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November 21, 2003
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Sample
Sermon Number 5
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ETERNALLY NEW
When we know God is Love, we are never alone
"Which is the first of all the
commandments?"
Mark 12:28
In today's Gospel Story Jesus is walking
in the Temple area and various Chief Priests, Elders, Pharisees
and Scribes approach Him with questions designed to entrap Him.
Today's Lesson describes one such encounter-with a Scribe. The
Scribes were highly respected by the Jewish Community because
of their superior knowledge of religious law and their ability
to interpret it for the people. Most Scribes were also Pharisees.
They insisted on strict observance of the law, down to the last
detail. Jesus had been teaching that it was the "spirit"
rather than the "letter" of the law that really mattered.
Consequently, the Scribes saw Him as a threat to their authority.
They questioned His authority to teach in God's name. They called
Him a blasphemer. They charged Him as a law-breaker when He placed
human values above strict adherence to oppressive laws. They
found fault with His friendly attitude toward public sinners.
They said He was in league with the devil. They plotted His execution.
They were members of the arresting party and were present at
his trial. They mocked Him on the cross. And, as we have read,
it is one of their number who decided to test Jesus with this
question: "Which is the first of all the commandments?"
(Mk.12:28).
Jesus answered .... . You shall love the
Lord your God
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
This is the second,
You shall love your neighbors as yourself"
(Mk.12:30-31). "There is no other commandment greater than
these," He said (Mk.12:31). "Excellent, Teacher!"
the Scribe replied, adding that the law of love of God and neighbor
is "worth more than any burnt offering or sacrifice"
(Mk.12:33). Jesus and the Scribe were in complete agreement on
a point of law. The Scribe had no quarrel with Jesus' interpretation
of the law. This was a rare occurrence! To this Scribe, Jesus
said, "You are not far from the reign of God." To his
credit, the Scribe knew that all the commandments are summed
up in the one great commandment of love. All of his scholarship,
his learning, his expertise, had brought him to that point. Still,
he was one step removed from the law-of-love's fulfillment. As
a Pharisee, his concern for the enforcement of petty legalisms
often kept him from taking action to promote higher values. He
remained standing at the Kingdom's threshold. Again, in Jesus'
words, he was "not far from the reign of God." Knowing
God's Will is still one step removed from doing it.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said
that He had come not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. To
the great commandment of love in the old law He added a new dimension.
"I give you a new commandment," He said: "Love
one another as I have loved you" (Jn.13:34). The truly marvelous
thing about Jesus' new commandment is that the newness never
wears off. Each individual act of compassion, each act of understanding,
each act of healing, each act of forgiveness, is a new and unique
revelation of what love is all about and, therefore, what God
and fulfillment and eternal happiness are all about.
In the famous story by Antoine de Saint-Exupery,
the Little Prince had one possession he considered unique in
all the Universe. His rose was the most beautiful living thing
he could ever imagine and he had raised her and joyously cared
for her. By day he would gently water her and tend the soil around
her delicate stem, and at night he would cover her with a glass
globe to protect her from any harm. Her soft laughter filled
him with the most amazing feelings of fulfillment, and her singular
beauty made his small planet complete. When the Little Prince
came to visit Earth, one of the first sights he happened upon
was a whole garden filled with roses, all laughing and chatting
and filling the air with their familiar perfume. The Little Prince
stared at them, overcome with the realization that his rose was
only one of numberless others that flourished in the Universe.
He laid down on the ground and wept. But slowly, as he listened
to the gay sounds flowing out of the garden, a deeper thought
came to him, and a familiar feeling of contentment began to stir.
His rose was unique. She was the object of his unique love-different
from all other loves.
Everyone who has ever been loved is unique
in this sense. It begins with God's unique love for each individual
human being. God loves each of you in a way that is special to
you because you are different from every other person. And when
you love another person, you do so in a way that is special to
that person for the same reason.
To love others as Jesus has loved us is
to love unconditionally-no matter what! A very unusual thing
happens when we love in this total way. It may take awhile, and
we may seem a little crazy to some people, but when we really
do offer unconditional love, it does come back to us. A circle
is formed, a circle of love. We are each a unique and indispensable
part of that circle. It is a growing, constantly changing circle
formed first by God, plus us, plus each person we touch. Our
days can be filled with as many loving, pulsing circles of love
as we allow to happen.
We live in the Divinely created school
of learning how to love. That is a fairly accurate summary of
God's whole purpose in creating. The school is as old as the
human condition, but the curriculum is never "old hat."
There are no limits to the diverse way in which we can draw closer
to the Divine through the experience of love. The new commandment
is eternally new. Jesus wants us to understand that, in expressing
our love for one another, we simultaneously express our love
for God. But merely to know this does not complete the lesson.
To understand love, one must experience love. We "are not
far from the reign of God." We have Jesus' word for that.
But to cross over the threshold, to venture into the Kingdom
itself, we must act out the dictates of the new commandment.
We have Jesus' word for that too. We are not far from the reign
of God! We know the way! The door is open! Jesus is waiting!
"God is love," Scripture tells
us. And sometimes we struggle to reach through to God as if He
were something far away, as if He were strange and hard to find.
Sometimes we are so intent on our search that we pass Him by.
We turn Him into a vague abstraction and we get lost in a maze
of words. And all the while He is right here with us, in us,
around us. He is speaking to us with a thousand voices and revealing
Himself in a thousand faces. Looking for God is like looking
for the air when all the time we are breathing it. It is like
looking for the sun when all the time we are basking in it. Once
we have truly come to recognize God as love, we do not call for
Him and agonize for an answer. We see Him everywhere. We see
Him looking at us from the eyes of mothers and sweethearts, wives
and children, neighbors and friends, strangers too, and even
enemies. We feel His presence in every touch of a friendly hand.
We hear His voice in every kindly word. When we know that God
is love, we find Him in every loving thought, word and deed,
and we are one with Him. When we know that God is love, we are
never alone. (Adapted from "Love, Loved, Loving," by
James Dillet Freeman.)
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