November 2, 2003 - Food Bank Sunday
Guest Music: Basic Black, Boys Choir
Conversation Time
In this Gospel reading, a teacher of the law who
wants to get serious about God approaches Jesus with a question about where to
start. He's been listening to some of his colleagues trying to trap Jesus into
saying something dangerous or stupid. He's watched Jesus deftly avoid their
traps with a series of great answers. And as this law teacher listens, he is
clearly impressed. So he decides to pose a question of his own.
We aren’t told why he decided to ask his question,
but there are hints that (unlike the others who are trying to trip Jesus up) he
seems to have a deeper motive. Perhaps he asks his question out of a longing for
God ... a longing to know more deeply the God whose law he studies, discusses,
and interprets each day. Something in Jesus has raised his hopes of being guided
closer to God.
This teacher knows God's laws from the Bible, a
whole list of them. Indeed, religious leaders at the time of Jesus had
identified 613 different divine laws in the Hebrew scriptures. They agreed that
some laws like "thou shalt not murder" were heavier than lighter ones like "you
shall not eat an eagle or a vulture." But with a long list of commandments,
where should a person begin?
Which of the experts should a person believe?
Where does one who has a longing to be spiritually
healthy and vibrant, to seriously know God, where does such a one start?
This teacher of the law starts by asking Jesus the
big question: Of all of God's laws, which one is the most important? In other
words, if I want to get serious with God, where do I start?
Now people today who want to move closer to God
often ask a similar question. With all the various kinds of religions and
churches, what should I do? Folks who choose to connect with confirmation
classes or make a profession of faith, who present themselves or their children
for baptism have faced these sorts of questions.
People wanting to act on the presence of God they
experience within often take a look at their lives, and try to figure out what
they could do. Maybe God wants me to straighten out my sex life. Or maybe I
should drink less or try harder to be a better person. Maybe I should treat my
wife or husband better. Yell less at the kids. Go to church more regularly.
Others may feel drawn to social involvement in their attempt to respond to God's
still small voice within them ... perhaps work in the Neighbourhood Kitchen
Program or the food bank, or Habitat for Humanity.
Even so, some might wonder among all the
possibilities, we may find ourselves asking where to start in our effort to
respond to God. Is one thing more important than another?
It's reassuring to hear Jesus venture an answer
for that teacher of the law about which is the greatest commandment. Maybe
Jesus' answer to the teacher of the law will also help some of us know where to
begin.
In his answer, Jesus picks out two from the 613
possibilities. He takes the famous "shema" of the Old Testament ... Hear O
Israel, the Lord your God is one, love God with all you have. Then he marries it
to the one in Leviticus 19:18 about loving one's neighbor. Love God above all,
he says. Love God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind, and
all your strength. And the second greatest commandment is love your neighbor as
your self. Those two.
The teacher of the law who asked the question is
genuinely jazzed about Jesus' answer. He's impressed. That’s a great answer, he
says. Loving God above all and your neighbor as yourself is more important than
burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Loving God and loving people is what responding to
God is all about. And, you, Jesus replies, are not far from the kingdom.
But if you stop to think about it a little more
deeply, Jesus' remark about "being close to the kingdom" seems to throw
something of a monkey wrench into the machinery. Not far from the kingdom? What
does he mean? You can almost picture the teacher's face turning form admiration
to bewilderment. What do you mean, Jesus? I'm only close to the kingdom, only
close to what God is doing? Why only close?
Jesus doesn't actually say. But if we stop to
think about it, we can understand how knowing the greatest commandments is only
part of the picture. I prefer to think that Jesus liked to keep people from
thinking they had it all pinned down…that assurance isn’t a destination but a
journey…in some ways you can only ever be ‘not
far from the kingdom.’ But you can certainly be moving in that
direction.
We can know a commandment just fine, and still
have an impossible time doing as it says.
