Scripture: Matthew 22:34-40 (The Two Great Commands of Love)
Love God and love your neighbour. Sounds simple, but it shouldn't surprise us it isn't always so.
The three great religions of the Book (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) have these two fundamental life-rules on their books. And people in all three traditions (and beyond) manage to live both loves well -- some in publicly celebrated ways; many others more quietly and under the radar of public notice. They are the saints and we do well to aspire to their example.
But we also know the other sides of the story -- that sometimes these two life-rules get garbled in the translation from Book to real life.
What are we to make, for instance, of the "love of God" professed by those who combine it with violence toward their neighbour -- be they members of the KKK, Nazi Germany, either side of the Irish troubles, or religiously-affiliated terrorists and ethnic cleansers. This sort of love of this kind of God gives contemporary atheists good reason to plead for a ban on religion for the sake of the world's well-being.
And what kind of "love of others" is expressed when a preacher tells parents in his congregation (in a sermon Japhia and I heard a year or so ago) to love their unlovable teenagers (who are sitting beside them at this point) because "God tells you to"? "Unlovable" was the minister's word, and he mentioned it repeatedly. If I were one of those teenagers -- or one of those parents, I wonder how long I'd be staying in that church.
Some people suggest we don't need God to love our neighbour -- that natural altruism, the good feeling we get when we do good for someone, and practical concern for our survival as a species and a planet are enough to impel us to act well towards one another and to care for other creatures' well-being.
But what about God? Does love of God help us or hinder us in loving our neighbour?
Maybe it depends on what we know and love about God.
In ancient Israel these two life-rules were originally shaped in the specific context of the exodus from Egypt. The people had experienced God as their liberator from slavery. They knew God first-hand as the One who hears the cry of the oppressed, delivers them, and leads them to well-being as a people.
So in that setting the original meaning of the double life-rule is this: in all you do, remember and honour God who reached out to you in your distress to save you when you could not save yourself, and love your neighbour as you have been loved -- especially the poor, the widow, the orphan, the alien and others among you who (like you were) are without support and unable to save themselves.
Seeing the double life-rule this way makes me wonder what experience of God, or what side of God we might be aware of today that, were we to focus on it and love God for it, would impel us to love our neighbours, especially the troublesome or troubled ones, more honestly?
Maybe in our worship this Sunday we'll glimpse something of God that is helpful to good life in the world today. We can hope.
To prepare for that ... what do you know and love about God that helps you honestly love your neighbour, whoever that neighbour may be?
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