The Rev. David B. Hodges
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Gotcha! That word, spelled G O T C H A, is a contraction of the phrase “I got you.” While the meaning of “gotcha” varies depending upon the situation, it usually falls into one of several categories such as, “I understand,” or “I caught you.” Gotcha can also mean “I fooled or surprised you” and when it is used in that way it is defined as something that is an unexpected and usually disconcerting challenge. There is also something known as “gotcha journalism” which refers to those times when a reporter poses a tricky or unfair question to a politician or public figure. Gotcha questions are perceived to be unfair or overly aggressive in nature and are designed to elicit a response that can be taken out of context. It has been pointed out that the danger of being trapped by these kinds of questions is that they deflect attention from the larger and more substantive issues. As one journalist says, when a public figure is the victim of gotcha question they are often quick to blame their boneheaded remarks not on themselves, but on the inherently deceitful nature of the gotcha question itself (Political Dictionary, Gotcha Question).
Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? (Matthew 22:36). That is the question we heard Jesus being asked a few minutes ago in an exchange he had asked with someone who is identified as a lawyer. Jesus has been talking with various groups of people who do not like what he has been saying and they have been challenging him and trying to entrap him with gotcha questions about things like paying taxes, about resurrection after death, and each time Jesus has been able to avoid the trap. On several occasions the way in which in which Jesus responds to their gotchas questions leaves those asking him speechless. So, this time someone who is identified as being a lawyer, which means that he is very well versed in the religious law, wants to know which one of the over 600 commandments found in the Old Testament is the greatest. Jesus responds by saying that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
When Jesus responds with what he says is the greatest commandment, to love God, he is responding with something that faithful Jews, like him, pray every day known. It is known as the Shema, which in Hebrew means “hear” or “listen” and the Shema is found in the book of Deuteronomy in the Bible. The Shema is a central affirmation of faith for the Jewish people something that has been referred to as the ultimate expression of the most fundamental belief of Judaism. The Shema is often the first part of the Hebrew Bible that a Jewish child memorizes, and many Jews pray the Shema twice a day. When it is recited as part of worship, Orthodox Jews will cover their eyes with their right hand as they slowly and deliberately say the words. As one bible scholar points out, a question like this one asked by the legal expert about which one of the hundreds of commandments is the greatest is like asking what would you take from your house if it was on fire? (N.T. Wright).
Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? When Jesus answers the gotcha question in the way that he did he once again evades the trap that has been set for him. In writing about this exchange between Jesus and the lawyer, Scott Hoezee points out that when Jesus responds to the tricky question by quoting a portion of the Shema, he was throwing back in their faces something they took to be exceedingly basic. What Jesus knew when he responded to the legal expert was that there were no other verses in Bible that the those who were trying to trap him were more familiar with than these. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is the only God. You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Always remember these commands that I give you today. Be sure to teach them to your children (Deuteronomy 6:4-7).
Did you notice that after Jesus tells the lawyer which commandment is the greatest he keeps on talking? Jesus doesn’t stop after he says that the greatest commandment is to love God, but he goes on to say, and a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). Now that was not part of the gotcha question that this legal expert asks Jesus. He doesn’t ask what are the two or three or four greatest commandments. No, his attempt to entrap Jesus centers on one question which is, teacher, which commandment which one commandment, in the law is the greatest. But in typical Jesus fashion, Jesus responds with more. He keeps on going and adds a second and he says that the second commandment is just like the first and it is that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Everything else that is in the religious law, Jesus says, depends upon these two, love God and love your neighbor. As one writer points out Jesus is saying to us that wholehearted love for God means coming in some measure to see other people as God sees them, and all people as the objects of God’s love. Therefore, anyone who truly loves God with all his being must and will love others (Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary. P. 563).
Love God and love your neighbor. That doesn’t sound very difficult, does it? Maybe I should have just said that at the beginning of this sermon and then said Amen. But though it may not sound difficult, it is and at times it can be very difficult and the reason for that is because the kind of love that Jesus is talking about is the radical love of God that knows no boundaries. That’s why it’s hard for us to do what on the surface seems to be easy. So, one of the questions before us as we think about how Jesus responded to the question he was asked is, can we do whatever it takes, to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and also love our neighbor, whoever that may be, in the same way that we love ourselves?
Loving God and loving others, in this sometimes skewed, partisan world in which you and I live, particularly those who don’t look, or act, or believe the way we do, really doing that, is hard and it requires a willingness to put what we say we believe into action. We all know that there are times when things are often not very civil or restrained and not always kind. Think about the way we talk about one another – and to one another. Think about how we as people, as Christian people, have differences about how to relate to and show hospitality to those who are from other cultures and countries, from other religious traditions. Issues of dignity and respect that are part of our core values and beliefs, have become filled with debate in ways that have caused us to lose the reality to see that these issues center around the lives of other human beings created in the image of God just like you and me.
Love God and love your neighbor. It has been said the word “love” may be one of the sloppiest words in our language because if primarily refers to a feeling, but the kind of love Jesus is talking about is different. As you may know, in Greek there are several words for love and one of those is agape which is used over one hundred times in the New Testament of the Bible. Agape is never used to describe romantic love or a feeling of love but denotes a way of being that originates in God that has to do with concern for the well-being of the other person. When Jesus says that the two most important commandments are love God and love your neighbor, he is talking about agape love. Thomas Aquinas, who is one of the most influential teachers and theologians in Christianity defines love as something in which we will the good of the other by actively, structurally, and sacrificially orienting our will in such a way that another person is able to flourish.
I read something recently that was helpful for me in thinking about what Jesus said that day when he was asked a gotcha question. When he was asked about what the most important thing is to think about as a person of faith, Jesus didn’t say anything about believing in the right things. Jesus didn’t say that there is a certain church you should attend, and he didn’t even say anything about reading the Bible or praying. But what he does say is love. Love God and love your neighbor (Journey with Jesus, “The Greatest Commandments,” Debie Thomsas, 10/18/20). Not sometimes, not just when we feel like it or when our emotions lead us to want to, but love God and love your neighbor. As Jesus says at the end of another version of this story, go and do likewise (Luke 10:37).
I am going to end by sharing with you a blessing that comes from a book called A Black Rock Prayer Book. I hope the words of this blessing will help us to think more about how we ca live into and carry out what it really means to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
The world now is too dangerous and too beautiful for anything but love. May your eyes be so blessed you see God in everyone. Your ears, so you hear the cry of the poor. May your hands be so blessed that everything you touch is a sacrament. Your lips, so you speak nothing but the truth with love. May your feet be so blessed you run to those who need you. And may your heart be so opened, so set on fire, that your love, your love, changes everything. May it be so for you and for me. Amen.