St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen Jersey City NJ
October 26, 2014
Year A, Proper 25:
The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46
The Essential Thing is Love
As
most of you know, before I got into the priest business I was a teacher. It was
a job I loved very much and, in some ways, I still miss teaching a lot.
Lately
I’ve been thinking about my teaching days more than usual because of my role in
A Legend of Communipaw where I play
me – or the old me: “Mr. Murphy” who
in the play tries to teach his mixed-grade class about the history of the Dutch
in New Jersey.
I
may be out of the teaching biz but because I have a bunch of teachers in my
family and among my friends, and because it’s an important issue for all of us,
I try to keep up on issues in education.
I’ve
been looking at who’s running in our Board of Education election next week. And
I’ve also been following a little the debates and controversies around the
Common Core standards – the controversial attempt to set national standards for
what our kids are able to do – standards for what they should know.
Whatever
you might think of Common Core, it’s an attempt to answer one of the oldest and
most vexing questions in education: what is essential?
I
thought about that question a lot as a history teacher – especially after a few
years when I realized that although we covered a whole lot of material in
class, kids seemed to usually only remember my goofy jokes.
So,
in later years I focused on a few key themes, looking at various events as
examples of those themes at work rather than as just isolated events.
To
be honest, I’m not sure if that approach worked any better.
What
is essential?
Of
course, it’s not only in school that we ask that question.
I
bet many of us ask that question all the time when we’re at work. What is
essential for me to get done today? And what can wait for tomorrow or next
week?
And
I’m sure we ask that question at home, too.
What
is essential for me to get done in the house before I go to sleep tonight?
Parents
have to always ask what is essential for their children: dinner, homework,
bath, brushed teeth, a good night’s sleep, and on and on.
What
is essential?
We
ask that question here at church, too, as we make decisions about how we spend
our limited resources – your pledges and the gifts of people who have come
before us - to build God’s kingdom in this place.
What
is essential?
And,
of course, we ask that question when it comes to our faith. And, I’d guess,
it’s a question asked by people of every faith.
What
is essential?
Over
the centuries, lots of Christians have taken a crack at figuring out what is
essential for us Christians.
In
just a little while we will stand and say the Nicene Creed, developed by
bishops back in the 4th Century after a messy, rather political
process, to answer the question: what is essential for Christians?
The
answer they came up with was that it is essential to believe certain statements
about God and the church.
For
the past few weeks some of us have been reading Being Christian by Rowan Williams. What is essential? In his book
Williams says that the essentials are Baptism, the Bible, Eucharist and prayer.
It’s a fine book and a pretty good list.
What
is essential?
Well,
in today’s gospel passage, we get to hear Jesus’ answer to this question.
Jesus
is in Jerusalem being challenged by the religious leaders of the day.
This
time, we’re told, that the Pharisees send one of their own, a lawyer, to test
Jesus, asking, “…which commandment in the law is greatest?”
This
was a potentially tough question because then and now the Torah, the Jewish
Law, contains 613 commandments. That’s a lot, which, naturally, led to the
question: what is essential?
Other
Jewish leaders answered that question, maybe most famously the great sage
Hillel (who lived just a little earlier than Jesus) who said: “What
is hateful to you do not to your neighbor; that is the whole Torah, while the
rest is commentary on it; go and learn it.”
What
is essential?
Jesus
says:
“You
shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)
And,
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18)
Jesus
says the essentials are love of God and love of neighbor, which are really two
sides of the same coin, aren’t they?
Jesus
says the essential thing is love.
Now,
maybe in school one of the essentials we learned in English class were the
parts of speech, you know, being able to identify a noun, verb, adjective,
adverb, and so forth.
So
how about love? Which part of speech?
Well,
for Jesus it’s pretty clear that love is a verb.
The
essential thing is love.
And,
love doesn’t mean just sitting around thinking loving thoughts about God and
our neighbors.
The
essential thing is love – and love is a verb.
So,
loving God and loving our neighbor means doing – means taking action to express
that love.
Love
is praying for the suffering people all around us, praying for people we know
and don’t know, especially those who have no one to pray for them.
Love
is forgiving those who hurt us.
Love
is caring about and actually helping the people we don’t like, especially - hate
to tell you - the people who drive us absolutely nuts.
Love
is calling up or visiting someone who is in trouble or suffering.
Love
is digging deep and sharing what we have with those in need – maybe by making
financial contributions or remembering – finally
remembering - to bring items for the food pantry.
Love
is taking a chance on a different, better future for ourselves and the people we
cherish.
Love
is the essential thing – and love is a verb.
Throughout
our lives – in school, at work, at home, at church – it is so easy to lose
sight of what’s most important – to forget what is essential.
So
today, Jesus gives us a reminder.
The
essential thing is love of God and love of neighbor.
The
essential thing is love.
And
love… love is a verb.
Amen.
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