Scripture Reading Mark 12:28-34
One of the teachers of the law came
and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he
asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered
Jesus, “is this: ‘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 mind and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You
are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.
To love him with all your heart, with all
your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as
yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely,
he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from
then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Here ends this reading of the Word of God
for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayer for Understanding
Wise and patient God,In the midst of distractions, help us focus on your presence with us.
In the midst of confusing voices, make your Word plain.
In the midst of competing desires, show us the path to follow
For the sake of Jesus, our friend, teacher and guide. Amen.
Message
Wherever You Go
The Hebrew Talmud, the first 5 books of our Bible, has 613 laws faithful Jewish people are expected to uphold. These laws governed the lives of the ancient Pharisees. They believed they would bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth if all Jewish people devotedly followed God’s laws. The Pharisees who encountered Jesus were curious about his strategy towards following the laws – was he a rule and law follower? Did he agree that following all 613 laws was required?
We are familiar with several of these laws, including the 10 Commandments. And, we work to uphold the laws that make sense for Christians. But, Christians reject many of the laws – for example, a lot of the laws apply to how to make sacrifices to God, animal sacrifices. We don’t do this….Christians believe Jesus’ made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross and we no longer need to sacrifice doves or lambs to God. Many of the laws govern how to dress or cover one’s head when visiting the Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, so we don’t worship God there and the rules don’t apply anymore. We don’t only eat kosher food – In the 10th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, God told Peter that we don’t have to follow kosher laws….we can eat pork and shellfish. We can drink milk and eat beef at the same time. Apparently, if we want to eat maggots or fruit worms, now we can go ahead.
When Jesus was here, he emphasized that some of the laws are more important to follow than others. When he was asked which commandments are the most important, Jesus answered “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” And, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
And, if you look at all the laws of Judaism and all of the laws that govern our land, we can organize them under the heading of “Love God” and “Love Neighbor.” The work of the Christian Church is to encourage us to Love God and Love our Neighbor. Most of the laws that govern our society and our community are focused on the “loving our neighbor.” We are not supposed to speed as we drive our car because if we speed, we can cause an accident and hurt our neighbor. We pay our taxes so we can help pay for our neighbors children to go to school, and our neighboring Veterans go to the hospital, and our neighbor’s roads being cleared so they can safely drive in inclement weather. Our society is dependent on our choice to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves.
The loving God part of the commandment is outside of the laws that govern our land. Our country was founded on the principle of freedom of religion – we don’t have a state church that requires us all to be Lutheran or church of America. Our government stays out of the business of religion, other than ensuring we have the freedom to practice whichever faith we like. So, we are not required by the law of our land to love God. It is difficult to “require” love anyway. In 2021, we are surrounded by neighbors who are decidedly secular. They are not actively engaged in loving God or practicing a faith.
As members of the Christian church, I believe we fulfill a portion of our obligation to love our neighbor by sharing our faith with them. We love God, we love our neighbor, and we believe everyone’s lives will be enriched as they also develop a relationship with God. Our calling is to work to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and to encourage all people to have a relationship with God.
We have quite a few neighbors in Skippack who don’t have a relationship with God. Part of our calling as a church is to be outward focused….we work outside of our church to encourage our neighbors to develop a love of God. First and foremost, we must pray for our neighbors. Think about who lives in the houses or apartments around you. Think about who lives in the apartments or houses around Trinity. We must pray for our neighbors, and pray that if they don’t have a relationship with God that they will come to know God.
On Tuesday, we will have an opportunity to invite our neighbors to check out our sanctuary and enjoy coffee, cookies and pray with us. In the 1950s when Trinity built our Education Building, we intended it to be a resource for our community – a place for gatherings of our church members and our neighbors. We have been a polling site for many years and our community comes here to vote in local elections. When our neighbors are here, we encourage them to enjoy a cup of coffee and eat a cookie or bag of goldfish crackers. While they stop and chat, we can offer to show them our sanctuary or allow us to pray with them. We invite them to join us on Sunday mornings for worship or to check out next Sunday’s Veterans service in our cemetery. We can find out what obstacles are present in their lives and get to know their stories.
I have been a pastor for 16 years, and I have sat in probably 35 sessions with people who were joining a church. When you ask new members why they started coming to the church, they often tell stories of invitation. They were invited to come to church with a friend. They were invited to worship at a church dinner. They talked to the church folks at a community event and were invited to check it out. People come to church because they are invited.
As followers of Jesus Christ and as people who believe in God, we must work to fulfill the greatest commandment. We must work to love God and love our neighbors. And, Jesus made it clear that our neighbors are everyone we encounter when we going about our lives, the people that we meet each day.
Let us spread the love of God as we work to love our neighbors and our God. Amen.
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