It's Not That Complicated
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | November 3, 2024
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Read Deuteronomy 6:1 – 9
Our text this morning comes from the Old Testament... the book of Deuteronomy. It is a book that calls for the people to remember as they make the transition from 40 years of wandering... to becoming settled in a new land.
And as they are transitioning from the wilderness to the promised land... they are also transitioning in leadership from Moses to Joshua. They are transitioning from being nomads to becoming farmers. And throughout this transition, God is calling them to remain faithful... to remember what God has taught them thus far.
The very name of this book is an invitation and a call to remember... The word deutero means second and the word nomos means law... and so the book of Deuteronomy is literally a second hearing of the law... because God did want them and does not want us to forget all that they have learned on their journey through the wilderness... lessons that will serve them well in the new land they have been brought to inhabit.
And I dare say that we, too, are on a journey... and the invitation is extended to us to remember that just as God has brought us through in the past... God will bring us through in the present and the future.
And just as Moses told the children of Israel... we need to remember God’s commands and make the commitment to follow them.
Now, in the Gospel of Mark, the story is told about one of the teachers of the law asking Jesus which was the most important commandment of all. In and of itself, that might seem like a rather simple question... but we must keep in mind, in those days there were more than 600 commandments that were supposed to be followed in accordance with the Jewish tradition... so picking out one commandment in particular might have been a little tricky.
But then again, the teacher of the law was asking Jesus... and for Him, it was easy peasy as some might say.
Jesus was matter-of-factly quoting from Deuteronomy 6:4 – 5, when He told the teacher of the law, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
Or as it says in the Message Paraphrase, “Attention, Israel! God, our God! God the one and only! Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that’s in you, love him with all you’ve got!”
And if I could add in my own two cents right here, I would have to say, you see, IT’S NOT THAT COMPLICATED!
We are called to love God with all we’ve got. Period.
And once we do that everything else should fall into place... operative word here being “should.” However, we do have a tendency to complicate matters.
So, on the off chance that someone might need a little more encouragement, the next verses in our text for the morning read (again, looking at it in the Message):
Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.The instruction here is clear. Both then and now...
we should be teaching our children to love God and to know God for themselves... modeling for them how important it is for us to study the Word of God as we are on a quest to live our lives in a way that is pleasing and acceptable to God.
And let me just say this, IT’S NOT THAT COMPLICATED.
Perhaps that is why Jesus was able to sum up all 613 of the commandments so succinctly when the question was put before Him by the religious scholar as to which one was the greatest commandment of them all.
Looking at the story as it appears in the Gospel of Matthew (22:37 – 40), Jesus told the religious scholar:
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.Now given his status as a teacher of the law, this religious scholar would have been very familiar with those 613 commandments that the Jewish people were supposed to obey.
However, there was some debate among the religious leaders as to whether or not all of the laws were equal in weight or if there were some that could be considered minor laws vs. major laws. So, this question about which was the greatest commandment could possibly have sparked some controversy.
But Jesus’ answer was not the least bit controversial. Rather, He summarized all of God’s laws and put them into two basic categories --- love God and love others. Because that is what it really boils down to – loving God and loving one another – and what could be controversial about that? IT’S NOT THAT COMPLICATED.
And yet, there was no shortage of religious leaders who tried their best to create controversies where none existed... in fact there are some folks that are still doing that to this day.
But back in the days when Jesus lived among the people... the Sadducees, Pharisees and teachers of the law frequently went out of their way to come up with ways to trick Jesus into saying something they could use against Him.
However, each time they did that... Jesus would simply point them to the Scriptures… effectively stopping them in their tracks.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25 – 37), is just one such example. Jesus used this parable in responding to another teacher of the law who had asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life.
But Jesus asked the man a question of His own first… asking the religious scholar what was in the law and how he interpreted it.
Actually, making the same reference to the book of Deuteronomy (6:5) that Jesus used in response to the question about which was the greatest commandment... the man responded by summarizing the laws just like Jesus, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Jesus told him that he had answered correctly and then he told the man to do as the Scriptures commanded so he would live. However, this expert in the law wanted to take it step further and tried to justify himself by asking Jesus who his neighbor was.
