(Preached on Sunday, November 1, 2009)
Jesus said, “The first in importance is ‘Listen, Israel. The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second, ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.” -Mark 12:30-31
If one were asked to summarize the teachings of Jesus, it could be done with the imperative in today’s gospel reading. The imperative to love God and neighbor is the one principle from which all others flow. It is not an imperative in the sense of an irksome duty which we must fulfill but rather more like a “cosmic law.” Opposing it is like trying to make war on gravity which holds the solar system together. Unfortunately we try to do that all too often. The result is that we dash ourselves against the rocks below us when we throw ourselves off that cliff of life trying to get through it without loving others. Jesus reminds us that we just cannot do that. We cannot love God, without loving our neighbor. And we cannot fully appreciate and truly enjoy life without loving our neighbor. That is why he joined what we often think of as two commandments into one. Love God and love your neighbor. The two are inseparable. It is not enough to say you love God. That love must be expressed toward one’s neighbors. As such, love always encompasses justice.
The Hebrew Scriptures proclaim that justice is what the God of Jacob, the God of Israel, the God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, is all about. That is why those who serve this God are happy, because this God is all about good living for all people, which starts by lifting up those from the bottom levels of society. This is done by executing justice for the oppressed, ensuring food for the hungry, setting prisoners free, opening the eyes of the blind, lifting up those weighed down by the heavy burdens of life, watching over the strangers, taking care of the widows and orphans, and affirming those who are doing right with their lives in the world.
This is the constant message of the prophets, beginning with Moses and it is the constant message of Jesus. If you do a survey of the entire New Testament, you will see that one of every sixteen verses contain a teaching on the question of poverty and wealth. Jesus emphasized in his parable of the sheep and the goats at the final judgment that it was how we treated the poor, the prisoner, the ill, the strangers, the hungry and naked that demonstrated how we treated him. His guiding principles of love for the One God and for our neighbors as for ourselves call us to realize that how we treat women and children, people of other races and ethnic backgrounds, our enemies, and the sick and dying, is how we treat Christ. In the same way God loves us we are to love others – no exceptions. Our dignity as human beings originates with God, as do our vulnerability and our connectedness with one another.
Thus we begin to see that justice is not an abstract word about laws or rights. In the present world situation, justice is another word for love. That is why Jesus was so concerned about justice for all people – because he loved them and that was the most powerful and meaningful expression of that love.
Imagine what our world might be like if we more broadly embraced Jesus’ equating of love with justice? How might the healthcare reform debate be different if the overarching concern of all our Senators and Representatives was a desire for justice and fairness for all people in this land and an understanding that good health care was a right for all and not a privilege for a few? What might change in our relations with the rest of the world if we approached other nations and peoples with an attitude of love – an attitude which desired the best in life for them, as well as for ourselves, and understood justice as the basis to achieve that desire?
What Jesus calls us to embrace in this imperative is not like any other act of obedience or sacrifice. This is a way of living in the world; it is an approach to all of life, not just a specific task. To love is not a job to be done but a commitment to a relationship with God made possible for us by the life and teachings of Jesus. Loving God, neighbor and self each day is the continuing reality of what it means to follow Jesus and live according to his teachings. As we do so, we discover that we are aligning ourselves with the universe, with the way God intended our lives to be lived.
This imperative to love God, others, and self is the flip side of the passion God feels for us, for all of humanity. God is not only deeply in love with humanity in general, but intensely involved with each one of us individually. Once we come to trust that we are held fast by the faithful presence of God who is revealed to us in and through our fellow human beings, we are free to take the next step and see ourselves as sacraments of God’s love for others. We begin to realize that we are the conduit, the channel, through which God’s love can flow to others. As that love flows through us, the result is that we and the people to whom God’s love is flowing, become more human.
There was a story in The New York Times several years ago that told about a woman named Phyllis Cohen and her encounter with a homeless woman in Penn Station. She gave the woman a dollar and asked her which was the nearest exit to Macy’s. Phyllis reported, “Her face lit up like a corpse come to life. She gave me detailed directions and walked with me to be sure I got it right, talking animatedly all the way. It seemed as though by asking something of her, by assuming she had something to give, I had validated or reinstated her personhood.” Ms. Cohen wrote, “I think of her often, of her reacting as though I’d given her a great gift. Sometimes I consider going to Penn Station to seek her out, but I hope not to find her there. I hope she’s moved on to being a real person at all times.”
The more we allow love to fill our lives, the less we are tempted to condemn others, to reject the alien in our midst, to envy the successful. The more we allow love to fill our lives, the less we are tempted to hate those who have harmed us or to counter violence with violence. It is love which binds us to one another and through that binds us to God.
In truth this love is what we celebrate today as we recall our connectedness to the greater communion of saints. For the life, death and resurrection of Jesus show us that the love of God binds us together not just for this life, but for all eternity. The God who loves us now is the same God who loved and continues to love our departed loved ones. And that God unites us with those loved ones in all times and in all places. This love of God is so powerful that the apostle Paul says that there is nothing in all creation, in all the universe, that will ever be able to separate us from this love; not even death.
That is what All Saints’ Day is all about; this is what our entire Christian life is all about, as well. Think for a minute on the importance of this. Imagine going through each and every day trusting that God is with you. Imagine the conflicts you might have, the losses you are bound to experience, and the relationship difficulties and struggles you will encounter. Imagine it all, and then remember that God loves you and will never leave you, is always with you. Now it is more than just an acknowledgement of God’s love and presence that is so important here. It is actively trusting with our lives – with our very actions – God’s uniting power that this love and presence bring. On this day we share the gifts of God’s presence with one another, and also with the wider church in all times and in all places.
Anthony de Mello tells the following story from his native India. It was time for the monsoon rains to begin and a very old man was digging holes in his garden. “What are you doing?” his neighbor asked. “Planting mango trees,” was the reply. “Do you expect to eat mangoes from those trees?” “No, I won’t live long enough for that. But others will. It occurred to me the other day that all my life I have enjoyed mangoes planted by other people. This is my way of showing them my gratitude.”
We celebrate the saints today to acknowledge that we are here because of them. Because of those Sunday School teachers who patiently and faithfully showed up to share with us the stories of God and more importantly to show us that God loves us. Because of those parents or grandparents or family friends who made sure we got to church regularly to be a part of the gathered family of God. And we celebrate the more famous saints, like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Theresa, and St. Francis, who provided us powerful public witnesses in working for justice for all people. We celebrate the truth that all of us, these saints of ages past, and we modern day saints, are part of the same great communion with God. All of us are bound together by the love of God for us. It is the imperative of love which holds life together.