Sermon 11-2-03
Who Wrote the Book of Love? - Mark 12:28-34
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Today, the first Sunday in November, is All-Saints Sunday. In our Protestant ears, we perk up a little when we hear talk about saints. Saints? We don't have saints do we? But on the other hand, as soon as we ask the question, a million possible responses pop into our heads, as we think about the people who have touched our lives. Indeed, even in this week, after the passing of our dear friend Al Spawn, it doesn't seem much of a stretch to talk about saints. Probably, we all have that individual who we still miss dearly, who we hold up in our hearts and minds. For me, this person has been my grandfather, Millard Mudge. Grandpa wasn't a leader. He didn't start any great movements, he didn't make headlines very often. But when he died fiver years ago, and over 500 people showed up for his calling hours and funeral, a friend of my brother's asked with awe, "Who was your grandfather?" Who he was, to me, anyway, was something like a saint. Today, the best compliment I can give anyone is that the person reminds me of my Grandpa Mudge. He simply was a faithful servant, a living witness to the power of God and the love of Christ working in his life. Even when he worked as a gas station attendant after his retirement, trying to make ends meet financially, he was a witness, always wearing his "I love Jesus" pin, always trying to share a word of comfort and love. He loved God, and he truly loved his neighbors, all of his neighbors.
Who is the saint in your life? Who have you looked up to, and what was it that made you admire them? I'm willing to bet that in most cases, besides our admiring of greats like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, or Mother Teresa, the person we name as a saint is someone who touched lives in quieter ways, who lived as a saint in an unnoticed, unsung sort of way. So what did they do that was so great?
A couple years ago, a pastor friend shared an email forward with me, that I have saved since, finding it to really make a clear point. It contains a short quiz that helps put things in perspective. It goes like this: "Take a few moments to think about your answers to the following questions. Question 1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world. 2. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest. 3. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize. 4. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for Best Actor and Actress. 5. Name the last decade's worth of World Series Winners. How did you do? If you are like most people, you can only fill in a few names here and there, but usually can't remember who did what and who won what. The point is most of us don't remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They're the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners. Now, here's another quiz. See how you do on this one: 1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school. 2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time. 3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile. 4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special. 5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with. 6. Name a half dozen non-celebrity heroes whose stories have inspired you. Easier? Of course. We have no problem remembering the people who have helped to shape us. We remember those who have inspired us and encouraged us. These are the people we tell our friends about. These are the people that hold a place in our heart. These are the people we truly value. The lesson? The people who make a difference in your life aren't the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They're the ones who care." (1)
So, today in our gospel lesson we hear Jesus reminding us of the greatest commandments, after being questioned by one of the scribes. This time, instead of trying to entrap Jesus, the scribe seems sincere in his questioning of Christ, and Jesus tells that man that he is not far from God's kingdom. Of course, Jesus tells us as he tells the scribe that the commandments we must follow are ones that the whole community in Israel knew by heart, and that most of us Christians today know by heart as well. "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." We love to hear these commandments because they sound like something we might actually be able to do, something we could actually accomplish. But taking a look around our world, our society, our community, and even our own congregation, we must admit that given the problems that arise, the conflicts that take place, the waywardness we feel and experience, these commandments must not be that easy to follow after all. What are we missing? Where are we going wrong?
The first commandment tells us that we must love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. How do we love God? How can we love with our whole beings? If we love God that much, how can we have room to love other things, other people? How can we love God when God is so much above us, so much more good and perfect? How can we even related to God. The second commandment brings with it its own challenges, but it gives us a way of responding to the first commandment. Catholic Worker Dorothy Day once said, "I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least." In loving our neighbor, we are able to express our love for God. We can love that which God has created, and love God through our actions toward others.
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Still, though, this simple verse trips us up in two spots: First, in defining neighbor, and second, in the phrase, "as yourself." Who is our neighbor? You might remember that Jesus once had a conversation about this very question, and in response shared the parable of the Good Samaritan. Samaritans were a hated race by the Jews to whom Jesus was speaking, but still, he pointed out, they were neighbors, could be neighbors through loving action. Who are your neighbors? Your neighbor is not the one who looks like you, who worships like you. A neighbor may have different skin color, different nationality, different customs. Yes, Jesus means for us to understand that there is no one we can exclude from our definition of neighbor. As human beings, creatures of God, we are joined together forever in our very humanity. We are neighbors.
But the second point here might be even trickier than the first. "As yourself" Jesus tells us. I remember clearly discussing this commandment in my freshman year of college in a course on Christian ethics. The professor stated that Jesus' biggest mistake in telling us to follow this great commandment was that Jesus didn't realize we don't love ourselves very well - if we use this model of how we love ourselves as a guide for how to love and treat others, we will fail, because we don't love ourselves. My freshman ears were shocked at hearing any sort of critique of Jesus and what Jesus said, but I couldn't help pondering my professor's words. Can we love others if we don't even love ourselves? Perhaps we forget that implicit in the command is the command to love ourselves. After all, if other are to love us, how can we not love ourselves? Of course, sometimes we love ourselves too much, or act as though we do, by putting ourselves and our needs before the needs of others. That's not what we need. But what we do need is to recognize our precious nature, as beloved creations of the God we worship and serve. In our covenant discipleship group a couple weeks ago, we shared this phrase with one another as we remembered our baptism: "You are beloved precious child of God, and beautiful to behold." (2) I share these words with you, and urge you to consider their life-changing truth. You are beloved, precious child of God, beautiful to behold. As soon as we let this self-identity sink into our core, we can understand what it means to love our neighbor this way - to see that others, too, are beloved and beautiful children of God.
We are called to love God, heart, soul, mind and strength, and we are called to love one another, even as much as we love our own precious selves. One informs the other - because God loves us, we have our being, and so we love God. Because we love God, and are created by God, we love one another, recognizing that our neighbors too are formed by the hands of the same one that created ourselves.
So, on this All Saints Sunday, think about who it is that has touched your life and how and why they have been able to affect you. A saint is not a person free from sin. One definition I found in the dictionary simply stated that a saint is "any true Christian." A true Christian loves God and loves the neighbor. So let us go out, and seek to be living saints in a world that needs our love, and God's love, so very much. Amen.
(1) From an email forwarded from Rev. Leslie B. Strader, 2001. Source unknown.
(2) From Companions in Christ leader's guide (Bryant, Grana, & Thompson, eds., Nashville: Upper Room Books, 2001), pg. 37.