The Greatest Commandment

Sermon for 29th Oct 2008 (Exodus 22:21-27, Matthew 22:34-40)

‘Love…with all that you are… as you love yourself …..the Lord….. and your neighbour ‘

If I had all year to preach on this commandment, it would not be enough. We all have this changed version of the verse to put up somewhere and ponder each day, so it continues to speak after this service. I’ve broken it down into bits to talk about it. As you’ll see, it’s hard to break it down into pieces:

First, love with all that you are ….. that assumes we know what love is. Put simply it’s giving of ourselves – whether that’s to God, or to others …. it’s saying ‘Here I am’. It’s the attitude of a loving servant, or of a considerate lover, or a loving parent. It says not ‘what can we get’, but what have we to give? Our car packed up last week. Someone from St Matthew’s heard about it and have offered us their car while they are away on holiday next week. They have given what they have. I haven’t organised a Pledge card offering for St Luke’s Sunday this year, partly because in anxious times it’s hard not to be over-anxious about money, and therefore to be generous, but also because in a sense we should always be reviewing what we give to God. Could I give more now? Think about it – how much does what I give God (not the Vicar) in my regular giving, in my time, show of my love of God? And if I give, is it conditional? Let me illustrate that with this week’s joke:
A woman lost her handbag in the bustle of Christmas shopping. It was found by an honest little boy and returned to her. Looking in her purse, she commented, "That's funny. When I lost my bag there was a £10 note in it. Now there are ten £1 coins." The boy quickly replied, "That's right, lady. The last time I found a lady's purse, she didn't have any change for a reward." The boy gave, but he wanted something back. You will know people who give you something, but they expect something back. What about you? So, the first part is love with all that you are.

Second, ‘as you love yourself’. That’s assumes something – that you do love yourself. The more we know we are loved by God and by others, the more we freely give. Lovers often give spontaneously, generously, even idiotically, unconditionally, because they feel loved. The more time we spend with God, receiving his love, the more we are likely to want to give others. And when it comes to giving, exactly how we give becomes more obvious. If we imagine ourselves in someone else’s situation, all we have to ask is: 'What would I want someone to do for me?' – and then, do it. It depends on how much you know them, of course. What you want and need is not necessarily what they want and need. We use inclusive language in S Luke’s, not to meet our needs always but because some are excluded otherwise. The boy who helps the old lady across the road is only loving when he has checked whether she wants to cross the road first.

Thirdly, ‘the Lord’. One of the things I’m hearing from people leaving churches in my research this year, is that many leave because they have heard about the love of God but do not always see it in churches. Neither have they got to the place where they know the Lord well enough to cope with upset. The more we spend time with God in prayer, in reading about Jesus, God on earth, the more we understand the love of this God that we serve; his love for us, her love for others, the more likely we are to share that love with others. The Lord, who become a baby, an outcast, a servant washing feet, the one who takes the blame of the world in himself, the one who dies because he seeks justice for the poor as well as the rich. That God, that Lord, we could die for…. if we really know him (or her)

Finally, ‘and our neighbour’. ‘If I am hungry, that is a physical problem; if my neighbour is hungry, that is a spiritual problem’. Do you know your literal neighbours, the people around you in your workplace for those at work, this church (at ‘The peace’ try and meet one person you do not know yet). If we cannot know them and love them, people will not see the love of God through us. So we begin there, but as the Good Samaritan story reminds us, our neighbour is anyone we meet, in need, and some we do not. The person we raise money for through charity giving is our neighbour. Those who will be affected by global warming which we help to cause are our neighbours. Those who have next-to-nothing because we in the West demand and expect so much are out neighbours.

Leigh Hunt wrote a poem about a man called Abou Ben Adhem. Abou woke from his sleep one night and saw an angel writing in a book of gold the names of those who love God. "And is mine one?" he asked. "Nay, not so," replied the angel. "I pray thee, then," said Abou, "write me as one who loves his fellow men." The next night the angel came again and showed him the names of those who love God and Abou’s name topped the list. This poem makes the point that true love of God and true love of our fellow human beings are like two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist apart from the other. Practically speaking, true love of God and true love of neighbour are one and the same thing.