The First and Greatest Commandment

Matthew 22.34-end 34When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ 37He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ 41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ 43He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 44“The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’”? 45If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ 46No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.  Sermon at Dulverton The first 5 books of the O.T. are called 'The Pentateuch' and they contain the story of the formation of the Jews as the People of God. The 5th book is 'Deuteronomy' in which Moses, as he approaches his death and the crossover into the Promised Land, gives a resume of the Covenant basis of the relationship between God and the Jews. He exhorts, corrcts, and even threatens his people appealing to their past glory, their historic mission, and the promise of future triumph. His aim is to enforce among the Israelites the Lord's claim to their obedience, loyalty, and love. In Jesus' day Deuteronomy, along with the Psalms, held preeminent religious influence among the books of the O.T. so that when our Lord, in today's gospel, is challenged to say which commandment in the law is the greatest it is to Moses and to Deuteronomy (6.4-9) that he turns: "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Therefore, you shall love the Lord our God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Take to heart these words that I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children, speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates". Orthodox Jews take these words literally tying on their wrists and foreheads and doorposts 'phylacteries' or boxes containg strips of parchment on which the words are inscribed. Our Lord, in his reply to the Pharisees question simply quotes as the first and greatest commandment "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind". He adds a quote from Leviticus "and your neighbour as yourself". It is a summary of the ancient law of the people of God that he clearly calls his followers to embrace as well. Easier said than done. In fact many would admit that they are not very good at loving God, let alone neighbour as self. If we are honest we probably need to also admit that we are not so sure how to go about it. We probably need some help and the saints, who have-by definition-fallen in love with/and stayed in love with God- are possibly the best people to give us a few clues. St Augustine: To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; to seek Him the greatest adventure; to find Him the greatest achievement. St Clare: Love God, serve God; everything is in that. St Bernard: There are 4 steps to love 1. we are to learn to love ourselves for ourselves 2. then we learn to love God for all He has given us 3. this will lead us to love God for Himself 4. and finally we should come to love ourselves for God's sake. St John of the Cross: Where there is no love, put love and you will find love. This last quote from the saints brings us to Jesus' addition to the first  and greatest commandment and reminds us that our love for God is to overflow to others. Carlo Carretto: Don't worry about what you ought to do. Worry about loving. Don't interogate heaven repeatedly and uselessly saying 'What course of action should I persue?' Concentrate on loving instead and by loving you will find out what is for you. Loving, you will listen to the Voice. Loving you will find peace. In the end it is the Holy Spirit who pours love, for God and neighbour and self, into our hearts. The kind of love which not only brings glory to God but which can transform the lives of all others as well as our own, and not just the lives of others, but the whole of society and culture. Thanks be to God! "We love because he has first loved us" As we come with penitence and faith to Word and Sacrament we are opening ourselves to an inflow of His love into our lives.