sometimes focus on one, dividing it into scores of rules tailored to particular situations. Coming from the other direction, they would try to summarize the whole of the law in one commandment or verse.
Thus Micah says, "…what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8).
Rabbi Hillel, asked to summarize the law while standing on one leg, had responded, "What you don’t want done to you, don’t do to your neighbor.
The Scribe is asking Jesus, the Rabbi, looking over all 613 commandments, which is most important?
Jesus replies, Love God with everything you have got. Love your neighbor as yourself.
This summarizes all the law and all the prophets.

The Greek word that is used in the Bible for love in this commandment is agape. It is love of all creation. It is love for humanity. It is love that goes beyond partnership and family. And it is more than affection or positive feelings.

When Jesus says that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, he is telling us to love God with all that we are and to demonstrate that love, make it real, act on it.
Jesus is also challenging us to love God with the gifts and opportunities that are uniquely ours.
Members of this church recently received a letter for this year’s Stewardship Campaign. Besides for the card that asks you to make a financial commitment to the church, there was also a Time and Talent form, that lists tasks in the church that are an opportunity for you love God with the gifts that are yours uniquely.

I am so excited with the new members who have joined the church today, and those who will be joining soon. They are new neighbors who have just moved into the neighborhood. They have seen something in this neighborhood that makes them feel at home, something that makes them feel loved, accepted, welcomed as they are and called to become something new.
These new neighbors, just by being here, just by being who they are, are going to shake up the neighborhood with their gifts. Evidence of this can be seen in the current make-up of the Stewardship Board which includes three new members and, who in concert with the other members have put together a creative Consecrating Stewardship Campaign. Who would have thought a Stewardship Board could be a place of creativity and enthusiasm?
And you, the current members of this church, are going to shake up the new members with your gifts that are a part of a 144 year old history that has made this a unique congregation in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.
There’s going to be a whole lot of shaking going on.
And what a blessing, what an opening of a new way of seeing our lives if we consider that this is God’s love echoing through us to all creation.
What I first came here, just over a year ago, I asked the question, “What in God’s name is going on here at First Congregational Church, Murphys, United Church of Christ.
There’s a whole lot of shaking going on.
Christ calls us to keep our balance with all this shaking going on with these two great commandments; love God with all that you are, and love your neighbor as yourself
The person who loves God but does not love neighbor is gravely deficient. In fact, the First Letter of John tell us that "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also" (1 John 4:20-21).
That is very tough language, given the difficulties that many of us have with particular family members or church members. Jesus expands the requirement by his definition of neighbor in the parable of the Good Samaritan. For Jewish people, living at the time of Jesus, there was no such thing as a good Samaritan and certainly no one was expected to love them. Except for the ones, like Jesus, who remember and believe as it says in Genesis 1:27, “Humankind was created as God’s reflection: in the divine image God created them;…”

Love for neighbor can fall into sentimentalism or selective love, unless it is grounded in love for God. Love of God is the first commandment, not the second. Love of God is the foundation upon which all the other commandments depend.

The United Church of Christ is a denomination where the tents of hope are wide, the table of extravagant welcome is long, and the invitation to partnership is extended to all people. We don’t decide who is neighbor and who is not. God’s love echoes through us to all creation includes all people regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, physical disabilities, political party, or how we vote in the upcoming election.
When the election is over we will need to quickly set aside ideas of winners and losers, we will need to remember that we are Christians, Americans, global citizens, in a word, neighbors.
It isn’t easy. That’s why the first commandment is to love God.

Eric Hoffer, the longshoreman-philosopher, says, "It is easier to love humanity than to love your neighbor." In other words, it is easier to love the world than to love the guy next door. It is easier to love our neighbors in theory than it is in practice.

We are called to Be the message. Love God with all you’ve got. Love neighbor as you would love yourself.

G.K. Chesterton put it this way: "The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are the same people." Loving neighbors can be difficult, but loving neighbors can also be very powerful. Love changes lives.

We are called to Be the message. Love God with all you’ve got. Love neighbor as you would love yourself.

Mother Teresa said, "Prayer in action is love. Love in action is service." Love is not a concept or a peaceful easy feeling. Love is a decision, it is a commitment born of a vision, baptized by the holy Spirit to a lifetime of learning to grow in compassion.

In our offerings of time, talents, and treasure we unite our commitment, our vision and our love for this dwelling place of God.

Let me share a story with you about love in action. It’s a simple one.
I saw a story on Bill Moyers Journal on Friday evening. Filmmaker and music lover was walking down his hometown Santa Monica beach one day when he heard a street musician playing, Stand By Me. He was stopped in his tracks. He listened until the song was done and march Johnson asked the musician if he would mind being recorded and filmed performing that song. The musician said that would be fine.


That began a project of Marc Johnson taking that film and recording around the world to street musicians who added their harmonies, the instruments, their images to this film. Stand By Me, went walking all around the world, including to the poorest section of South Africa. When the local musicians came out to play, women and children came out of their homes, and out of their despair and began dancing, and singing. Stand By Me.
Marc talked with these people in this village and his heart went out to them. He asked a local bass player, “What do you need?” The man said, “We need a music school so our children can learn to play the music.”
Proceeds from the film that will include other songs than Stand By Me will go to the creation of schools of music all around the world. Playing for Change will change communities. Loving God, with all your heart, strength, mind and spirit will change communities. Loving your neighbor as yourself will change, YOU.

Thomas Merton wrote, “We do not exist for ourselves (as the center of the universe), and it is only when we are fully convinced of this fact that we begin to love ourselves properly and thus also love others. What do I mean by loving others properly? I mean, first of all, desiring to live, accepting life as a very great gift and a great good, not because of what it gives us, but because of what it enables us to give others.

Remember your baptism, your rebirth in the Spirit of the Living God.
Remember that we were wonderfully made in the God’s reflection.
Let our actions been a sign in the neighborhood that love makes a family, mutual respect makes a family, and forgiveness makes a family.

Be the message. Love God, love neighbor, love yourself.

Let the messengers say.
Amen