That is when Jesus used the Parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate what it means to fulfill the commandments to love God and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
This parable is a stark reminder that we must do more than just be able to recite a passage of scripture, we must be willing to actually do what the Word says.
Keep in mind, in the parable, it was the priest and the Levite, the good church folk who were well acquainted with the sacred texts… they were the ones who passed by on the other side and left the man on the road, bleeding and likely to die if he got no help.
On the other hand, it was the Samaritan, the one who would have been shunned and ostracized by the good church folk… he was the one who rendered aid to the man who was in need.
He was the one willing to put himself in harm’s way and go the extra mile to help someone else.
He was the one the religious scholar rightly identified as being a neighbor to the man and the one whom Jesus set as the example for the religious scholar to follow.
So, the question I pose to us is simply this, “Whose example will we follow?”
Will we be the like the priest and the Levite, so absorbed in our own stuff that we cannot make time or take time to help someone else? Are we too afraid to go out of our way for someone we don’t know or who does not look, think or act like we do?
Or will we be like the Samaritan, not looking at a person’s race, ethnicity or gender identity but merely seeing a fellow human being who is in need? At the risk of being redundant, IT’S NOT THAT COMPLICATED. When we see a need, God calls us to meet the need, in whatever way we are able.
But what if we considered this parable of the Good Samaritan from a slightly different perspective? Perhaps we might acknowledge that the church is represented by the priest and the Levite.
And like the priest and the Levite, the church has seemingly gone out of its way at times to avoid caring for those who need to be cared for the most… often leaving people hurting and in pain feeling... as if they had literally been beaten up and left for dead.
As someone once said, “There’s no hurt like church hurt.” It can literally sour someone against coming to any church at all... simply to avoid the potential of being marginalized and ostracized.
But then along comes Jesus... the ultimate Good Samaritan, the One who is willing to give His very life in exchange for ours… much more than rendering first aid and providing a night’s lodging, Jesus promises to love us... to save us... and to give us eternal life and a home in the kingdom of God for eternity.
So, with that thought in mind, I want to ask the question again, “Whose example will we follow?”
Will we be the ones causing hurt and harm because of our inability or unwillingness to offer help and show love to our neighbors?
Or will we be the ones extending love and compassion, pointing them to Jesus, the source of love and salvation?
I am pretty sure I know what we would like to think we would do if given the opportunity… I mean we would offer help, right?
We would show God’s love to someone who was hurting or in need, right? We would be like Jesus and the Good Samaritan and put the needs of someone else ahead of our own, right?
We’d like to think so…
And yet, as I thought about this passage and the command to love and as I thought about the Parable of the Good Samaritan, I could not help but think about all that is going on in this country right now…
We are living in a day and time when people are doing anything but showing love and compassion for one another… common courtesy is no longer common… civility and chivalry seem to be a thing of the past…
But looking at 1 Corinthians 12:31 we find these words, “And yet I will show you the most excellent way.”
Words that set the stage for the Apostle Paul’s famous discourse on love that is found in 1 Corinthians 13 (1 – 8) which reads:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.Seven times in eight verses we find the word love. And at the end of the chapter, Paul wrote that “faith, hope and love abide, these three.”
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
And, if we were to ask Paul the question, “Which is the greatest of these?” the scriptures make it quite clear that his answer would be, “but the greatest of these is love.” IT’S NOT THAT COMPLICATED.
Love is always the BEST answer… because if we were to look at 1 John 4 (7-8), we would read, “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.”
And back in John 3:16, we can find what is arguably the most often quoted verse of Scripture, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
No matter how we slice it or dice it and no matter where we look to try to find loopholes, red tape or fine print… there really is no getting around it… we have been commanded to love… period, full stop. “We love, because [God] first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
God loves us. And all that God asks is that we love Him right back... and that we love the people that God loves... which is all of us. IT’S NOT THAT COMPLICATED.
It really all comes right back to what Jesus told the religious scholar... love God and love your neighbor. That is the call and the command to us when we make the decision to follow Jesus... and make the commitment to serving others as Jesus did... inviting Him to have His way in our lives.
And if that is truly your desire today, I want to invite you to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: I Am Thine, O Lord #601.
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