Preached on Sunday, October 28, 2017
In a few moments, I’m going to have our Ushers pass out a white index card and a little pencil to each of you and have you write down the Ten Commandments ...
Please write them down ... in order ... then sign it ... and hand it back to the usher.
As they get ready, how about a little refresher?
Recall ... the first 3 Commandments govern our relationship with God,
and ... the last 7 Commandments govern our relationship with our neighbors?
And recall that they are arranged in order of importance.
God expects everyone of us to follow His Commandments.
How can people do that ... if they don’t know His Commandments?
Here are the 1st 3 for your review:
1st - I am the Lord your God; you shall have no strange gods before me.
2nd - You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3rd - Keep holy the Lord’s Day.
Recall from last week ... there are no other Gods. Nothing should ever compete with our devotion to God. Our words should never betray our reverence and respect for Him. And our schedule should never keep us from uniting to worship Him weekly.
Here are the final 7 for your review:
4th - Honor your Father and Mother.
5th – You shall not kill.
6th – You shall not commit adultery.
7th – You shall not steal.
8th - You shall not lie.
9th – You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife
10th - You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
Sound familiar? These were all well-known by the Jews at the time of Jesus.
So in today’s Gospel when a scholar of the law asks Jesus,
“Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” I’m sure he fully expected Jesus to come right back and state one of the Ten as being the greatest!
But no ... He didn’t! Jesus did not give him one of the known 10.
Rather, He says, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Of which He says, “This is the greatest and the first commandment.”
Then Jesus immediately adds,
“The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
These weren’t exactly the way the Jews knew the Commandments.
I wonder how they felt upon hearing Jesus’ reply!
How do you feel about Jesus’ answer?
What would you say is the main difference between
the original wording of the Ten Commandments and
the wording that Jesus used in the Gospel today?
The difference can be described in one word … Love!
The word “Love” was the difference … the word “Love” was a new addition!
You see, not one of the original Ten Commandments contained the word Love!
And yet when Jesus gave the Greatest and next-Greatest Commandments to the people ... they both contained the word love!
“You must love the Lord, your God and you must love your neighbor as yourself.”
This is why ... the new law of Jesus ... is referred to as ... the 2-fold Law of love.
The Pharisees asked Jesus a question … and He gave them an answer.
Love is the answer! Love is the greatest of all God’s commandments!
Now it’s important to see that there are 3 directions in which our love is to flow.
Too often when we hear Jesus’ words ... to love God ... and love our neighbor,
we picture our love flowing in 2 ways … to God and to one another.
But Jesus said to, “Love your neighbor ... as yourself!
This means that we are to love ourselves too!
Having love for yourself is not being selfish. Healthy self-love is a prerequisite for being able to love others.
Jesus expects us to have a healthy self-love for ourselves, which would then be the standard for how we are to love others. The care and reverence and concern that we have for ourselves would then be the standard for how we treat others
Sadly, there are a good many people who do not have a healthy love for themselves, as evidenced by the instances of Anorexia &Bulimia, Laziness & Sloth, over-eating, over-drinking & over-medicating, taking drugs, Depression, Despondency, Despair, Cutting oneself, attempted Suicide and successful Suicide. These things are more widespread than you think and they indicate poor self-image and lack of self-love.
Being able to “Love your neighbor” in a healthy way ...
begins by having a healthy love of yourself.
And that comes from knowing that no matter who you are … you are loved!
No matter what your size or shape, your gifts or limitations, you are love by God!
We are made in His image and likeness and as baptized Christians, we have been brought into His Holy Household where we are his beloved sons and daughters!
Once we come to appreciate that we ourselves are loved,
then we’re able to love others. Loving ourselves is foundational to loving others.
If you’ve ever flown on an airplane, you’ll recall the pre-flight instructions that the Flight Attendants give to take care of yourself first!
They say that if the cabin loses pressure, you’re to put your own oxygen mask first before attempting to place a mask on a child or another person!
The same sequence applies when it comes to loving our neighbor.
