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Thursday, October 30, 2008
Questions, Questions
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17; Matthew 22:34-46
Last Friday I trucked on down to the county courthouse and cast my absentee ballot in person for the upcoming general election. (I much prefer walking two blocks to my neighborhood polling place and kibitzing with fellow citizens in the longish line-up there as we patiently, patriotically, wait our turn to decide the fate of the world one vote at a time. But this time I have to be out of town on election day.)
Sunday morning I preached on Jesus' simple, profound, answer to one more trick question thrown at him in a public dialogue that made the McCain-Obama debates look like child's play. Matthew's story lines up one after another official opponent to pose a tough theological problem for Jesus to solve -- Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and now a "scribe." This man is a scholar in the Law of God, devoted to copying the sacred text and interpreting its nuances for righteousness in everyday life.
He asks Jesus, "Which of all the commandments is the greatest, most important, most valuable one?"
Can't you just hear the commentary this guy hoped to hear on that evening's news? Something like...
"Jesus of Nazareth today did not deny advocating a sliding scale of morality, after he singled out just one of God's laws over all the hundreds of other statutes and commandments long held to be every person's sacred duty. In fact, some scholars observe that he virtually turned the Ten Commandments into a multiple choice test."
What he did do, of course, was appeal to every devout Jew's daily morning prayer (Deuteronomy 6:5) -- "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and strength." In short, Love God with everything you've got!
Then he added a corrolary (Leviticus 19:18) -- "Love your neighbor as yourself." In short, treat other people the same way you'd want to be treated.
There you go: Love God, love people, and everything else works out from there!
Now, imagine what a different world this would be if people voted on all the candidates, the propositions, the measures and initiatives using that one fundamental principle...
Imagine what a different world we'd live in if every politician, civic leader, business executive, worker, teacher, parent, child, neighbor, friend, pastor, and garden variety Christian tried to make every decision on that one fundamental basis...
Love God, love people, and everything else works out from there!
Imagine that. I hope someday you will join us.
No apologies to John Lennon. Or Jesus, either.
Listen to the GODcast!
posted by Jack Buckley at
11:14 AM
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