Text: Matthew 22:34-46

The Gospel reading for today combines two more controversies between Jesus and the Pharisees. The one concerning the greatest commandment is very familiar, sitting close to the top of the "hit parade" of Jesus’ sayings. One commentator says this:

The discussion about the identity of the Messiah is well down the hit list. We could easily lose sight of it, because the double love commandment is so well known and so important.

However, we ought not to lose sight of the notion that Matthew has constructed this Gospel deliberately, and that there is good reason why the stories are where they are, and told the way they are.

These two come at the very end of Jesus’ controversies with the Jewish authorities. The various groups have been "tag-teaming," coming at him with question after question, seeking to trap him into betraying himself in some way. The final question does not look like a trap or much of a test to us today, but note that it is the Pharisees questioning him. There were two schools of Pharisees at the time, one taking a strict view of the law, the other a more expansive one. The strict group held that it was sinful even to suggest that one law was greater than another. Perhaps they were hoping to cut his popular support in one way or another.

Jesus responds with the familiar pairing of two verses from the law, from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:8. To this he appends the statement,

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus said,

Now, near the end of his earthly ministry, he gives the overarching principle that completes that fulfillment—love. Everything Jesus has done and said was motivated by love. This is the same love that God has for humanity, and for all of creation, the love that will lead him to the cross.

Jesus’ question to the Pharisees is not a distracting "add-on" to this great statement, but a final response to the question about his authority, (3) which we did not hear read because the reading was supplanted by the readings for St. Matthew’s Day. (A reminder: when the chief priests asked him about his authority, he responded with a question about John’s baptism. When they refused to answer, so did he.)

He has now answered, telling us through a Scriptural argument that he speaks as God’s unique Son, the one whom even the great King David would call "Lord." This is the authority under which he has summed the entire Jewish tradition. This is our affirmation: "Jesus is Lord."

And where does all this Biblical argument lead us?

It leads us to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. It leads us to acknowledge that in his person and his teaching, in his life, death, and resurrection, he brings to fulfillment the whole of salvation history.

He sums it up in one word: Love.

There may be no more misunderstood or misused word in modern language than this little assemblage of four letters.

I don’t think I need to tell you how "love" gets (mis)interpreted in popular culture today—very often as physical urges or emotional attachments. What does need to be said, over and over again, in our context, is that almost none of this really gets at what Jesus is talking about.

The love that Jesus commands, by restating Torah, is the same love that God has for us. Love God, we are told, with all that we are. Why?—because God loves us. God loves the human race with the love that can not and will not let us go. All God asks is that we return that love, not with warm fuzzy feelings, but by loving what God loves.

This love is not a feeling, but a decision. Its heart is not affection but commitment: "I am here for you, and I will be for you—come what may." It is what wedding couples vow, and it is what the church promises to the newly baptized. It is God’s way of life.

God’s way of life begins with loving God, which is shown in our desire to worship, offering ourselves in praise of the one who loved us first.

God’s way of life continues with loving God’s people, committing ourselves to working for the good of all—in our families, in our neighbourhoods and communities, in our churches, and in the world.

God’s way of life is a life of commitment, of digging in for the long haul, and not bailing out when the going gets tough.

We had a congregational meeting last Sunday. Some strong feelings were expressed, anger and frustration and (I believe) fear. But besides those difficult feelings, I also heard great love for Jesus and the church, love which was expressed in hope and the commitment to work for the good of our church.

That same commitment is what builds families, the most basic building block of our society. I can think of no better expression of this than a scene from Fiddler on the Roof. Tevye says to his wife
"… my father and my mother
Said we'd learn to love each other
And now I'm asking, Golde
Do you love me?"

She replies, "I'm your wife" and he says, "I know... But do you love me?"
"Do I love him?
For twenty-five years I've lived with him
Fought him, starved with him
Twenty-five years my bed is his
If that's not love, what is?" (4)

Golde has "hung in there" with Tevye, as God has "hung in" with his people.

May we all have the grace to love as God loves us.

This is God’s way of life. May it be ours.

1. Hare, Douglas R. A., Matthew (Interpretation, a Bible commentary for Teaching and Preaching), John Knox Press, 1993, p. 257
2. Matthew 5:17
3. Matthew 21:23-27
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