Nov 4, 2018                       Love God                           

This morning Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment, and his answer is, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now as I studied the text this week, I broke it down this way.

Hear O Israel, - Shema Israel, is an old testament form of address, calling the whole nation of Israel to attention. The word about to be spoken is to all, all twelve tribes of Israel, and all the people who are not Israelites living among them. When a prophet began his speech with Shema Israel, it was not a edict to the people it was a message for the people, all the people.   

The Lord our God, the Lord is one. While we often say to one another that we all worship the same God, this is not always true. Most often we worship the God who benefits, blesses our ways, our beliefs, and our families. When Jesus speaks these words, he is not speaking of the God of one particular God, but the God who is the God of all. The not just of the Benjaminites or Ephramites, or any other particular tribe, but the God of all tribes, not just the God of Israelites, but the God of foreigners and slaves in their midst, and not just the God of the righteous, but the God of the lost and the sinner as well. This is the God of all, who cares for for all, to whom all can call upon for justice, grace, and peace. In this God, all are one.

You shall love the Lord your God. – the gods, small g, of this world do not ask for your love, but for your fear and obedience. They threaten punishment and condemnation. These gods, again small g, never give of themselves, but are always asking for sacrifices. Only in Jesus Christ, do we see a God who gives of God’s self. Our devotion to this God should never come from fear and punishment, but a love for the God who loves us. A God whose commands to us are in our best interests, for they are in the best interests not just of one, but for all.   

With all your heart, strength, soul, and mind – As God loves us, we are called to love God, as God gave himself in Jesus Christ for us, we are called to give ourselves in love for God. Our hearts should be set on God’s love for all, our strength should be put to use to show this love for all, our soul’s should be tuned to this love in our lives, and our minds should be set on realizing God’s will in our lives. If we do not love God, as God has loved us, we fall short, our lives become separated from God, and subject to the powers of sin reign over us in the form of chaos, division, violence, suffering, and death.  

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Loving God with all our heart, strength, soul, and mind, leads to a selflessness that leads to loving others. Only when we truly love God, are we emptied of the sinful motivations that rule our lives. Only then, are our eyes opened to the sufferings of others, and our part in them. Only then, does caring for others, turn from being a burden to a joy, and only then, will sin, suffering and death be overcome in all human life.

Interestingly enough, our reading of the greatest commandment, occurs on the Sunday before our national elections. For the last several weeks, we have seen god’s, small g, in the form of politicians, trying to make us afraid, threatening us with doom if we don’t vote for them, appealing to us to vote for our own interests over the interests of others, and telling half-truths and outright lies to us.

In the light of our meditation on the greatest commandment this morning, I hope that you will more clearly see the division, violence, suffering and sin, they are sowing in our nation. I hope that you will vote, not out of fear, but out of love, seeking not what is best for ourselves, but what is best for all. And I hope that you will more clearly consider, that only through our love for God and love for neighbor will we be able to free ourselves from the power of these false gods, and realize a nation in which all are one in the true God of Israel, the God we know in Jesus Christ.