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October 23, 2011 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Matthew 22:34-40

'The Greatest Commandment? Forget That! Dr. Ted H. Sandberg

They were at it again doing their best to trap Jesus. Matthew tells us that 'When the Pharisees heard
that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one oI them, a lawyer, asked him a
question to test him. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?` In Mark`s Gospel,
this question is asked by one oI the scribes aIter Jesus had answered the Sadducees wisely. When
Jesus gave the scribe the same answer that we have recorded here, the scribe responded, '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 oneselI,` this is much more important than all whole burnt oIIerings and sacriIices.`
When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You are not Iar Irom the kingdom oI God.`
That`s not what`s going on here in Matthew`s Gospel. Here, the question is another attempt to test
Jesus, to trap Jesus, to put Jesus on the spot. 'Teacher, which commandment in the law is the
greatest?` Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind.` This is the greatest and Iirst commandment. And a second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourselI.` On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.`
It`s not exactly clear how this plot was supposed to work. Perhaps the Pharisees, like the Sadducees oI
the preceding passage, are trying to tempt Jesus into making a statement that will eliminate a part oI
his popular support. Possibly Matthew is thinking oI a view common in some circles oI Iirst-century
Judaism that, since all commandments are oI equal importance in God`s eyes and are to be observed
solely Ior God`s glory, it`s sinIul to argue that some are more important than others on the basis oI
some merely human standard oI judgment. As I`ve said, it`s not really clear here what the Pharisees
are up to, other than they`re up to no good.
What we know is that they`re attempt to trap Jesus Iails again. They`re told, 'You shall love the Lord
your God, and 'You shall love your neighbor as yourselI. Would the Pharisees who asked Jesus the
question have been surprised at Jesus responses? Maybe, but Jesus himselI wasn`t the Iirst one to
summarize the law this way, wasn`t the Iirst to bring these two commandments together as a summary
oI human obligation. The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs reIers Irequently to loving the Lord and
the neighbor. For example, one passage reads: 'But love the Lord and your neighbor, and show
compassion Ior the poor and the weak.
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Indeed, in Luke`s Gospel the identiIication oI these two as
the greatest commandments is attributed not to Jesus but to the lawyer who questioned him. Jesus
agreed the lawyer had given the right answer, but it was the lawyer who summarized the law that way.
Jesus hadn`t necessarily come up with something new here, something the leading scholars oI the day
hadn`t already concluded.
What Jesus did do was to vastly increase the meaning oI these 2 commandments. I just alluded to the
lawyer`s summary oI the Law in Luke`s Gospel. That`s the same passage where that lawyer, in an

1. Filson, Floyd V., The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Harper`s New Testament Commentaries,
Harper & Row, Publishers, San Francisco, 1960, p 238.


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attempt to justiIy himselI, goes on to ask, 'And who is my neighbor? Jesus then told what we know
to be the story oI the Good Samaritan. He concluded by asking, 'Which oI these three, do you think,
was a neighbor to the man who Iell into the hands oI the robbers? The lawyer had little choice but to
answer, 'The one who showed him mercy. Jesus then said to him, 'Go and do likewise.
The neighbor wasn`t the one who was obeying the purity laws. The neighbor wasn`t the one who was
on his way to worship God. The neighbor wasn`t the one who was obeying the Iirst oI the two great
commandments. The neighbor was the one who showed mercy to whom? To the enemy. The
neighbor was the hated Samaritan who had compassion on the Jewish man who`d been beaten and
robbed. Who is our neighbor? Jesus` teaching is clear. The one who is in need. How does Jesus
summarize all 613 laws within the Law oI Moses? You shall love God with everything you have.
You shall love those in need as you love yourselI.
And how do many respond to Jesus` summation oI the Law? 'The Greatest Commandment? they
say! 'Love our neighbor? Forget that. I have enough trouble loving my Iriends, let alone my nosey
neighbor. I have enough trouble, to be honest, even loving my Iamily. How can I ever love those
people down the street who won`t stop their dog Irom barking at 3 o`clock in the morning? And those
in need? How can Jesus want me to love that dirty, smelly beggar sitting in the downtown Plaza?
Why doesn`t he get a job instead oI asking Ior handouts? Love him, like I love my spouse? Love him,
like I love my children? 'Forget that, we say. 'Jesus may have summarized the Law that way, but
that`s asking too much. We can`t love our neighbor as ourselves, as our Iamilies, as our Iriends.
What`s worse, even loving those whom appall and disgust us isn`t enough. We also know that we`re
suppose to love those whom we hate, love even our enemies. 'Love God and love your enemy as
yourselI, Jesus could`ve said here. That really makes this loving business crazy, doesn`t it?
Maybe we ask in our hearts, how can Jesus ask this oI me? How can I love my enemy, love those in
need, love my no-good neighbor or even my 'great Iriend neighbor? How can I love those Jesus
wants no, commands me to love, as I love myselI?
BeIore we move ahead on this and look a little more closely at what Jesus is saying here, let me warn
you that I don`t believe there`s some sneaky way to get out oI obeying this teaching Irom Jesus. I
don`t see that there`s any scholarly 'slight-oI-hand trick that can change the meaning oI Jesus`
summation oI the Law. I don`t see any way oI getting us oII the 'obedience hook here. We`re to
love God and love our neighbors love those in need, love those whom we Iind disgusting, love the
Tea Party member and the Occupy Wall Street member alike. We`re to love even those we may hate.
That`s the bottom line here.
The only way we`re going to be able to do this is through God`s Holy Spirit. Only by being open to
the Holy Spirit will we be able to love our enemies, love that neighbor who keeps letting her dog use
our Iront yard Ior its personal use, love those homeless people that walk the downtown streets and love
those Hispanic teens who Irighten us with their appearance. To be honest, it`s only through the giIt oI
the Holy Spirit that we`ll truly be able to Iully love not only our Iamily, but even love ourselves. So as
we consider what it means to love, it`s helpIul to keep in mind that it`s God`s Spirit that makes it
possible to love. II we Iind ourselves not loving people, it`s time to ask God in prayer Ior the Holy
Spirit`s to help us love. So how do we even go about beginning this business oI loving our neighbor?
We begin by understanding that love in this passage isn`t some 'warm, Iuzzy Ieeling. Jesus wasn`t
talking about some romantic Ieeling when he said that the Law commands us to love God and our


