Living As Love Demands: What Jesus Said

SERMON: "Living As Love Demands: What Jesus Said"

Rev. Paul Beedle

December 2, 2007

A couple of weeks ago I had a high-speed internet connection installed in my home by Comcast Cable. They were supposed to arrive between 8am and noon; they arrived at 1:30. They didn't leave until 6:30 – it took a long time and a call for help to another Comcast employee to get their software working – and the cable wasn't buried when they left. This was on a Thursday. Unannounced, a Comcast employee rang the bell Saturday morning: he was there to bury the cable. As a result of their expert installation, the switchplate for the cable connection in my study can't be attached to the wall. But the high-speed connection is working...

Such carelessness seems to be Comcast's standard. They damaged my home and I lost a day, but they did deliver what I wanted. That's much better than those banks that sold subprime mortgages to people who couldn't afford them, which was just predatory. Why do we allow such goings on? What has happened that we do? What are we becoming?

In his second inaugural address, President Bush said: “There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.” ^[1] Our faith tradition also celebrates freedom, but we cannot agree with the President's claim. Freedom helps us to resolve conflicts peacefully, but it is not the power that overcomes hatred and resentment and tyranny, and rewards hope. That power is love.

So rather than live as freedom allows, we might consider living as love demands. What Jesus said about living as love demands is spun a little differently in each of the four gospels, because of the changing experience of the Christian communities during Christianity's first century. Mark's gospel is the earliest; Matthew and Luke were written a generation later; John's gospel was written a generation after that. It's as if the first gospel was written during the counterculture of the 1960s, and the next ones were written during the “Wall Street” years of the 1980s, and the last gospel were written today. Each had a distinct cultural mood behind it, and emphasized different things. Here's how it went:

In Mark's day, Christianity was still closely identified with Judaism. Jesus's core teaching about love, in Mark's gospel, is the Sh'ma – the core teaching of Judaism – with a twist. The Sh'ma is: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” ^[2] Mark adds “mind” to that. ^[3] And to love of God he adds love of neighbor, reflecting how Jesus taught that the Sh'ma should be applied and lived. ^[4] In another place, ^[5] a man asks Jesus how to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to obey the ten commandments – he puts it very casually: “You know the commandments: do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.” That's six – the six that are about your neighbors, not about God (no other god before me, no graven images, no taking God's name in vain, keep the sabbath). Jesus talked a lot about how some people – especially people with power or authority – like to make a show of the first four commandments, neglecting the six he listed for this man. The man said that he followed all those. Jesus said, “You lack one thing: go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” And Mark tells us, “At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.”

So that's the core teaching: focus on how you treat your neighbors, with kindness and generosity and commitment. In Mark, this story about the six commandments is preceded by teachings about commitment to marriage and to caring for children, and is followed by teachings about sacrifice and reward ^[6] – it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God, and those who leave home and family and property for the gospel will be rewarded with new a home and family and property, and eternal life in the age to come to boot. Don't fret – the sparrows are fed and the lillies are clothed, and so will you be. Not by magic, but because “love is something if you give it away, it comes right back to you.” ^[7] Practice love through kindness and generosity, and commit to it, and all will be well.

The next generation – Matthew and Luke – felt the need to elaborate this teaching, adding emphasis about conscience, faithfulness and forgiveness. Matthew tells the same story about the fellow who goes away sorrowful because he has so many possessions, ^[8] and tells it in the same context: preceded by teachings about commitment to marriage and children, followed by teachings about sacrifice and reward. ^[9] And then he adds a story ^[10] about a fellow who owns a vineyard and hires workers at different times of day, and pays them all the same amount even though they've worked different numbers of hours. And to the ones who've worked the longest, who complain about the latecomers getting paid the same as them, he says, “do you begrudge me my generosity?” To which I want to reply, “No, but it still doesn't seem fair.” Such are the problems of the rich: they just can't win.

Matthew tells memorable stories about the rich and powerful. The three kings appear in Matthew's gospel, ^[11] not the others. He also criticizes religious authorities while appealing to tradition. In a typical story in Matthew's gospel, the bad guy – or at least the hypocrite – is likely to be a priest or scribe. Or someone like Herod, who listens to them. Like his namesake, Joseph has a dream and takes his family to Egypt to escape Herod – only Matthew sends them there. ^[12] And he assembles Jesus's teachings into the Sermon on the Mount ^[13] – on the mount, because that's where Moses went for the ten commandments, up a mountain. Matthew builds his gospel upon familiar, resonant forms and images of Jewish tradition.

Luke tells memorable stories about the humble. Instead of kings, he shows us angels and shepherds. ^[14] Often instead of a religious authority he gives us a secular one – a lawyer, a soldier. In Luke's telling the fellow who asks about how to get eternal life is a lawyer ^[15] – and he doesn't walk away sorrowfully, but tries to justify himself. Told to love his neighbor as himself, he asks, “And who is my neighbor?” See? He's looking for the loophole! Jesus's answer is the parable of the Good Samaritan. A priest and a scribe pass by the man who was robbed and beaten, but not the Samaritan: the despised foreigner. Today it would be a story of an Israeli helped by a Palestinian. Or a Shi'ite helped by a Sunni. There's no limit to who is your neighbor.

There's a story that Mark, Matthew and Luke all tell, about a woman who wastes expensive oil to anoint Jesus's feet. ^[16] Mark and Matthew both say this happened in the house of Simon the leper. But Luke pulls a Matthew: he makes Simon a Pharisee! Mark and Matthew use this story to foreshadow the Passion story: Jesus says she is annointing his body before burial. Luke uses it much earlier, and inserts a story that changes the meaning of the woman's action. He says to Simon, “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?” And Simon answers, “The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more.” And Jesus says, “I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Luke is trying to underscore the importance of making a commitment to live as love demands – offer kindness and generosity, like the creditor or the fellow with the vineyard, and your love will come back to you as forgiveness when you mess up.

