Ending
on the Greatest Note
August 18, 2013
BMC- Matthew 22:34-40
Introduction: Ending
on a Good Note
As
I was reflecting this week, I found myself thinking about the fact that how
things end is important to us. In life,
we like things to end well whether it be a chapter of our lives that closes as
we move on to another or the end of our earthly life as we pass on to the next
life. We like for things to end well.
We also
experience this in reading books and watching movies. How many times have we read what we thought
was a great book until we got to the end and we were disappointed or frustrated
with how it wrapped up? The ending
ruined the whole book for us. Or how
many times in watching a movie is it the twist ending that really made the
whole movie for us? We thought that we
knew what was happening and where things were going, but a reveal at the end of
the movie completely changed things and it was the ending that made the movie
great.
We
sometimes refer to this as “ending on a good note.” We like things to end well. We especially like difficult circumstances or
trials to end on a good note because it gives us a sense of purpose or value to
the struggle that we underwent.
Sometimes as we describe a difficult time in our past we will wrap it up
with something positive and say “It was really difficult, but at least it ended
on a good note.”
Well
this morning we come to the conclusion of another sermon series. We have spent the last 12 weeks reflecting on
the 12 most formative scripture passages for us as a congregation. We have
spent time in the Old Testament, in the epistles, and in the gospels. The
last three weeks, we focused in on formative passages within the Sermon on the
Mount. And while I hope that we
end this series on a good note this morning, it seems to me that from a certain
point of view, we are ending not just on a good note but on the greatest note
because this week we end with a passage that names the greatest commandment.
Series/Text
Background
And
so Matthew 22:34-40 seems an appropriate place to end our
series for a few reasons. In the first place, a focal point of the
passage is love which is a theme that has been present in most of our passages
in one way or another throughout the series. But more than that it seems
like an appropriate place to end the series because in this passage, Jesus is
naming the greatest commandment and a second that is like it. Perhaps we are ending with the greatest notes
in scripture.
I
say this not only because Jesus says that these are the greatest commandments,
but also because Jesus goes on to declare in this passage that all the law and
the prophets hang on these two commandments. Everything that we have been
reflecting on and more hang on these two commandments. We spent one week
reflecting on John 3:16 and we often refer to this verse as a summary of the
gospel, and in many ways it is. But here
we have not just a summary of the gospel but a summary of the whole of
scripture from beginning to end. Here we
end with the greatest commandment and a second that is like it, commandments
from which the rest of scripture hang. And
so it seems in some way like we are ending on the greatest note.
But
let’s take a moment to put this into context.
In Matthew 21, Jesus makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It’s a familiar story. Take a moment to picture it. Picture Jesus entering Jerusalem on Palm
Sunday on a donkey with crowds waving palm branches and shouting hosanna.
{Pause}
Next
He cleanses the temple, another familiar story.
Picture it. Picture Jesus
entering into the temple and seeing all that is happening there. Notice how his demeanor changes from the
celebration of the triumphal entry to the indignation of the temple
cleansing. Watch as he over turns the
tables and declares that “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of
prayer.’” Take a moment to picture it.
{pause}
Jesus
has been ministering for 3 years. He has
been teaching, healing, and casting out demons.
And for a moment it seemed that people were getting it. For a moment as He entered Jerusalem not as
an earthly king but as a humble king of God’s kingdom, it seemed that they were
celebrating what He has been saying and doing for these three years. But when He entered the temple, He realized
how much more work there was to do. He
realized that there was so much more to say and that His time was limited.
In
the rest of chapter 21 and through to the end of chapter 25, Jesus offers a
block of teaching through parables and questions. I don’t know if Jesus really felt this
juxtaposition or that it served as a motivation for what was to follow; but as
I sit with those stories side by side and I reflect on the context of what is
to follow, it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch of the imagination to think
that Jesus did feel these things.
And
so as we reflect on Matthew 22:34-40 this morning, we are in the midst of Holy
Week. Jesus has returned to Jerusalem
and things are moving to the cross. His
time is short and He knew this. And so the
words and teachings of these passages are some of the final things that Jesus
had to offer us in His earthly form. It
is a part of His ending on the greatest note, an ending that consists of His
death and resurrection.
That
is our context in Matthew but this passage has a broader context within the
whole of scripture as well. This passage
also has parallels in Mark 12:28-34 and Luke 10:25-28. In each of these three instances they begin
with a question to Jesus. In Matthew and
Mark, the question is which commandment is greatest or first. In Luke, it is a question of what one must do
to inherit eternal life.