We are the sort of people who dedicate our lives
to far too many other things that compete with God, some of them good, though
not all. We pursue things like family, career, personal development, money, sex,
power. So when we hear the command about loving God with our whole heart, soul,
mind and strength, we know ourselves to be people with divided loyalties.
How are people like us ever going to be able to
set foot into God's kingdom by loving God above all?
Well, the good news from God for us this morning
points directly at Jesus. If you want to get close to God, stand beside Jesus!
Jesus made getting closer to God possible by living a life of perfect love for
God and others.
Jesus welcomed all. Those that society shunned, he
welcomed! Those whom society refused to forgive, he forgave.
The surprising news from God is that God accepts
the perfect life of Jesus in place of our failure to love God and others as we
should. Forgiveness for our failure, pure gift.
God, I want your forgiveness for not loving you
and others as I should. It’s always an act of vulnerability that brings us close
to God. Getting closer to God starts with a simple move: being vulnerable enough
to ask God to forgive the wrong things we know we've done.
When we really want to get closer to God, you can
expect something decisive to happen.
A while back I was watching part of the movie “The
Little Rascals.” You may remember how the boys in the film form a club, called
the “He-man Woman Haters Club.” They promise to hate girls and all that girls
stand for.
But Alfalfa, one of the members of the club, finds
himself powerfully attracted to a lovely little girl named Darla. He-man woman
haters club or no He-man
Woman Haters Club.
He confesses to his friend Spanky. “There is
something inside that seems to pull me toward girls. And as I get older,” he
confesses, “I think it might only get worse.” A
pull from
within.
When we are vulnerable with God we find something
inside us moving us toward loving God. People who would otherwise be inclined to
love all sorts of things besides God find themselves drawn toward God as the
most important thing in their lives.
When we admit that we are spiritual beings—persons
with the Spirit of God living within us—it is this Holy Spirit within that draws
us toward God. The Spirit of God—God's presence inside us—teaches us to sing,
“Here I Am, Lord,” and then to begin to live our lives loving and serving God,
more and more consciously.
Here’s the great thing. Moving toward God, we find
ourselves moving toward other people, too.
A colleague shared the story of a person in Toronto, whose life’s
journey was a kingdom walk. This man passed the same old woman, day after day,
as he headed off to work, a woman who lived on the street. Though he noticed her
almost every day, one day he felt the Spirit of God prompting him to speak with
her. Is there anything that I could do for you, he asked? He thought she might
ask for money or food, and he was prepared, but she didn't ask for either. I
don't need much she confided, but I sure could use a warm bath once in a while.
So do you know what he did? One afternoon each
week, this follower of Jesus opened his apartment and let this street woman take
a bath.
One more instance of the God within becoming the
God without.
We could all share all morning such heart warming
stories. The person who goes each week to minister with prisoners. The doctors
and lawyers without borders. Those who give of themselves to bring blessings to
overseas orphanages. God's Spirit moves people to live out God's love for
people.
John Wimber describes ministry this way.
"Sometimes," he says, "I will ask someone to minister to someone in need. “What
will I say?” the person sometimes says. ‘I don't have any good advice to give
them.”’
“Usually,” he says, “I tell them, ‘Don't feel like
you have to say much of anything. Just do what you can to take care of them. Hug
them, cry with them, laugh with them. Get them a dinner. Mow their lawn Shovel
their driveway. Baby-sit for them. Fix their car. All of that sort of stuff is
ministry. Ministry is as simple and as complex as serving and caring for other
people in the name of Jesus Christ.’”
The Spirit of God makes the impossible aim of
growing closer to God possible. It moves us to new heights and brings us alive
with love. The greatest and second greatest commandments are not heavy burdens,
but are the essential music of our lives tuned in gratitude to God. Amen.
This sermon is a heavily reworked and augmented
sermon originally written by Dr. John Rottman, who serves the Grace Christian
Reformed Church of Scarborough as pastor and who teaches preaching part-time at
Tyndale Theological Seminary.