The Greatest Commandment is Love [Matthew 22:34-46 - Proper 25A]

 The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Matthew 22:34-46

 

The Greatest Commandment is Love

 

The question Jesus is asked in today’s Gospel passage is hardly an easy one.  Jewish tradition holds that there are 613 laws in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Jesus is asked to pick just one.  It is like when someone asks you to identify your favorite hymn, your favorite Paul Rudd film, your favorite child.  It’s not easy.

 

And as always the stakes are high.  The Pharisees have been engaged in a war of words with Jesus for much of his public ministry.  They have been setting verbal traps in the hope that they might, once and for all, discredit this popular provocateur.  Once again, as he has in previous passages, including last week’s, the Gospel writer identifies this question, not as a mere curiosity, but as a test. 

 

If the Pharisees were the ones grading this particular test, Jesus would have passed with flying colors.  His answer was both predictable and deeply traditional.  The command Jesus cites is called in the Jewish tradition the Shema.  It is found in the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy and is the heart of Moasic teaching.  So important was this particular law, to love the Lord your God with heart, soul, and mind, that Moses commanded the people to bind it to their bodies and write it on their homes.  He commanded them to drill it into the hearts of their children and recite it without ceasing.

 

It was a fine answer.  Jesus gave a fine answer and he could have stopped while he was ahead.  But he does not.  The religious authorities asked for one commandment; Jesus gives them two.

 

He says, “The second is like the first.”  Which is to say, the two are inextricably linked.  You cannot have one without the other.  Again, Jesus appeals to the Torah; this time he cites a passage from Leviticus – the very passage we heard this morning: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

It is seems a rather innocuous addition.  But by linking these two commandments, Jesus confronts the very religious establishment that consistently criticized the transgressive depth of his love.  Jesus was accused by these same questioners of breaking some of those 613: because he healed on the Sabbath and touched the lepers and socialized with prostitutes.  Because he loved beyond all of the boundaries.  Because he believed in his bones that love, more than anything else, is the will of God, love is the way of God. 

 

It was holy people who led the offensive against love.  That is why Jesus linked these two commandments; made the two one.  Because someone needed to put a stop to pious people treating other humans like trash in the name of religious devotion.  Unfortunately, it did not stop; it still happens.  There is no shortage of self-righteous preachers dressing up prejudice and hatred in the guise of Christian piety.   

 

And yet, Jesus makes it abundantly clear in today’s Gospel that Christianity is all about love; love is the defining trait of a follower of Jesus.  In John’s Gospel he tells his followers, “They will know you are Christians by your love.”  As Bishop Curry says, “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.”  The entire Law, the hopes of the prophets, all 613 commandments are fulfilled in just these two commandments to love – to love God and to love people.

 

But love is hard because God is invisible and people are difficult.  You won’t always feel passionate love burning in your heart.  But that is OK; the love of which Jesus speaks in this Gospel is not some fuzzy feeling; it is not the love that causes wedding day jitters.  Besides, feelings are fickle; if love were a feeling, keeping this commandment would be impossible.  Our devotion would waver with song tempos, social media posts, and the behavior of our children. 

 

The love in this greatest commandment is not a sentimental notion at all.  Love is a deep commitment, heart, mind, body, and soul, to the work of God in this world.  It is less felt than it is lived.  Love is the manifestation of our relationship with God.  That is why these two commandments are impossible to separate.  To love God we must love our neighbor because God’s very nature is love.  Love is who God is.

 

Jesus’ answer in today’s Gospel was not just a clever response to his opposition; it was the rule of life that directed his every action, from crèche to cross.  He expressed the heart of God in this world.  He showed us that love is much more than an idea or a feeling; it is a deep commitment that drives us to carry on the work of Jesus in this world.  It is the very thing that touches the untouchable and loves the unlovable and embraces the enemy.  It is love that calls us to respect the dignity of every human being.  It is love that calls us to strive for justice and peace among all people.

 

It is love that Jesus calls the greatest commandment.  Because only love can transform the trauma of this broken world.  Only love can heal division.  Only love can overwhelm the pernicious forces of violence and hatred.  Only love can usher in the reign of God. 

 

Jesus isn’t asking you to memorize 613 commandments; he is giving you just two, two that are really one.  You could say that Jesus is making it very simple but, also, not at all easy.  You have only one job, one vocation, one calling in this life: that job is to love.  But it is an infinitely important job – so important that Jesus commands you to give it your all.