And
in each of these three instances, the answer is that we love God and our
neighbor. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus is
the one to give the answer though His answer in Mark is a fuller response that
refers back to Deuteronomy 6 and includes “with all your strength.” In Luke, however, it is the lawyer who gives
the answer. Jesus affirms it; but then
the lawyer goes on to ask “And who is my neighbor?” This then serves as the
lead in to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
These commandments were so important that three of the four gospels
recount this teaching.
Within
Matthew 22:34-40, we have at least three clear lessons for this morning, two of
which are reflected in our final quilt block.
Here we see a heart that represents the love named in this passage. Along with that we have the word “God” and
representations of people. We are to
love God and neighbor.
Love God
And
so from this passage we learn that we are to love God. This is the first
and the greatest commandment. We are to
love God, but this is more than some warm, fluffy feeling love. This is an
active love. And it is a love that
encompasses our whole being: heart, soul, and mind.
It
is not enough for us to love God with our emotions but not our actions. It is not enough to love God with our money
but not our time. It is not enough to
love God with our work but not our free time.
We are to love God WITH ALL our heart, WITH ALL our soul, and WITH ALL
our mind. We are to love God with all
that we are.
Loves Neighbor
Along
with that, we are to love our neighbor.
We are to love not only God but all of God’s other wonderful creations. Loving our neighbor is not a tack on to the
gospel as some would try to suggest. It is central to all of
scripture. It is a second commandment that is like the first. On
these TWO commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
But
it is not just about being cordial to your neighbor. It is not just about being friendly to your
neighbor. It is not just about helping
your neighbor when they are in need. It
is about loving your neighbor as you love yourself, to the same degree that you
love yourself. In a society that places
love of self about all else, that sets a pretty high standard for what it means
to love my neighbor as myself.
All Scripture Hangs on
These
And we learn that all
of scripture hangs on these two commandments. It all comes down to
these two commandments. Perhaps at
times, it is overwhelming to imagine living out all that the Bible has for us
and yet here is an invitation to a simple but essential beginning: Love God,
Love neighbor. Because the rest of scripture flows out of these two.
It is from these two commandments that the rest of
scripture hangs . For the rest of
scripture to hang from these two commandments suggests that the rest of
scripture is supported by these two commandments like a mobile hanging from the
ceiling. We have these two commandments:
Love God, Love Neighbor, hanging at the top and then from these two all of the
rest of scripture dangles below them.
Without these two commandments, the rest of scripture comes tumbling
down to the floor.
Application
Love God. Love Neighbor. And all of scripture hangs on these two
commandments. There is much that could
be said about how we live out or apply these lessons to our faith
journey. I will offer three for your consideration this morning.
Worship Expresses Love of God
Worship Expresses Love of God
First, we love God
and express that love through our worship. When we come together
to worship, we express our love of God.
That is the purpose of worship. But
in order for our worship to be an expression of our love of God, it seems to me
that our focus in worship should be more on what God is doing in worship and
less on what I am getting out of worship or how I am being fed in
worship. Certainly, an out pouring of worship will be of benefit to us as
well; but that should not be our focus.
Our focus should be to enter worship with holy expectancy and eyes full
of anticipation for what God is doing.
A couple months
back I was having a conversation with a woman my mom’s age. She was sharing that her husband who is
retired and has been trained as a lay minister in another denomination may be
considering a call at a small church.
The church is unable to support a full time pastor so this would be on a
very part-time basis primarily doing pulpit fill and crisis visitation.
The congregation
is very traditional in its worship style, but this woman was sharing that she
is fed by more contemporary worship services.
She thought that if her husband did receive the call that she might
choose to worship elsewhere on Sunday mornings.
She wondered what I thought about the pastor’s wife worshiping in a
different church and how the congregation would receive that.
I expressed my
reservations about that approach and encouraged her to think about entering the
worship in that traditional setting with a different mindset. Rather than entering worship looking for what
she could get out of worship or how she could be fed, I encouraged her to enter
worship looking for how God was moving in that context regardless of the
worship style. Because it seems to me
that in the midst of the various styles of worship, God is present and God is
moving and if we can go into worship with our eyes and ears open for what God
is doing, our preferences of style in worship become secondary and our focus
shifts from ourselves in worship to God.
We express our love of God through worship.
Service Expresses Love of Neighbor
Service Expresses Love of Neighbor
Second, we express our love of
neighbor through service. Now as
Anabaptist/Mennonites this may appear on the surface to be obvious and second
nature to us. But I would like to
suggest this morning that in order for our service to be an expression of love
of our neighbor, it seems to me that we need to do more than enter a situation,
provide aid and then depart. If our service is to express love of
neighbor as our self then our service must expresses a deep love of neighbor
that involves mutuality and vulnerability.