Both Matthew and Luke add a teaching about serving two masters: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” ^[17] For “mammon,” read “wealth” or “greed.” Matthew just tucks it into the Sermon on the Mount without elaboration. Luke sets it up with a series of stories: the lost sheep, the lost coin, the Prodigal Son, and then a curious story about an dishonest steward who was charged with wasting his master's goods. ^[18] Now, I want to digress for a moment to point out that in this story, the steward can be held accountable to his master. To whom is the woman who wasted the ointment accountable? To whom is the fellow with the vineyard accountable, who pays his workers so unfairly? Folks feel their actions are unjust, but aren't they entitled to do what they wish with their property? This is how these stories bring conscience into it.

So, back to this steward. His master says, “Turn in the account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.” And he says to himself, “What shall I do? I'm not strong enough to do physical work, and I'm ashamed to beg. I know! I'll do some favors in how I account for my stewardship, so that the folks I do these favors for will take care of me.” So he fixes the debtors's accounts to show that they owe less to his master than they do. And then Luke has Jesus say, “The master commended the dishonest steward for his prudence.... And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.” But then he contradicts himself: “If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches?” So even in a case where a person is formally accountable to someone else, there is a higher accountability. In this way, Luke underscores the importance of conscience – for surely the steward knows better – and of faithfulness.

Mark taught kindness, generosity and commitment. Matthew and Luke underscored the importance of commitment by talking about conscience and faithfulness, and underscored the reward of kindness by talking about forgiveness. This second generation still speaks of love of God and love of neighbor, and expands the meaning of “neighbor.” But what happens in the third generation?

John's gospel does not contain the word “neighbor.” Instead, John has Jesus telling people to “love one another.” That might not seem like much of a change in language. It can be cast in a universal way: if we are all human, if we are all God's children, then we should all love one another as kindred. And being kindred is better than being neighbors. But remember that the gospels are first and foremost liturgical texts. They are used in worship to address a given congregation. And if I say to you that at Thoreau our covenant is to love one another, that's different than saying that at Thoreau our covenant is to love our neighbors. You can feel how it's different, can't you? Something has happened to this third generation. Maybe they're concerned about the quality of love in their congregations. Maybe they're losing hope about their effectiveness in loving their neighbors or the rewards of loving their neighbors. Maybe they're just not sure how to love their neighbors as Jesus loved.

John's gospel is where you find the scripture about laying down your life as a form of love ^[19] – now that's commitment! And at the end of John's gospel is the famous passage ^[20] where “Jesus said to Simon Peter, `Simon ... do you love me more than these?' He said to him, `Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.' He said to him, `Feed my lambs.'” And this exchange is repeated a second and a third time. Then Jesus says, “when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go.” That may be what Luke's dishonest steward was thinking about. But it's not about accounting is it? It's just about love. Before there was heaven and earth, there was love, John wants to say. ^[21] The world arose from love, and life arose in the world from love, and life rises to love. And that's our job, to rise to love.

Mark and Matthew and Luke all talk about troubles and persecutions to come. In the course of talking about that, Matthew says: “Because lawlessness increases, the love of many will grow cold.” ^[22] That explains Comcast. And Enron. And subprime mortgages. And identity theft and credit card theft. And how those things make us feel. I think this is what John is responding to. Yes, kindness and generosity and commitment are the core values. And forgiveness is part of kindness, and conscience and faithfulness are part of commitment. And we really need to practice these things – that's what John is saying. The congregation, for John, is a community of practice – “love one another” and love of neighbor will flow from that. The hope of the world is that we pass on these communities of the practice of love to our children's children. So to all those aspects of love – kindness and forgiveness, generosity, and commitment through conscience and faithfulness – John adds active practice of love and stewardship of the community of practice. There may be a financial component to stewardship, but for John the main component is: “love one another.”

That is the value of covenant-making in our tradition. We make covenants to state explicitly how we strive to be together. I couldn't be more proud of the Program Council for adopting this week a covenant that says, in part, that in its work it will keep the good of the congregation in mind, and in working together its members promise that “if we can help, we will offer; if we need help, we will ask.” And I'm proud of the way they already live up to that covenant. We'll be having more conversations about covenants and their meaning and importance in the coming months. I hope each of you will participate as you can. What sort of community of practice do we want to become? How will we strive to live as love demands? How will we do that with one another? with our neighbors? May we grow into deeper understanding and deeper practice of love. Amen.

Footnotes

^[1] Fourth paragraph of the speech. The full text of President Bush's second inaugural address can be found at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23747-2005Jan20.html

^[2] Deuteronomy 6:4

^[3] Mark 12:29

^[4] Mark 12:30

^[5] Mark 10:17-22

^[6] Mark 10:2-31

^[7] The sparrow and lillies are elaborations of the teaching by Matthew (10:26-33, 6:25-33) and Luke (12:4-7, 22-31); in italics is a modern church-school song.

^[8] Matthew 19:16-22

^[9] Matthew 19:3-30

^[10] Matthew 20:1-16

^[11] Matthew 2:1-12

^[12] Matthew 2:14-15, 19-21

^[13] Matthew 5:1-7:28

^[14] Luke 2:8-20

^[15] Luke 10:25-37

^[16] Mark 14:3-9; Matthew 26:6-13; Luke 7:36-50; John also tells it, 12:1-8, with significant cast changes.

^[17] Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:1-15

^[18] Luke 15:3-16:15

^[19] John 10:7-18, 13:36-38, 15:12-17

^[20] John 21:15-19

^[21] John 1:1-18

^[22] Matthew 24:12