Have you heard that we’re having an election on November 4th? Really, I heard we are. I’m not kidding. And the word election triggers other words in my mind. Let’s do a word association. When I say election, what word pops into your mind?
Is it love? According to both our epistle from Paul this morning and the Gospel of Matthew, love is what should always, always spring to our minds as we live as disciples of Christ, particularly when we are drawn into conflict or hate.
We have hundreds of hours of video and newspaper column inches of darn good and objective reporting to sift through before making the decisions asked of us in this election. We also have millions of dollars worth of advertising, fear-raising deceit, innuendo and attacks, phone calls at dinner time and signs on front lawns to convince us how to think. We are enduring a complex and expensive campaign to tell us what we want to hear, and to sway us with words.
And not one of those words is love.
When I hear this morning’s letter from Paul, I see Paul today. I see him trying to get his message out amidst our election season. He’s having a cup of coffee at Starbucks. He’s surrounded by the computers of his fellow patrons. Paul is looking over their shoulders at their screens. He is curious about the incessant references to Wall Street and Main Street, and all the talk about how you can get your share. He’s confused by statements about who should have civil rights and who not. He’s shocked that there are no mentions these days of Iraq or Afghanistan, parts of the world Paul knows well. Paul, who is carrying the good news of Christ, hears no mention or active definition of love.
Speaking for himself and for his disciples, Paul takes one more look at the news on the computer screens and begins to speak. “Unlike what you’ve been hearing during this election,
(3)…our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery…. we speak, not to please you, but to please God who tests our hearts. We never came with words of flattery or with greedy anticipation; we’re not looking for your praise. (8)We care for you so deeply that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves.
ow often do we remove our masks, our trickery and packaging, and share our true selves with one another? How often do we openly accept the true selves of others? That kind of open trust and acceptance is scary. But Christ’s love in us and among us makes such life-giving intimacy possible. In fact, Christ’s love charges us to share such love with one another. With Christ’s love, all things are possible. Just as Paul has been meeting opposition as he carries the Good News from Ephesus to Thessalonica to Santa Clara, Jesus is having his own problems. In this morning’s Gospel, Jesus meets with the Pharisees once again. And has we heard, the Pharisees are about as intent on slipping Jesus up as a Democrat is intent on slipping up a Republican, and vice-versa. It’s an art form. You and I are familiar with the Ten Commandments, but that’s not what the Pharisees are asking about. The Ten Commandments are a drop in the bucket. The Pharisees held that there are 613 commandments: 248 positive commands, and 365 negative commands – one for every day of the year. Now, I don’t know if you were supposed to break one of those every day, or to take particular pains to obey them on the assigned days, but I DO know something else about them: all 613 commandments were held to be the divine word of God and were considered to be sacred, with each commandment of equal importance to all the others. No commandment is greater than another. A mere mortal should never presume to establish a hierarchy among them. No mere mortal should ever presume to act as God. If Jesus ranks the commandments in any way, the Pharisees would charge him with blasphemy; the Romans would add treason, and Jesus would face the death penalty. The Pharisees eagerly wait for Jesus’ answer.
When Jesus answers, he refers to the book of Deuteronomy (6:5).
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This single sentence is a summary of all Jewish law that even the Pharisees would accept: You shall love the ONE God with all you are. To this, Jesus adds a correlative, neither more important nor less important than the first: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In earlier chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has said, “You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” (5:43) And, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the law and the prophets.” (7:12) We embody God’s love; we express it to God and to all of God’s children. That’s our Christian job.
Paul tells us explicitly to come openly to God and to one another in an act of love. Jesus shows us how to do it. He brings calm to the storm swirling around him. He brings simplicity to what others complicate. He brings peace to turmoil. When the noise surrounding us in these days before our election becomes deafening, let us turn to this same love as the source and rock of our Christian characters, and of our decisions.
The only word is love.