If we are to serve as an expression of love of neighbor as our self, we must
minister to each other through deep listening and sharing of our lives.
It involves vulnerability in which we take the risky move of developing
relationships in our service and sharing of who we are beyond the apparent need
that we are addressing.
This is a growing edge for me. One sided service in which I go in help with
someone’s obvious need and then leave feeling better about myself is usually
pretty easy for me. But service in which
I build a relationship with someone in need, in which I listen deeply, make
myself vulnerable in my sharing, and perhaps am even ministered to is much more
difficult.
In my times of serving at Our Daily Bread, I have seen that many of you
are much more gifted at this than I am.
Beyond serving a meal and getting the job done, feeding the hungry; you
sit down and eat with the people who come in.
You talk with them and listen deeply to their stories and
struggles. You make yourselves
vulnerable to them and give them a sense of dignity.
Next month, we will have the opportunity to love our neighbor as our
self through service not only at our daily bread, but also through the West
Liberty Cares Food Pantry. To do this,
we need donations of food to share with those who are in need. But more than that, we need people to
sign-up to be present to distribute the food.
For those of you who are able and called to serve on one of the days, I
invite you to go into that space as an incarnational presence of God’s
love. Go in praying that God would use
you to show love to your neighbor beyond the surface service of giving
food. But in what ways you are able and
time allows to go into the service with eyes and ears that are attune to what
God may be doing through this ministry and with a willingness to share deeply
of yourselves even to the point of vulnerability and mutuality. We express our love of neighbor through
service
All of
Scripture Shapes Us
Third, we need to approach all
of scripture as formative in our lives. If all of the law and the
prophets hang on these two commandments, then all of scripture, even the
difficult passages, should shape and form us. This requires intentionality on
our part.
We often approach scripture as information or truths for us to
master. And we should go to scripture for answers and we should study and
learn it. These are good things, but rather than attempting to master
scripture, we should allow scripture to master us, to shape and form us.
We should not simply study a passage, learn its content, and check it off our
list as if it no longer has anything for us. We should live with and
dwell with passages recognizing that a lifetime is not enough time for us to be
fully formed by any passage.
“E. Dixon Junkin, Associate for Discipleship and Spirituality in the
Presbyterian Church (USA), reminds us that our commitment is not to 'study'
Scripture but to 'listen' to it. It is not as if Scripture were a subject like
mathematics, a useful tool that we learn, nor is our goal to analyze Scripture
as if it were any other piece of literature. We are not out to learn Scripture as
we would various historical facts. The point of our reading is less to master
the words of the Bible than to offer ourselves to be mastered by the Word to
whom they point.”[1]
Frank Rogers shares that “In base Christian communities, [people] meet
to reflect on the neighborhoods and society within which they live, to
interpret their lives by reading and reflecting on the Bible, and to act
together in faithful response to God.
“One such group is made up of middle-aged mothers living in the barrio
of East Los Angeles. ‘I am very afraid for myself and my children; what are we
going to do?’ asked Lupe at one of their meetings. All agreed that they shared
her fear; in their own front yards, they had seen beatings and shootings, drug
sales and muggings. As was their habit, they turned to the Bible for help. The
assigned text that evening was the story of Jesus calming the storm (Mark
4:35-41). They mused over the disciples' fear, and their own.
“’I think that the sea is the barrio at night,’ one finally said, ‘and
the wind is the gang kids with their drugs and their guns. If we had faith, we
wouldn't be afraid of walking past them, or to ask them not to disturb us.’ But
what would faith like this look like in their barrio-sea? That night, they
formed a Campaign for Peace. They all agreed to sit on their porches at the
same time that week; and when that time came, the astonished gang members grew
uncomfortable and decided to go somewhere else.”[2]
These women went beyond knowing the story. They went beyond learning the facts. They lived with the text and they allowed it
to shape them.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Today we end our 12 scriptures
series on the greatest note. We end with
the greatest commandment and a second that is like it. Love the Lord your God with all of your
heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. All of the law and the prophets hang on these
two commandment. Take a moment to
consider how your faith journey has been shaped by these realities.
{Pause}
With this in mind, I invite you in
the coming week to love God through worship that looks for what God is doing in
our midst. I invite you to love your
neighbor as yourself through service that seeks mutuality and risks
vulnerability. And I invite you as you
engage with scripture note to approach it as something to be mastered but as
something to master you. Let’s pray
together. {Pray}
Amen.
[1]
--As quoted in The Gospel and Our Culture 5
(June 1993), 7. http://www.homileticsonline.com
[2]
Frank Rogers Jr., Discernment, Practicing Our
Faith (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997), 116-17. Used by permission
of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. . http://www.homileticsonline.com
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