Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18
Psalm 1
1 Thess 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46
So, we’ve got a couple of things going on in our readings today and there’s two of them that I particularly want to look at. The first is the great commandment as given to us by Jesus, "Love the Lord your God and love your neighbour as yourself," and the second is the whole idea of God telling God’s people, "You shall be holy." Although it’s not obvious, the two are connected, and we have a visible reminder of how connected they are every time we celebrate Communion.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, the great commandment. Jesus is asked by the Pharisees, faithful Jews who know their Torah, their law from God, backwards and forwards, what is the greatest commandment in the law. Now, this is a bit of a trick question, because according to the strictest Jewish understanding of the law, no one law is greater than any other. There’s no hierarchy of law - you shall not murder is not a greater law than you shall not eat pork. So how it is possible that there can be one law greater than all the others? The Pharisees, like the Sadducees before them, are trying to trip Jesus up.
But Jesus is not about to be tricked. So he says that the greatest and first commandment is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." Sounds good, makes sense. Even if all laws are equal, some are more equal than others, to quote George Orwell, and obviously, the law about loving God is the greatest. But then Jesus plays a trick of his own, he says that there is a second commandment and that it’s like the first. "You shall love your neighbour as yourself."
Now wait a minute here, what’s going on? How can the second commandment be like the first if it’s the second and not the first? How can loving your neighbour as yourself be like loving God with every fibre of your being? My neighbour isn’t God. I’m not God. What is Jesus getting at? Isn’t just loving God enough?
Well, no, it’s not. It’s not enough to follow only the first commandment - to love only God - for two reasons. The first is because none of us are hermits living out in the desert all by ourselves. None of us here, and none of the people Jesus was addressing, were recluses. We’re not like St. Jerome, a Catholic from the 4th century who lived in the desert and in monasteries while he translated the Old Testament into Latin. We don’t live in such a way that our only conversation partner is God. We live in community. Which means that we live in the midst of neighbours. We’re surround by people at work, at home, on the bus. Even if you live alone, you know that it’s impossible to step out your front door and get down the street without seeing somebody. Without encountering a neighbour. And that means that we can’t possibly live as if we need love only God, as if God is the only one in our lives. There’s also our neighbour, the living, breathing human being who we come across in our day. And so we have to love them, too. That’s one reason.
The second reason that it’s not enough to follow only the first commandment is more compelling. It has to do with what I talked about last week about everything, and in particular everyone, being made in the image of God. You see, we are told to love God, which is the greatest thing we can do, but how are we to love the one we cannot see or touch or physically hear? Yes, the people of the first century had the Son of God to see and touch and hear, but Jesus is no longer physically present with us. Right? Well, not exactly. After all, we do have Jesus promise that he would be with us always, and more importantly, we have Jesus’ words that when we visit the sick, or give water to the thirsty, or food to the hungry, or when we clothe the naked and visit those in prison, we are doing all those things to and for him, for Christ.
You see, the Son of God, and by extension God, is present to us in our neighbour. Christ comes to us in the people around us - in our family members, in our co-workers, in the stranger we pass on the street. I know that’s not how we usually view those people, but maybe that’s why Jesus is so emphatic that the second commandment, the one that is so like the first, is that we love our neighbour. When we come to see that Christ is present to us in our neighbour, only then can we love them, following the second commandment, and only then can we truly love God, and follow the first.
Which brings me to the second idea in our readings, God telling God’s people that "you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." Now, it’s interesting, this grammatical choice we have going on here - you shall be holy. It’s not, you should be holy, for God is holy. Or you better be holy, for God is holy, kind of like "you better clean your room for I’m the parent and I say so." No, it’s not like that. "Shall" in this case is more like "will." You will be holy, because I’m holy. It’s like saying to a baby, "you will walk and talk when you’re older, because I walked and talked when I got older." The people of God don’t really have a choice about whether or not they’re going to be holy. They’re going to be, because their God is. You shall be holy, because your God is holy.
But how can that be? I know that I never feel particularly holy, no matter how holy my God might be. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that a person can go through their entire life and not once feel holy. Our inner monologue tends not to tell us stuff like that. Our inner monologue tends to say things more like, "You’re such an idiot." Or, if we’re having a good day, "You’re pretty good." But "You’re holy"? How many of you hear that?
Well, you should. You should hear that you’re holy, because you are. And you are holy, not only because your God is holy, but also because of one very important thing. I said earlier that Christ is present in our neighbours. Which means that Christ is present in you. You are, after all, somebody’s neighbour, right? You’re all my neighbour - Christ is present to me in all of you. When I look at you, and talk to you, and pray with and for you, I am looking at and talking to and praying with Christ, the Son of God. Christ is there, present in you. Which means that you are holy. I know, I know, it’s not something you’re used to hearing, thinking that you’re holy is not a customary thing for most people. But you have to agree, we all profess that we carry Christ in our hearts, we all profess that the Holy Spirit comes to live in us when we are baptized, and so we must all confess that God is present in us. You have to admit that you are holy, because the Lord your God is holy.
So - what does all this have to do with Communion that I mentioned at the beginning? Well, some of you may remember a time when Communion was celebrated with the altar against the front wall of the church, and with the pastor’s back to the congregation. In fact, in some churches, Communion is still done this way. The pastor would stand in front of the altar, with his - because at that time it was almost always a he - with his back to the people, and then would mutter some mysterious words and do some mysterious things with his hands that nobody could see because he was in the way. Now, obviously, he didn’t turn his back to the congregation so they couldn’t see what he was doing. He did it because he had to turn his face to where God was, to what was holy.
But you’ll notice now that it’s different. Pastors no longer face the front wall. Instead, we face the congregation. And it’s not because we want you to see what we’re doing - that’s just a nice side effect. It’s because we’re learning that God is in the people, in our neighbours, that what’s holy is you. And so we face you. You’re not God, I’m not saying that at all. But God is there with you, Christ is present in you, the Holy Spirit is moving in you. And so when I face what’s holy during the celebration of Communion, when I face where God is, I face my neighbour. I face you.
So, how will you live this week as a holy person? Well, I don’t have any specific recommendations to you. I’m thinking that this is more of a change to your way of thinking, which takes time, than an immediate go out and to do this or that. It would be great if you walked out these doors and immediately started seeing Christ in everybody you met. But change goes deeper than superficial actions, and you have to see yourself as holy before you can see your neighbour that way. Love your neighbour as yourself, it says. So maybe you’ll have to start with "the man in the mirror" as the Michael Jackson song goes - or the woman. When you get up in the morning and look in the mirror, try reminding yourself to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and your neighbour as yourself, and remember that you and your neighbour are holy, as the Lord your God is holy. Amen.
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