Sermon; 21 Pentecost/Proper 25A; Matthew 22:34-46

“Teacher, is it lawful to pay taxes or not?”

If you were here last week you will recall that this was the question asked of Jesus by the Pharisees and Herodians. As I said then, this was a way of doing theology – ask a question and see where it took you. Whenever we talk about God we are doing theology. So asking questions about everyday things and trying to discover where and how God is working in those everyday things makes sense, and it makes us theologians.

The problem with that question, though, was that the Pharisees and Herodians had already figured out how they were going to deal with Jesus depending on how he answered. That is not doing theology. That is trying to fit God into a gotcha box to be used against other people. That is using God as a weapon. And it is something we need to pay attention to and avoid doing ourselves.

Today we seem to have another “theology on the ground” question.

“Teacher, which commandment is the greatest?”

But this really isn't a theological question as much as, in the words of Admiral Ackbar, “it's a trap!” Because here again we have an expert in the law trying to force Jesus' hand to pick one or the other and leaving him open to attack. There are something like 613 laws that Jewish rabbis concluded were in the entire Torah, and the expert is asking Jesus to pick the one that he thinks is the most important.

To turn the tables, this would be like me asking you, “Of the 600 or so rules, which is the most important rule in football?” Within this congregation I am the expert on high school football rules. I am the lawyer. And probably no matter which rule you pick, I will be able to counter with something else – and a better explanation of why it's more important.

It's a trap.

But as usual, Jesus is up to the task.

The first mistake is to assume that there is only one. Jesus will counter with two and combine them in a way to draw a new focus. The first and greatest is this, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

This is a direct quote of Deuteronomy 6:5. Deuteronomy is essentially a record of Mosaic law. Where the law shows up in bits and pieces in the other books of the Pentateuch, such as interspersed with stories of the Exodus, ritual and liturgical rubrics, and a recounting of desert wanderings and censuses, Deuteronomy is like that wall of legal books in a lawyer's office. So when Jesus recites that passage, he is really saying, “Let's look at what the law says.”

And if you think about it, this goes back to last week's question: Is it lawful to pay taxes or not? Whose image is on the coin? Whose image is stamped on you?

We bear the image of God. We are the image of God in the world. The coin belongs to the emperor; we belong to God – our selves, our souls, and our bodies. Is it no wonder that the first commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind?

But then Jesus goes further. He follows this up with, “And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This, as we all know, is the Golden Rule. It appears in many religions and is the maxim for altruism, whether religious or not. It showed up in ancient Egypt, India, Greece, Persia, and Rome. It's part of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and more. Jesus wasn't the first to say it.

What he does, though, is to take this well-known law of reciprocity found in the world and merge it with the Law of God. And on these two laws – Love God with everything you have, and love your neighbor as yourself – hang ALL the law and the prophets.

Love God. Love your neighbor. These two commandments cannot be separated. These two commandments are the basis and the support of everything else. And you cannot claim to follow one while ignoring the other.

Plenty of people claim they love and follow God. Yet those same people push to restrict access to health care, both physical and mental. They allow for the increasing rise in prices of prescription drugs. They work to reduce feeding programs and infant care. And they continue to treat women's bodies as property to be controlled.

Claims of, “I love God,” are followed by actions that continue to place profit over health, allowing corporations to roll over individuals, shunning/blaming the homeless while refusing to pay decent wages. Or are followed by actions driven by hate and jealously, working to marginalize and minimize those of different color, gender, age, or sexuality.

What does God require? To do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.

As I look around our society today as a whole, there are plenty of people who claim to love God while at the same time treat others poorly at best or hateful at worst. We as a society are missing the mark. We as a society are sinning greatly.

I may not be able to do anything about the larger picture, but I can ensure that in here we will love each other as we ourselves want to be loved. And maybe that will cause us to love those outside our walls. Maybe that will cause us to rethink how we treat those who differ from us – racially, politically, religiously, sexually.

The word common to these two commandments that Jesus quotes is, “Love.” To love God is to love our neighbor. To love our neighbor is to love God.

And if we get this wrong, the whole law that these two commandments support will come crashing down around us and we won't stand a chance.

We know which are the greatest commandments. The question is whether or not we are obeying them.

Amen.