| 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?” Jesus answered, “The
first is, ‘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.’ The second is
this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There
is no other commandment greater than these.” 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’; 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.” 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. (Also Ruth 1:1-18) |
|
| Mark 12:28-34 |
| Last Tuesday I was over at St. Mary’s Parish Center
as an attendee of the Livingston County Jail Ministry Clergy
Day. The theme for the day was “Preventative Measures
for Youth” and the new mentoring program for inmates
ages 16 to 21 was highlighted. The Rev. Jeff Carter, a guest
speaker who was the former senior chaplain at Attica Correctional
Facility, told us a story about “Grandma.” Shortly
after Rev. Carter began his ministry a woman, who would later
come to be known by all the inmates and all the staff as Grandma,
began to come to the Wednesday evening Bible Study and worship.
Attica is a closed down maximum security prison system for
the most part. Even the volunteers Rev. Carter had coming to
visit inmates were intimidated by the guards. But Grandma remained
resolute and dignified and came week after week. |
| The interesting thing about Grandma was that she didn’t
speak much during worship or the Bible study. She was not a
Bible teacher or a gifted counselor. Nor was she skilled in
prison ministry. Every week Grandma simply showed up. She came
to worship and to stand with those in need, to understand their
place and sympathize with them. She was there on Wednesday
evenings more regularly than Rev. Carter. Grandma loved God
and neighbor enough to risk what was unknown. Her risk changed
the prison system at Attica. The men felt like she was family
after awhile; the most loving family some of them had ever
known. The guards came to regard her with respect and a gentleness
rarely seen. Grandma personified love of God and neighbor.
Her presence carried compassionate humanity to the men and
guards. |
| Of all the ways that we could define ourselves, whether by
political party, gender, athletic or academic achievement,
economic standing, family birth order, or by ethnicity, Jesus
taught that the defining marker of those who follow the one
true God is a life lived according to these words: (1) ‘Hear,
O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your might' (Deut. 6:4) and 'Love your neighbor as yourself’(Lev.
19:18). There is no commandment greater than these.’ |
| There is no better way of being human in relation to God!
Shema means “hear” or “listen” and
the people hear so they can learn God’s will and then
live accordingly. |
| The scribe asks Jesus for one commandment, he gets two bound
together in return. Love of God through worship alone cannot
fulfill the command. Jesus appends the second command, as did
Israel’s Rabbis before him, by citing Leviticus 19:18.
There love of neighbor meant that Israel could not exploit
the less powerful and the stranger in its midst! Love of neighbor
in the Levitical context is both an individual and communal
call. It’s justice in the gates for the poor and unprotected
and individual households being generous to those in need.
It’s the solo acts like those of the Good Samaritan and
the whole community’s call to provide a jubilee year
for to set free the oppressed! |
| In Mark the scribes are part of the temple system and their
job was to interpret the scriptures. “The wise (scribe)…cannot
get closer to God’s reign by intellectual sparring with
Jesus. Though wiser than his colleagues, the scribe is not “wise” enough
to recognize that he was part of a religious system in the
temple” (2) that oppressed instead of liberated his
neighbors. “You
are not far from the kingdom of God.” Jesus told him.
What does that mean? Agreeing with Jesus alone does not show
forth God’s reign. “Not far”—it’s
like wanting to train for a marathon, but choosing to stand
by as a spectator instead of running because you just can’t
commit to the training. Not far from the kingdom of God leaves
us in spectator status, watching others follow their beliefs
as we stand aside and miss the joys and challenges of living
within God’s reign. |
| Jesus was saying to the scribe—yes, you get it! You
know practicing love of God and love of neighbor is more important
that sacrifices in the temple. Now live what you believe. |
| The greatest commandment is love. We know we can’t
just talk about love as a theory. Words aren’t enough
if our actions disprove them. In the biblical understanding “Love,
is more than a feeling. It finds expression in concrete acts
and on a corporate level takes on the character of justice,
passion, avid commitment, zeal.” (3) Knowing the Lord
is our God, the Lord alone, shapes every aspect of our day
from rising to lying down to sleep! From how we converse with
others to what we teach the children in our midst. When people
enter our house, they’ll know biblical hospitality if
we practice it. They’ll sense our love for others if
we engage in practices of prayer that replace fear of others
with love. |
| In the time of the Judges, Ruth lived out her love of God
and neighbor. She was socially and economically weak. She had
no power! If you continue to read Ruth this week you’ll
find that her devotion and loyalty to Naomi helped her to stand
out among the women that work in Boaz’s fields. Through
her story that we do not need power or money or prestige or
even to know the scriptures back and forth to love God and
neighbor—Ruth didn’t have any of this. She practiced
risky love, putting her mother-in-law before herself. “She
stands with one in need and sets a new history in motion for
the two women. She was willing to leave the world as she knew
it behind for the world that God will show her.” (4) Her love thwarted a system that would have left Naomi destitute. |
| “About a century after Mark wrote, the early Christians
had a well-known and well-deserved reputation for social generosity
that built bridges of community rather than walls of separation.
Tertullian in the 2nd century C.E., wrote, ‘Our care
for the derelict and our active love have become our distinctive
sign before the enemy . . . See, they say, how they love one
another and how ready they are to die for each other.’” (5) Early Christians went to prostitutes, to prisoners, to widows,
to orphans, to people of other faiths, to provide food, protection
and shelter. They knew love of God and neighbor to be a radical,
boundary-breaking call upon their lives. Unfortunately when
the church became part of the Roman Empire we lost some of
our zest for love of God and neighbor. We began to feel more
triumphal in our beliefs and the rightness of our ways, than
we were concerned with challenging whatever society we live
in by loving God and neighbor. |
| Last week I told you a story about the author Timothy Tyson
from his book Blood Done Sign My Name. (6) This week I want
to tell you a bit about his father Vernon Tyson who was a Free
Methodist minister in North Carolina who believed in civil
rights for all, desegregation, and racial equality. In the
late 1960s Rev. Tyson took Timothy’s older brother and
him to view an evening KKK rally from a hill close enough to
see, but far enough away not to be seen. Rev. Tyson wanted
to show his sons what hate looked like and what evil did to
people. All three sat silently in the car and watched clansmen
hood while their families watched. They watched hate speeches
and saw the clansmen set a cross on fire. On the way back to
their home the Tyson’s sang together the song we will
sing in a few minutes as our Family Sunday Hymn. “Jesus
loves the little children, all the children of the world, Red
and yellow, black and white, all are precious in his sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world!” |
| Rev. Tyson sought not only to teach his children what is
wrong by example of watching the Klansmen, but also what is
right. The Tyson boys left knowing they were somehow called
to love all God’s children; even those who hate others. |
| Love of God and neighbor is the most challenging commandment.
That is why it is first. May God empower us to hear and live
the Shema each day. |
| Amen |
| Beth E. Godfrey - November 5, 2006 |
| Central Presbyterian Church, Geneseo, New
York |
| 1. http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20061030JJ.shtml,
Dan Clendenin |
| 2. Brian K. Blount and Gary W. Charles in Preaching Mark
in Two Voices (WKJP: Louisville, 2002) 197. |
| 3. Texts for Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary Based on
the NRSV – Year B. (574-5) |
| 4. Preaching Through the Christian Year: B. (455-6) |
| 5. http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20061030JJ.shtml,
Dan Clendenin. |
| 6. Timothy B. Tyson, Blood Done Sign My Name (Three Rivers
Press: NY, 2004). |
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