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neighbor. He didn`t want us to be able to go up to our neighbor and throw our arms around him or her
and say, 'I love you, man. That`s not how Jesus was using the word love. Jesus meant not a love
that we 100, but a love that we /4 Love is a matter oI doing, not a matter oI Ieeling. We are to /4
love. I suppose iI we Ieel love, that`s a bonus.
What does 'doing love entail? I think at the very least, doing love entails respecting our neighbors`
rights and choices. Even this minimal command gives us problems many times though, doesn`t it?
We don`t necessarily like respecting the choices oI those who are diIIerent Irom us. People oI other
religions, creeds, color, class, or sexual orientation oIten threaten our selI-concept, and we react to
them by trying to make laws against them, or trying to keep them as Iar away Irom us as we can. Read
the 'Tell It to the E-R column in the paper and our intolerance to those who are diIIerent leaps out.
Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center counted 1,002 hate groups in the U.S. last year, 68
oI which were in CaliIornia. They include groups like the American National Socialist Party (Neo-
Nazi) in Corning, and the American Front (a racist skinhead group), and the Nation oI Islam (a Black
Separatist group) both in Sacramento.
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I wonder iI the churches in CaliIornia love people enough to
balance out those kinds oI hate groups, iI we Christians could be called 'love groups. Will they
'Know We Are Christians By Our Love as our choir asked this morning? Tough questions, aren`t
they? We don`t necessarily have to 'Ieel warm and Iuzzy with those who are diIIerent. We don`t
have to agree with them, but Jesus teaches us to /o love. We can do this love only through the Holy
Spirit.
What else does it mean to love God and love our neighbor as our selI? 1 John says, 'How does God`s
love abide in anyone who has the world`s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet reIuses
help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. In similar manner,
James writes, 'What good is it, my brothers and sisters, iI you say you have Iaith but do not have
works? Can Iaith save you? II a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily Iood, and one oI you says to
them, Go in peace; keep warm and eat your Iill,` and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is
the good oI that? So Iaith by itselI, iI it has no works, is dead. To /o love is to seek to meet the
needs oI those around us, not only in Chico, but throughout the world.
I know that we`re committed to this kind oI love here. Our danger comes Irom getting worn down and
worn out. Compassion Iatigue is what it`s called. The needs are endless, and our strength and
resources are not endless. We want to Iix the problem and move on. But the kind oI needs both John
and James are talking about are endless, are ongoing, and require patience and stamina on our part.
Only through the giIt oI the Holy Spirit will we be able to continually seek to help those in need.
It`s not only Christians who love neighbors. Non-Christians love, too. Sometimes they even love
others better than Christians do because they may not have the strings attached to their love that we
sometimes do. However, no one but those who believe in Jesus Christ can share the hope, the joy, the
peace, and the love that is ours through the Holy Spirit. It`s Christians who teach about the
Iorgiveness that`s made possible through the death and resurrection oI Jesus, a Iorgiveness that comes
not because oI anything we`ve done or hope to do, but comes Ireely through God`s grace. And it`s
the Christian who proclaims liIe everlasting with Jesus Christ to all who seek to Iollow Jesus.

2. From Southern Poverty Law Center web site: http://www.splcenter.org/


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It`s because Jesus has Iorgiven my sins and continues to Iorgive my sins, that I seek to Iorgive those
who sin against me. It`s because Jesus loves even me that I seek to love others. I conIess that I can do
this only through the giIt oI the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit`s strength and guidance, I get
worn out, and burned out, and I run across people that I just can`t stand and I want to turn away Irom
them. Only God`s Spirit can help me love them. Without God`s Spirit, we hear Jesus` wonderIul
summation oI the Law, and we say, 'That`s too much Ior me. Forget that, Jesus. But through God`s
Spirit, we can do wondrous things, even love those who hate us, even share the Good News oI Jesus
Christ with all those around us.