We experience and acknowledge the love of God first ...
and then we give it away to others.
Have you ever wondered why we pray more frequently to Jesus ...
than we do to the Father or the Holy Spirit?
I believe it’s because Jesus is someone we can hold onto!
We are sensory human beings and a powerful way to show our love is to hold onto another person, whether it’s holding a baby in your arms, or hugging your parents or your children or embracing your spouse. It’s great to have someone to hold onto.
But the mystery of who God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are ...
makes them a little more difficult to hold onto.
For example, consider how King David referred to God in Psalm 18 just prayed.
He said, “O Lord, my Rock, my Fortress, my Deliverer!”
He went on, “My God, my Shield, the Horn of my Salvation, my Stronghold!”
These titles are all great and powerful and absolutely true.
But how easy is it to get your arms around a God like that?
It’s difficult for sure ... and that’s why it’s so wonderful ...
that God went on to fully reveal Himself to us ...
in the God-Man, Jesus Christ.
When Jesus took on our human nature, God became visible to us in a real concrete way. He came to us as a man. He walked this very earth, breathed this very air. He ate and drank our food. And time and time again He demonstrated His love for us in a visible way.
No longer was God just some remote entity.
No longer was He just some structure like a Rock or a Fortress or a Shield.
No longer was He just a vague concept like a Stronghold or a Horn of Salvation.
No, now in the person of Jesus Christ ... God was within our reach ...
a real live person, who we could get our arms around and embrace.
Back in the Middle Ages, St. Thomas Aquinas compiled his marvelous synthesis of Philosophy and Theology in what is called the Summa Theologica. It’s a marvelous work that remains to this day as a strong foundation for our understanding of God. There Thomas unpacked the mystery of God in a very methodical and intellectual way and he proposed 5 proofs for the existence of God.
He describes God as the First Cause, as the Unmoved Mover, & as the Ultimate End.
He formally defines God by the Latin phrase “Ipsum esse subsistens” which means “self-subsistent substance.” In other words, God is not dependent on anything, He is non-contingent Being, He is Pure Act.
But these technical descriptions of God don’t help us to grow in love with Him.
The 20th Century Philosopher, Martin Heidegger
commented on St. Thomas’ definition saying,
“How can a human being sing and dance and kneel and pray before a god like this?”
And the answer is, “We can’t”. We can’t sing and dance and kneel and pray and have relationship with “ipsum esse subsistens” That’s why it’s so especially wonderful that Jesus entered into our world and showed us how personal God is.
Jesus taught us that God Himself is relationship ... the Trinity!
He taught us about the Father, who is the Lover,
He taught us about Himself, who is the Beloved, and
He taught us about the Holy Spirit, who is Love itself.
In Jesus, God made man, we have someone to hold onto, someone to put our arms around.
This is why we turn to Jesus so often in our need; loving Him and seeking His love
... just as we’d do with other family members.
Back in 1673 Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque and asked her to propagate a devotion to ... His Sacred Heart.
Then in 1943 Jesus appeared to St. Faustina and asked her to propagate a devotion to His Divine Mercy that is symbolized by rays of light streaming from His Heart.
The Heart is a symbol we use to indicate Love. So, by revealing himself these ways, Jesus is affirming His great love for us and desiring our love in return.
As we go forward, let’s contemplate Jesus’ 2-fold Law of Love.
It’s so much easier to remember than the Ten Commandments …
but it encompasses them just the same!
Love is the Answer!
God’s greatest commandment is to love.
For God loves us ...
and the way that we show our love for Him, whom we cannot see ...
is to love our neighbors, who we can see.
Yes, God is many things.
He is Almighty, He is Eternal, He is Infinite,
He is our rock, our stronghold, and our shield.
But first and foremost ... He is Love.
That’s what Jesus brings to us, love, and that’s what He calls forth from us, love.
Let’s hold onto Jesus for all we’re worth.
In Him we have the answer to the question of how we’ll inherit Everlasting Life. Love is the answer …. Love of God, love of neighbor and love of ourselves.
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