Sermon – November 3, 2024
Righteous and loving God, we ask for strength to serve You with heart, soul, mind and strength. Help us to follow Your guidance to live Godly lives, and to look forward to standing before You, having lived a life that is pleasing to You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
People ask questions every day. Most of them are probably not all that important– like, “What have you been up to?” or, “Did you watch the game yesterday?” “Isn’t this weather something?”
These questions are not really all that critical or important. There are other much more significant questions that we ask at times, like “Will you marry me?” or, “Did you get the job?” or, “How did the biopsy come out?” Those aren’t everyday questions. Those are significant, life-changing questions.
In the Gospel text for today, we hear two very significant questions. One that a scribe asked Jesus, and another that Jesus asked the crowd at the Temple.
Jesus had just been in a discussion with the Sadducees—some of the Jewish rabies who did not believe in a resurrection from the dead, and a scribe overheard Jesus answering the Sadducees and was impressed by what he heard.
This scribe wasn’t trying to trick Jesus. He actually wanted to know what Jesus had to say. He asked, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Jesus responded with a two-part answer.
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.
Jesus quoted the Old Testament, specifically Deuteronomy 6:4-5. The answer did not begin with what we should or should not do. The answer began with God. “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” He is the only One, true, holy and living God whom we love with every part of our being. The answer is not a matter of deeds, but of the heart and having a heart for God.
But Jesus was not finished answering the scribe’s question. He added: The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.
Here again, Jesus is quoting the Old Testament book of Leviticus 19:18. In these two answers, Jesus has summed up the entirety of God’s Law.
Love God.
Love people.
If you and I could love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, we would trust in God above all things.
We’d never misuse His name.
We’d always remember the Sabbath day, by keeping it holy— but unfortunately, we all know how feeble our love for God can be. We all tend to put ourselves first and God comes in a very distant second.
If we could truly love our neighbor as ourselves, we would always honor our father and mother.
We’d never get angry, let alone kill someone. We’d never commit adultery, even in our thoughts. We’d never take what belongs to our neighbor or say anything to hurt our neighbor’s reputation.
Here again, we fall short. It’s not just the outward acts. It’s the internal–the heart stuff. The real problem is the internal thoughts we harbor against our neighbor.
True life in Christ is summarized in these two profound statements:
Loving God with all we have.
Love people as yourself.
The good news is the One speaking with the scribe is truly God. He was, is, and always will be the One, true, holy and living God of creation walking among us. He was the One who came to fulfill the Law of God perfectly and completely. He alone loved God with all His heart, soul, mind and strength. He alone loved His neighbor as Himself. In fact, He laid down His life for His neighbors. He came to do what we can’t.
He knows us by name, as individuals. We are always on His mind. But Jesus has a significant question of His own: “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?”
The scribes were the experts in the Old Testament Scriptures. They spent all day everyday copying them. That was their job. The scribes were correct in teaching that the Christ, the Messiah, would come from the line of King David. Jesus quoted Psalm 110:1, a psalm that David wrote concerning God the Father and the Messiah: The Lord [God the Father] said to my Lord [the Messiah], ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put Your enemies under Your feet.’
Jesus points out that David himself called the coming Messiah “Lord.” David referred to both God the Father and the coming Messiah as “Lord” as greater than himself. So how could this Messiah be both the decedent and the Lord of David? No one can worship those who come after you.
There is only one answer to that significant question, He is Jesus. He is the one who was there at the creation of the world and is in every way God Himself. He was the one who commanded wind and waves to cease, and they obeyed. He was the one who healed physical infirmities, removed them as if they never existed. He was the one who demonstrated His authority over life and death by raising people from the dead. He was the One whom death and the grave could not hold. He was the One who rose triumphant from the grave.
He was, is, and remains David’s Lord and ours. For God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, a position of power and authority, reigning overall. From that place, He cares and provides for each one of us.
Glorious God, help us remember the teachings of the 10 Commandments. We need guidance in loving our families, our neighbors, and the leaders of our nation. Please give us the will to love others as You love all people. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
