A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on
Sunday 2 November 2014 by the Rev. Dr. John LeMond. The scripture readings that day were Micah
3:5-12; 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; Matthew 23:1-12.
How should we live
our lives?
How should we go
about living our daily lives
In this world?
This is the question
that is addressed
By the three
Scripture passages that we have just read.
They do not ask:
“What kind of Christian should I be?”
Or “What should I do
to please God?”
They are asking:
“What does it mean to be a human being?”
What does it mean to
live an honest, true life…
As a human being?
It applies to people
who are religious
And to people who
are not religious.
We are asked to
think about living in relation to other
people.
These passages speak
to every one of us today
Regardless of our
denominational background
Or our theological
orientation.
These passages speak
to us…
Regardless of our
commitment to Jesus Christ
Or our commitment to
any religion.
What does it really mean to
live as a human being?
It’s a universal
question.
And Jesus enters
into this human discussion
By talking about
Moses.
Moses was the
greatest leader of the Hebrew people.
A person who had
lived a full life
One who had both submitted
himself to the will of God
And who had
disappointed God.
But most of all he
had delivered to the people of Israel
The commandments of
God.
And what were those
commandments concerned with?
As the Hebrew people
left a life of slavery
And prepared to
enter into a new era of freedom
It was important for
them to know
What it meant to be
free,
What it meant truly
to be a human being.
The commandments did
not really concern themselves
With belonging to a
particular religion.
They did not concern
themselves
With following a
particular theology.
They were for all
people
As a guide to living
life in all its fullness.
And the commandments
said:
Love God and love
your neighbor.
Very simple.
And when Jesus
entered into the discussion with the people about Moses
This is what he
pointed to.
“Listen to the words
that God sent through Moses
“And follow them.”
And to emphasize the
nature of the gift that Moses had delivered to them,
Jesus pointed out
exactly what they should not do:
Do not be like those
who say one thing and do the other.
Do not be like those
who put heavy burdens on others.
Do not do things
just so others can see what you do and praise you.
Do not seek honor
and glory for yourself.
Love God…and love your neighbor.
According to Jesus
All the law and the
prophets depend on doing these two things only.
Being truly human
does not depend
Upon fulfilling a
large number of rules and regulations
Only two: love God
and love your neighbor…with all the strength you have.
Today, as we sit
here together,
We know why this was an important question
for Jesus…
And for the people
of his time.
Because it is an
important question for our everyday lives as well.
How do I live life
truly, completely and fully?
In chapter 10 of the
Gospel of Luke,
We have a similar
story of Jesus and a lawyer
The lawyer asks
Jesus the same question in a slightly different way.
“Jesus,” he asked,
“what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
So Jesus asked him a
question: “What is written in the law of
Moses.”
The lawyer says:
“Love God…and love
your neighbor.”
Jesus makes a direct
connection between being truly human
And having eternal
life.
Jesus says, the
answer is the same.
Love God…and love your neighbor.
There is no
difference between the two.
And this is
something that our world needs to hear.
We watch the
international news
And we see that the
world is constantly at war.
Constantly
embattled.
We watch daily as
people suffer in Syria
In West Africa, in
America,
In the Philippines,
in Southeast Asia, in Hong Kong.
These people are not
far away from us
They are people we
know and love
The suffering of
this world is not far from us…it is near.
We need not look
outside our congregation
To find examples of
suffering in our world.
Our own brothers and
sisters suffer…
Emotionally,
physically and spiritually.
And so we too come
to Jesus and ask the question:
How can I live my
life truly, fully and completely
In the midst of all
this suffering?
“Love God…and love
your neighbor.”
But, we cry: this is
not possible.
Jesus himself tried
it and it didn’t work.
If Jesus suffered
and died,
Is there any hope
for us?
The hope, sisters
and brothers,
Lies not in our
successfully fulfilling this law of love
But in knowing that
our Lord Jesus Christ
Is the fulfillment.
And that it is
through Christ
That that we realize
our true humanity.
Even though we seek
to follow the exhortations of Paul to the Thessalonians:
To be holy and
righteous and blameless
And to relate to others
in an encouraging and comforting way,
We too often find
ourselves more like those mentioned in the book of Micah
Waging war against
those who do not favor us with gifts
Taking bribes,
despising justice
And distorting all
that is right.
Filling our lives
with wickedness and bloodshed.
Sounds a bit harsh,
doesn’t it?
We may say, “That
doesn’t sound like me!”
“That must be someone else.”
I may not be holy,
but I am at least good.
But the Lord says to
us,
The good people
It is you
who deserve to be plowed under like a field,
To become rubble,
overgrown with weeds.
In the finally
analysis
It is we, as part of
the human race,
Who are responsible.
It is we who kidnap
hundreds of girls…
And force them to
convert to another religion.
It is we who invade
the Ukraine and attempt to overthrow the government
It is we who use the
diamond industry to support terror in Africa
It is we who shoot
peaceful civilians in Syria
It is we who
manipulate the financial markets out of greed.
It is we who argue
with our neighbors and gossip about our friends
It is we who turn
our backs on the most vulnerable in our society.
It is we human
beings who do this.
We know this
And yet, we are
frankly amazed to find ourselves among the accused. (Pause)
But even more
amazing is this:
It is we to whom
Jesus comes, calling us friend
It is we whom Jesus
embraces with love.
It is even as we fail
To live truly as the
human beings that we were created to be
That God continues
to call our names,
And to welcome us
into an embrace of love.
We begin to realize
our true humanity
When, even as we fail,
We yet open
ourselves to the one
Who is both truly human and truly divine,
The one who shows us
the way of truth and life.
How should we live
our lives?
Love God; love your
neighbor
And cling to hope in
the unconditional love and grace of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, November 02, 2014
