God of Love - Redeemer Episcopal Church

 Mark 12:28-34

The First Commandment

28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he 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 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 Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; 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,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

God of love, open our hearts to love you and love our neighbors as ourselves. Amen. 

I have been to quite a few churches in my short life thus far. I have never seen any church with a sign like ours. Not the sign that faces Southside Boulevard— that is the sign that speaks to the rest of the world. I’m talking about the sign made for us. It’s actually one of the first things I noticed when I drove out of the Redeemer parking lot for the first time. And I read it every single time I leave this place— “this concludes our worship. Our service now begins.” It is also the last thing folks will see at the end of the live stream today. “This concludes our worship. Our service now begins.” These two short sentences tell us a lot about who we are and what is important to this community.

I think it strikes me so profoundly because it also reminds me of a song we used to sing in campus ministry when I was in college. The song is called “Madly” and part of the verse goes “let what we do in here, fill the streets out there.” That song, like that sign, aren’t words for the people outside of our church, they are not for the world to see and hear, but they are reminders to US, to THIS community. That what happens in this building is only important insofar as it changes what we do outside of this building.  

In the story we hear this morning, a scribe comes near and hears that people are asking Jesus all sorts of questions and when he realizes that Jesus knows what he’s talking about and that he answers the questions well, he asks “Which commandment is the first of all?” And Jesus answers with a common Jewish verse, “‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 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.’” And then without being asked, Jesus goes right into the next commandment: “‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’”

Jesus tells us about the first commandment— the most important commandment. And immediately follows with the second, which leads us to believe that it is just an extension of the first. 

And that is indeed true. These commandments cannot be separated from one another in Jewish culture. They are intricately connected, unable to be untwined from one another. To truly love God is to love our neighbor. That is how the Jewish people demonstrate their love and commitment to God— by their outward expressions of love for their neighbor. 

Of course, there would be questions about who actually counts as our neighbor. Are they the people in our community? The people who look like us? The people who believe the same things we believe? The people with the same sexuality or gender or disabilities or chronic illness as us? Are our neighbors just the folks who sit in our pews? Or those who live in the apartments down the street? What about the people who live around the world? 

When this question is asked, Jesus makes clear that our neighbor is everyone. That the definition of “neighbor” is ever-widening, ever-inclusive. No one is on the “outside” of the circle of those considered “neighbor.”

And then of course there is the question of what it really means to “love” someone. Is it enough to be nice? To smile and wave as they pass us on the sidewalk? What does it mean to truly love your neighbor as yourself? For Jesus, love is carried out on the cross. It is demonstrated in the sacrifice of his very body and blood for the sake of the whole world and all of creation. Love, for Jesus and his followers, is not about niceness or tolerance, but about the life-changing, world turning love that ushers in the Kingdom of God. 

These two commandments: to love God and to love our neighbors, are the most difficult and important things we will ever be called to do as the people of God. And they are what we come here to this place to learn how to do. In the scriptures and sermon and hymns, we learn what it means to love God and one another. In this meal, we come to understand what God means by love and we are changed and remade in the image of Christ, and empowered to love one another. 

As we leave this place, we read that sign and are reminded that we have an opportunity every minute of our lives to serve our neighbors and to love our neighbors. “This concludes our worship. Our service now begins.” 

And we won’t always get it right. More often than not, we are not going to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are going to participate in systems that exploit our neighbors and we are going to disregard the health and wholeness of the people around the world. We are going to mess up and stumble. 

But that’s why we come back here. That’s why we kneel before the cross and ask for forgiveness. It’s why we turn to our neighbors and offer Christ’s peace to one another. It’s why we come back to hear the commandments again and again, why we come back to hear the story of Jesus and how he loves us. It’s why we come to be nourished by his body and blood. Over and over again. Because we are God’s hands and feet in the world today. We are the ones who called to love as Jesus loved. Because love must never end. 

Dear ones, there is too much evil in this world. There is too much death and destruction and hate in this world. 

Therefore, love must never end. We must come here to rest and be renewed and reminded and then go back into the world to continue to love. And we live in the hope that in Christ Jesus, in his life, death, and resurrection, love never does end. Love is the last word. Love is the beginning and the ending of this cosmic story. And in that hope, in that knowledge, our service now begins. Amen.