A Meditation for Trinity 21
Matthew 22: 34-40
34 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus 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.” 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’
Reflection
Matthew’s Gospel tells many stories of Jesus teaching – in particular, addressing the misconceptions and misuse of the Law of Moses, in respect to the religious hierarchies and leadership of the time. The Pharisees (the middle- and professional- classes) believed in oral traditional as well as the written law, and interpreted it often to suit themselves; the Sadducees (more upper-class religious leaders) insisted on Literal interpretation; and the Herodians, (who were loyal to the Jewish King – a puppet controlled by the Roman occupiers) didn’t want the boat rocked for fear of Roman retribution. All of them had reason to oppose Jesus as a threat to their own position. Despite their differences, they were united in their wish to get rid of Him.
Last week’s Gospel described the Pharisees trying to trick Jesus by questioning His loyalty, using a post-Mosaic legal question “is it lawful to pay taxes to Ceasar or not?”. It didn’t work. The Sadducees then had a go, questioning the theology of Resurrection; when both failed – with a degree of humiliation – the Pharisees tried another tack, this time referring to an interpretation of the ten Commandments given to Moses – “which is the greatest Commandment?”.
Jesus, by this time I suspect heartily sick of them, gives it to them straight. ‘It’s quite simple’ He says. All the Law – and the way you behave in applying it in everyday life – must be in accordance with the foundation underpinning the Law’s intention, whether written or oral. Love, He said. Love God. Love your neighbour. That’s it – everything you do can be, and must be, derived from these two commandments.
It is worth remembering what Jesus meant by love – the word in Greek is ‘agape’ – endless, unconditional love. The love He will show in accepting torture, ridicule and death for the redemption of all created humanity, whether they deserved it or not. This would be completely beyond the understanding of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians – not to mention religious ‘leaders’ up to and including today. Servant leadership demands putting oneself last – even to death on a cross. I don’t see much of that in today’s News headlines.
Praying Together 29th January 2023
We don’t have to wait for eternity – we can be the body of Christ right here, right now. And then we can begin to take our part in the healing of the Nations.
Praying together 22nd January 2023
The annual Week of Christian Unity seeks to respond to the prayer of Jesus the night before He died, as recorded in John 17,– ‘that they may become completely one’.
Praying Together 15th January 2023
No matter who we are, however sincere our commitment, sooner or later – probably sooner – we’ll blow it. Fortunately, that’s not the end of our Christian life.
Praying Together 8th January 2023
Essentially, our Plough Service is a way in which we can say ‘Please’ – just as on Harvest Sunday, we say ‘Thank you’.
Praying Together 1st January 2023
What does the LORD require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?
Praying Together 25th December 2022
It only takes one candle to be lit and the darkness loses its power to frighten. That is our mission.
Praying Together 18th December 2022
In a hundred years, and for hundreds of years after that, the Nativity story will still be told, as it has been for the last two thousand.
Praying Together 11th December 2022
Few of us will be called by God to do something earth-shattering. But we will all be called to fulfil His purpose in our lives.
Praying together 4th December 2022
It’s not how we serve between Christmas and New Year that matters, it’s how we serve between New Year and Christmas.
Praying Together 27th November 2022
Pause for a moment; for a change, a Meditation rather than a sermonette. Thanks to Clare Anglicans
Praying Together 20th November 2022
He will turn His face to Jerusalem, the theatre where His Destiny will be revealed – a destiny of suffering for the sake of unrequited love.
Praying Together 13th November 2022
So on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, it is right to keep silence for the fallen, in every sphere of life, but unless we resolve to remember them as we remember Jesus – every day of the year – it means little.