The Message, October 29, 2023: "You Shall Love," Matthew 22:34-40

Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
October 29, 2023

 

“You Shall Love”
A Message by Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
Matthew 22:34-40

            Who do you hate?

            Yes … I am actually asking you to ponder this question. Who do you hate? Who makes your blood boil? Who makes you grind your teeth and clench your fists? Who do you actively try to avoid because you just cannot stand them?

            Yes … spend a few moments here.

            Do you hate the neighbor who is constantly making noise?

            Do you hate the inconsiderate co-worker that uses your stuff or ingratiates themselves with the supervisor taking credit that they do not deserve?

            Do you hate the homeless person who continually asks you if you have a couple of bucks to spare?

            Do you hate the political candidate from the opposing party because they have policy ideas that differ from yours?

            Do you hate someone who has caused you significant harm or loss? Do you hate someone who has taken someone, or something, precious from you?

            Who do you hate?

Now … WHY? Why do we hate? What is it that makes us hate?

            We have been taught how to hate. We have been conditioned to hate. Hate divides us and defines who is the “other.” Hate inspires us to support those who are like us, and those who think like we do. Hate is corrosive and destroys community.

            Years ago, I participated in a program at a local high school at which a mother addressed the students about the dangers of drunk and distracted driving. Her son was killed by a drunk driver, but she shared that she did not hate the young man that killed her son. Like it says in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s quote in the bulletin, hate was too heavy a burden to bear. Hating the young man would not bring her son back. Offering grace set herself … and the young man … free.

            You may be aware of another example that is very recent, very raw. Leroy Walker, father of Joseph Walker one of the victims killed in Lewiston, was interviewed repeatedly as the events unfolded. After the news came out that Robert Card’s body was found Leroy made a statement that I will paraphrase here.

            Through his tears, he said: “I cannot hate him. That is not the way that I was brought up. Hate does not do any good. Hate will only cause harm. Hating him will not bring my son back. He was not born to be a killer. Something happened to him.” Even a man with feelings so raw had no place in his heart for hate.

            Last week, I said that the Way of God begins and ends with love. In today’s passage, the Pharisees were once again trying to trick or trap Jesus. They knew that it was forbidden for a rabbi to judge which laws were greater than the others. The rabbis could expound upon the laws, interpret the laws, but they were not permitted to rank them. And this time, Jesus answered their question directly.

            He said: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

            Jesus cited the Sh’ma, Deuteronomy 6:5, the verse from scripture that every faithful Jew offers every single day. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

            And then he added Leviticus 19:18: “Love your neighbor like yourself.”

            This is the essence, the foundation of their faith. It is so foundational that many of the Pharisees had those passages of scripture in the phylacteries that they wore on their arms or foreheads. Jesus cited the passages that the Pharisees literally carried around with them … yet did not seem to actually follow.

            The Pharisees sought to “test” Jesus with their questioning. The only other time that the particular word for “test” was used in Matthew’s Gospel was in the account of Satan “testing” Jesus in the wilderness. Did the Pharisees not see the irony of the moment? Were they loving Jesus as themselves as they tested him?

            The greatest commandment … the primary commandment … is to love. Love God with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves. The faithful Jews recite those words every day. Christian preachers and pastors preach and teach about it all the time. How many sermons have you heard on the subject? How many times have I offered these messages myself?

            Yet … love still escapes us.

            The Greatest Commandment … the Primary Commandment instructs us to love God with complete commitment. Total Love. Not partial love or sporadic love. Our love of God should be at the center of our thoughts. It should be the dynamic behind our actions. It should be the source, the genesis, of our emotions. Loving God is our total commitment to living life with God at the center.

            But how do we love God? How do we love something … someone that is so IMMENSE, so unimaginable? How do we love someone beyond our comprehension?

            By loving our neighbors. We love humanity because we love God.

            We go back to the basis of last week’s lesson, Genesis 1:26: “Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness.”

            If we believe that, if we truly believe that humanity was created in the image of God, then we must love ALL humanity. God did not create SOME humans in God’s image. God created all of humanity in the image of the divine. Therefore, the love of humanity has to be with the same level of commitment that we love God … total and complete.

            Here is where we look at Jesus and say, “Really, Jesus? How do you expect us to do that? We are not you. We are not perfect like You are perfect. We are not Love Incarnate. We struggle, Jesus. Loving can be so very difficult.”

            To which Jesus would say, “Dear Ones, loving is much easier than hating.”

            You have likely heard in those numerous sermons on this passage, that the word used for “love” here is “agape.” It is not romantic love or affection. Agape is the highest form of love. It embraces a profound sacrificial love that transcends and persists regardless of circumstance.

            The essence of agape therefore is not having feelings of affection for our neighbors. Rather, it is about commitment. Warm feelings and affection may fill our hearts and minds and make us feel good. But this commandment does not call for warm feelings. Instead, it demands a stubborn and unwavering commitment to the care and well-being of our neighbors. To love our neighbors is to imitate God by taking their needs seriously.

            Even more, agape is not a passive emotion. Agape is ACTIVE mercy … ACTIVE loving kindness. Agape is characterized by patience and generosity.

            What Jesus was telling us in this familiar passage is that loving is not a feeling. Loving is an action. Loving is a choice.

            If we love God with all of our heart and all of our strength and all of our mind, then we will make the conscious decision to choose to love our neighbors. We may not always LIKE them, but we have made a commitment to care about them and to care for them.

            Jesus tells us: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:43-45a)

            Love is a choice. We can choose to love, or we can choose to hate.
We can choose to love our neighbors, or we can ignore their needs.

            In a world where so many are hurting, let us choose love. Amen.

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