Text: Mark 12:28-34Revised Standard Version (RSV)
The First Commandment
28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 and 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.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he; 33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any question.
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
If someone were to come to you and ask “So, just what is this thing called ‘Christianity’, anyway? What’s it all about?”, how would you answer?
All you really have to do is say this: “…[Y]ou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength…[y]ou shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
That’s it. That’s all there is to it. Even the famous Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” really just restates what Jesus says to that scribe. Implied also in this is Jesus’ own mission statement: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God has drawn near.” You really can’t love God with all your heart, soul, and strength unless you’ve already decided to turn from your way and live the way God calls us to live.
But, for many of us – actually, I would say, for all of us – it seems sometimes almost impossible to really live like that. So many things get in the way that just complicate our daily existence beyond all measure. It’s no wonder that we so often feel as though we fall far, far short of fulfilling this one, simple commandment. We remember the examples of people we revere as pillars of the faith – some famous, like Albert Schweitzer, or Desmond Tutu, and some not so famous, but even more influential to us, like our own parents and grandparents, or friends, and we say to ourselves, “I can’t measure up to that. I’m just an ordinary person. I’m no one special. I’m just … me.”
And loving God with all our hearts is already too much, or so it seems. If we do that, where will we find room for anyone else? Loving our neighbor as ourselves also seems like a huge problem, because if we’re honest, sometimes we don’t love ourselves all that much! And, that being the case, how can we possibly love our neighbors?
It’s all just too hard. We feel overwhelmed by what we see as the demands placed on us to be “good Christians.” We’re not even sure exactly what that means, but we are very sure that we’re not up to the task, and we even wonder just what we signed on for. Being a disciple is just beyond us.
If we look at it that way, it is too hard. But we need to remember one thing: Jesus chose us – not because we’ve got it all together, but because we don’t.
Yes, we do need those heroes and heroines of the faith to look up to; but that doesn’t mean that who we are and what we do are less important. In fact, I would say that, in the grand scheme of things, what we do on a daily basis is actually more important – because there’s more of us, and consequently more acts of faith that happen because of us than there are of these towering figures.
Loving God, loving your neighbor, doesn’t have to be “heroic.” It just has to be genuine.
Back in 1888, a fifteen-year-old girl named Therese Martin entered the Carmelite convent in Lisieux, France. From the moment she entered that convent, she dreamed of doing great things for God. But the years came and went, and she was no closer to achieving any “great” thing than she had been on the day when she’d first set foot in the place. She was profoundly disappointed, as you might imagine.
But then one day, as she was reading that famous 13th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, she realized that God isn’t as interested in us doing “great” things as he is in us doing loving things. She wrote in her journal that day, “O Jesus…at last I have found my calling: my calling is to love.”[1]
Many years later, another nun named Theresa, the one we have come to know as Mother Theresa, wrote, “We cannot do great things, only small things with great love.”[2]
Small things, small acts often have enormous repercussions.
Back when I was about 5 or 6, my mother signed me up for piano lessons at a convent of Franciscan nuns just a couple blocks from our house. Once a week, I would ride my bike over there, push open the heavy doors of the convent, and step inside into a wholly different world. The big door would close behind me with a big, hollow boom, and I would find myself standing in a huge entry hall – cool and silent. There was a gigantic crucifix – to a little guy like me, it looked like was a hundred feet tall! – hanging on one wall. (My Mom says that, the first time I saw it, I blurted out, “What’s he doing up there?” An example, I guess, of Congregationalism colliding with Catholicism!) Eventually, gruff, old, little Sister Theodoret would open the door of the music room and usher me inside for my weekly exercise in embarrassment – you see, practicing was not my strong suit!
But for my 10th birthday, Sister Theodoret gave me a little statuette of St. Francis of Assisi, head bent down, arms cradling a couple of doves. It’s always been for me a symbol of gentleness, and peace, and love for God’s creatures. It’s become an old friend. St. Francis himself has always been one of my favorite historical and religious figures. That statuette has never been far from me ever since – it’s on my desk at home right now. Sister Theodoret has no doubt long since gone to her reward, but her little act of kindness reverberates to this very day.
Love God. Love your neighbor. That’s what faith is all about. This is where “the rubber meets the road.”
Sure, we wonder sometimes whether we’re “doing our job” as Christians – but it may be that we’re looking at it the wrong way. David Lose writes, “Faith, as Jesus describes it, is just doing your job, just doing your duty, not because of any sense of reward but simply because it needs doing. Faith, in other words, is doing what needs to be done right in front of you and this, Jesus says, the disciples can already do. Folks who feel daunted by discipleship need to hear that sometimes faith can be pretty ordinary. That’s what Jesus means, I think, by saying that if they had the faith even of a mustard seed, they could uproot and move a mulberry tree – that it really doesn’t take all that much faith to be, well, faithful.”[3]
I’ll bet that it might not even occur to some of you that going to church and perhaps just being a “good person,” being a good friend, working at jobs to keep food on the family table, doing your often unsung unrecognized everyday part to keep the world running, or any of the other ordinary things you do every day goes a very, very long way toward fulfilling the commandment we read just now.
But take a moment and think about all the good things you did just this past week, in your various roles as employers or employees, or as students, or parents, or volunteers, or whatever. In short order, you will realize that it all adds up to a mountain of good works. True, our works don’t get us into heaven, grace does; but our works as loving, faithful people do help to usher in the Kingdom of God!
And think about what we’re all going to be doing this Tuesday. Why do we go through all the work of putting on our German Dinner? It’s not “just” because it’s a fundraiser for the church. We could find other ways that are less work to raise funds. We do it, because it’s one way for us to minister to our community. There are people who come to that dinner because it reminds them of sitting at their grandparents’ tables; it evokes precious memories from days gone by. This dinner brings people together who may not have seen each other since the last one. It allows us to show our love for God and our neighbors by providing a warm plate of food and a caring environment for others – and some of them might not get that all too often. Is this a “small thing”? I don’t think so!
So – don’t fret. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing. That’s how you love God and your neighbor. It’s a beautiful thing indeed! And God knows it!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
[1] Adapted from Link, Mark, S.J., Jesus: A Contemporary Walk with Jesus, Allen, Texas, Resources for Christian Living, 1997
[2] Ibid.
[3] Lose, David, “Everyday Faith,” Workingpreacher.org, 2013, https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=2773