October 25, 2020

Susan Adams

Ordinary 30     Thessalonians 2:1-8     Matthew 22:34-46

Video available on YouTube, Facebook

“Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” The Pharisees asked Jesus.

And we know he replied “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” ... and then went on saying “the second is like it; you shall love your neighbour as yourself.” This is what Jesus seemed to think mattered most!

But did you know there were 613 commandments for him to choose from! I didn’t till a few weeks ago ... or if I did once I had forgotten. Clearly it was a question to test him, we would know that even if the writer of Matthew’s gospel hadn’t told us! And the testing questions went on between Jesus and the Pharisees with Jesus asking them “what do you think of the Messiah? Who’s son is he?” Perhaps a bit of intellectual rivalry, or antler-clanking going on do you think?

No one was really expected to remember all 613 commandments – 365 of which were negative (thou shalt not) and 243 positive (thou shalt). So it would appear that Jesus! following the usual practice of the teachers! had clustered them into two groups, which it seems he thought were pretty much the same! I find that very interesting. It is unambiguous: loving God and loving neighbour were like one another.

We have just had a general election. 

Which commitment, policy, or promise in the election mattered most to you? What was most important – sufficient to influence your vote? Your tikanga and your life experience will undoubtedly influence your answer to that.

Some of us will be happy with the outcome of the election, and some not so happy. Some of us will see our concerns on the top of the ‘to do’ list and some will not.

As I was preparing this sermon I was prompted to ask myself how many commitments/promises were made by the various parties? It seems! according to one analyst! that there were well over 600. When I tried to find out more detail it was difficult but I saw that analysts clustered the various promises under headings. Headings such as Economy and Finance, Climate, Tax, Children, Housing, Covid-19, Environment, Culture and Community, and more ... Under each of the numerous headings there were further lists of promises/commitments. It caused me to ask myself which, of the uncountable areas named as commitments and promises, I had focused on when deciding which party to vote for: what mattered most to me?

I can admit, when I tried to check out the range of possibilities, I wasn’t aware of many of them! They had passed by my notice!

We assume that the Pharisees were well schooled in the law as set out in the Torah, we assume they knew 613 of them. They were after all contemporary ethicists (rather than theologians) concerned with how people lived, and supposedly concerned with encouraging people to live the law well and honourably. Jesus was, it would seem from the big picture we have of his relationship with the Pharisees, a bit of a challenge to this. The writer of Matthew’s gospel suggests Jesus doesn’t think they do too well at living out what they preach and teach. In the verses that immediately follow today’s reading (23:3ff) Jesus has the temerity to say to his followers, “do whatever they teach you, and follow it, but do not do what they do, for they do not do what they teach...”

In our society we are pretty hot on walking the talk: doing what we say. We hold our politicians to account for their promises and shout and holler when we think they are not living up to them. But I am challenged to wonder how I am living in response to the primary concerns I identified and that shaped my vote last week.

The society we have shaped is multi-layered: individual relationships, family networks, local organisations, and national organisations of which parliament is the most obvious. We can have influence at each layer if we are so inclined and, we can be globally aware and press our representatives to take our global community seriously too so as to engage and have influence, as we have seen in the Covid response – and hope to see re the climate crisis!

So what was it that shaped your vote? Was a concern for the wellbeing of yourself and your family: tax cuts, access to pharmaceuticals, what would be best for you and yours? Or was it a concern for others: our neighbours in our local community, those with the least share of our national wealth? Or was it concern for our global neighbours: refugees and immigration? Was it perhaps the earth herself: the climate crisis and pollution?

What mattered to you?

How are you planning to walk the talk of your concern?

Jesus said the first commandment is “to love God with all your heart and soul and your mind” But God is not a black hole that soaks up love! Loving God is not providing the fodder necessary to feed an egotistical God. Rather God is the very life force that enlivens all things and love of God is shown by doing things that are life enhancing; in the way we love our neighbours so they might flourish in their living. In 1 John we are told we cannot love God and ‘hate’, (or today we might say ‘disregard, the well-being of) our neighbours – and we know neighbours are not just the people who live next door!

I was intrigued to notice there was dichotomy that I could reflect on and which might shape the way I chose to act: that was to wonder if I voted from fear or from generosity! Fear of scarcity for myself and my family or generosity toward the well-being of others and toward the earth. Such a reflection, of course, if we dare indulge, leads us to be quite specific and to ask ourselves how we will walk the talk of our election priorities: will it be with scarcity and fear as our guiding motifs, or generosity and abundance?

What is the talk you will walk; what is the gospel you will live by?

How will you walk, and with whom as companions?

Have you given thought as to what you will seek to hold this new government to account for?

How we cast our vote speaks to our priorities and to what matters for us so is worth reflecting on.

We can’t all attend to everything with the same energy and commitment, and sometimes we can feel guilty when we see how much time and energy others pour into issues. 

• We can, however, all be grateful that others can do what we can’t. 

• And we can support them with our love and our prayers.

In our turn we can resolve to be faithful to the commitments we have been able to make, walking the talk, and talking what matters.

We, gathered here are church, we are not church alone but in our common commitment to the gospel of God; we need each other so the fullness of the gospel can be proclaimed in word and in deed.