Just One...Love

Welcome to another week of online worship. I wanted to just start by thanking all of you for your understanding and support. None of this is easy and how we are church together now will speak volumes for the future.

As I mentioned last week, we find ourselves in the Gospel of Mark after Jesus has entered Jerusalem for the last time which means that story-wise we are past Palm Sunday (or his triumphal entry into Jerusalem). This is important because these are the final debates that Jesus has with the leaders before he is finally arrested.

What is interesting about that is that we seem to have a brief interlude as the first story today. I say that because instead of all the tricking and attempts to get Jesus to say something that would allow them to arrest him we have a scribe who comes to Jesus seeing that Jesus is actually answering all their questions quite well and wants to know what is the most important commandment.

Jesus very wonderfully answers him with a quote from . What many scholars also say is happening is very similar to a story in Jewish tradition about a man who wants to convert to Judaism but wants it summed up very briefly. So this man goes to Rabbi Shammai and says that he’ll convert to Judaism if he can tell him everything before he falls down from standing on one foot. Shammai, looks at him and sends him off because there is no way that you can sum up the Torah like that. So the man then goes to Rabbi Hillel and says the same thing. The man stands on one foot and Rabbi Hillel says, ‘do not do to anyone that which is hateful to you. That is the whole Torah. Everything else is commentary. Now go and study.’ Hillel isn’t saying that that is the end of what you need to know about faith, but that is the most important thing to know, now go and learn everything else that informs that statement.

Jesus is telling us that loving God and loving our neighbor are the most important things to do. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have to read the rest of the Bible and ignore the rest of his teachings but that those things right there are what should inform everything we read and everything we do. When we have encounters with people, when we are put in situations like social distancing from one another we should focus on what it means to love God and love one another.

So the scribe asks Jesus about which commandment is first of all. As we see Jesus responds how we just talked about. Love God…love neighbor. How many of you are counting like I am when we read this passage? Jesus pick one he says. And how many does Jesus respond with? Two! So my question is why does Jesus respond with two?

Does he respond with two because he can’t pick? Does he respond with two because you can’t boil it down to just one? What is Jesus’ motive for responding with two answers instead of just one?

Jesus even says the first is God, the second is others. What I’ve been wondering, and let me know what you think about it, is that could Jesus even though he gives two, could he really just be responding with one? I know that sounds weird but hold with me for a minute. Could Jesus be answering with two answers because they are so interconnected with one another that you cannot separate the two. If the two are inseparable then they are actually just one commandment. After all, Jesus does say at the end that there is no greater commandment, singular, than these. Perhaps if we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength then we cannot help but love our neighbor as ourself. If we know that God loves us and cares for us and forgives us then the life that we live, the way we interact with others will reflect God’s love in a way that just breathes and consumes love of our neighbor.

And I really believe that is what we need to live into right now. With the Coronavirus affecting our everyday lives, with grocery stores out of food, with people being scared and afraid, with everything else going on because of this pandemic, we need to love God so much that we cannot help but love our neighbor no matter how they are feeling or reacting to this situation. It is our love that will get us through this ordeal.

Which is why the story of the widows contribution to the temple also speaks so powerfully to us all. The authorities of the day, the government all took their money from this widow and she still gives to the temple. She loves God so much that she gives what she feels is important even though it means that she will have nothing left. Even if it means that she, whether she knows it or not, will support and unhealthy system. This woman has been taken advantage of twice and while she is left with nothing others are benefitting and profiting off her faith.

This is powerful because Jesus has just criticized the religious leaders of the day for taking advantage of widows and here Jesus witness the way the system is taking advantage of one. This woman is both an example of what it means to live out love of God and love of neighbor by giving what she has but it also points to a broken system. We too live in a world with a broken system which is most visible right now. We see people buying the essentials out of fear with the poor and the widow left with what is left on the shelves.

Fortunately we see stores implementing shopping hours for the elderly, we see people stepping up and helping those who are unable to shop by shopping for them. We too need to look around and find ways that we can help those who are falling through the cracks in the system. We are looking at ways to help others in our community and in the congregation to get by during this uncertain time.

We do this because our love of God is reflected in our love of neighbor. God loves us so deeply. God’s son is on a very clear and direct path to the cross to prove that love and secure forgiveness once and for all. This has been the plan the whole time and we are seeing it unfold. May we live into the boldness to love God so much this day, and in all the days to come in the most uncertain time, that everything we say and do, reflects the love that has first been shown to us.

We are here for the sake of the world, not ourselves. Live into that sacred gift of life knowing that with God’s help we can care for ourselves, for one another, and for this community we live in. May you feel and know the love of God as found in Christ Jesus this day and each day that we have been blessed with on this earth. Amen.