Our Singular Responsibility - Love
Rev. Charity Sandstrom
Friday, October 19, 2007
By the Rev. Charity Sandstrom
First Friends Church
Mark 12:28b-31 (RSV) “Which commandment is first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and 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.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
These two commands are said to be the foundation for all of the other commands given by God since the beginning of time. If we take just a brief look at the 10 Commandments we see they divide nicely between the fourth and fifth commandment on this very line. The first four are dealing with our relationship with God. The other six give us instructions on how to live with each other.
Jesus was asked to define the greatest singular command. He answered the question with two commands instead. Three times in the gospels we read of people coming to Jesus looking for the simplest reduction of the Law and Prophets. They came asking, “What is the bare minimum required?” We seem to wrestle with this desire, even today, to find the “one thing” that we must do to please God. There are many who would say that loving God — serving him, worshipping him, being devoted to his word, are the “one thing.” Others claim that loving mankind — caring for our neighbor, doing good works, helping the poor, that these are the “one thing.” But Jesus is very clear that instead of seeking the minimum requirement, we need to broaden our vision. Our love for God and our love for others are inseparable.
To really devote ourselves to loving God, we must love our neighbor as well. This is the very concept that John drives home to his readers in 1 John 1:7. Here he says that if we are walking in the light with God, we will naturally have fellowship with one another. In the next chapter (2:7-11), he says that if we hate our brother, we are walking in darkness, spiritually blind, separated from God. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:44-45), goes so far as to say that our relationship with God will be shown genuine only when we learn to love; not only our brother, but our enemy as well.
In the same way, when we get involved in serving our fellow man it quickly becomes apparent that people need more than just food in their stomachs and clothes on their backs. Mankind, the world over has a spiritual hunger: a great desire to connect with something beyond themselves. As Christians, we know that their hunger can be satisfied when they encounter the living God, through Christ. This knowledge drives us closer to God not only to find fulfillment ourselves, but so that his love in us can overflow into the lives of people around us as we seek to meet all of their needs: both physical and spiritual.
I am not sure why, as Christians, we divide these two commands. In doing so, we have divided ourselves, and created disunity in the body of Christ while we argue over who is the greatest in the kingdom of God. As Christians, we must learn to love God, each other, and our fellow man. In reality these commandments are one and the same; our singular responsibility is LOVE.
F “Sunday Sermon” is a forum for Emporia area ministers to share their sermons, thoughts and observations. This week’s sermon is from the Rev. Charity Sandstrom of the First Friends Church.