The Gospel of Matthew 22:34-46
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Let us Pray:
Heavenly One, Your reach extends to every neighbor, every nation Offering grace, forgiveness, wholeness, and hope A saving embrace of unconditional love Drawing us to you and each other and our true self We Pray in the Name of the one who offered unconditional love to all. Amen
When we read about this little moment containing Jesus’ pronouncement of love, we do not see how it is meant to turn the world, our world, upside down. Throughout most of the church’s history, it has been all too easy to remake and reimagine Jesus in our own image. But Matthew’s Gospel, particularly here in this string of passages leading up to the crucifixion, presents the Lord who knows that, sometimes, there are things worth getting agitated about, things worth arguing over, things that call for a louder voice and a deeper conviction. Having silenced the scribes and the Sadducees, the Pharisees picked a lawyer to trap Jesus in his words, again. “Teacher, which of the commandments is the greatest?” Jesus says, “Have you all not been reading the scriptures and going to synagogue? You know the answer: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It’s in Deuteronomy. Go look it up.” The lawyer nods his head in approval, but Jesus keeps going, “But there’s another one just like it. This one is from Leviticus: You shall love you neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” And after hearing that, no one dared to ask him another question. Jesus, our Lord, chooses this moment, after all the conflict and controversy, to patiently explain that the most important thing of all, the great of all the laws and commandments, is to love God and neighbor. To know what it means to love God and neighbor, as Jesus defines it, requires us to take seriously the way Jesus loved. His love is seen in his willingness to eat with the outcast, to reach out to the untouchable, to embrace the powerless, to confront the demonic, to outmaneuver the manipulative, and to correct the clueless. We can stand and call for love until we’re blue in the face, but what good is love if nothing ever changes? And we can only know what it means to love God because of God’s love for us. Remember Jesus’s words: ‘”Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Let us Pray: Loving God, you love us, all of us, and ask in return that we love you with all our hearts and souls and minds. By your grace we will love and obey. Let it be so, now and forever. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Reflections by Bob 