Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on 18 October 2026, by Sunita Suna. The scripture readings that day was Psalm 99, Isaiah 45:1-7, Matthew 22:34-36

"Gracious God, as we hear Your Word, open our hearts and minds. Guide us by Your Spirit, inspire and empower us through Your Word. Amen."  

Good morning!

KUC has a meaningful practice of inviting lay members of the congregation to actively participate in Sunday worship. I want to thank the Worship Committee and Pastor Maggie for the opportunity to share God’s Word with you today.

Last Sunday, our preacher joked that he might have picked the wrong Sunday to preach, given the complexity of the passage.  This week, I felt confident. The passage seemed familiar… even straightforward. But as I sat down to prepare, to seek its true meaning… I realized—I might have picked the wrong Sunday too! 

The passage we read today from the Gospel of Matthew is one many of us know well. I first learned about the “greatest commandment” in Sunday School.

But when we return to this text as adults, reflect on it more deeply, and ask what it really means for our lives, suddenly it’s not so simple. Understanding its true meaning is hard. And living it out… may be one of the most challenging tasks we face!  

I am sharing my reflection on the passage from the perspective of a layperson.

In this chapter, Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees and the Sadducees with a series of questions to test him.  And so - today’s passage continues this testing. But notice - Jesus does not only receive their questions. He also poses a counter-question, turning the tables on them.

In today’s reading, an expert in the law asks Jesus, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus answers with words they all knew well, quoting from 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,” Jesus says, “is the greatest and first commandment.” 

But he does not stop there. He adds a second commandment, quoting from Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”


Two commandments. One flowing into the other. Love for God—and love for neighbour. Together, they form the foundation of all the law and the prophets.

The Pharisees and Sadducees likely did not expect Jesus to highlight this particular law as the greatest commandment. And yet, He ties it directly to the second: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

Jesus’ response is powerful — even classic. In doing so, He exposes their hypocrisy. Loving God is not about rituals, traditions, or outward displays of strength and power. The Pharisees and Sadducees were known for such things. But by referring to this law, Jesus reminds them that these are empty if the heart is not aligned with God.

To love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind means something deeper. It is pure. It is holy. It is genuine. It is without duality or pretence. This is the love that Jesus calls us to — a love that is real, wholehearted, and undivided.

And perhaps Jesus was pointing out to them: "Since you are not truthful to yourself, are you truly worthy to worship and love the Lord your God, the Yahweh who is…”

• Holy and Righteous (Isaiah 6:3)

• Love and Compassion (1 John 4:8; Psalm 103:8)

• Faithful and True (Lamentations 3:22–23)

• Just, and Judge of All (Isaiah 30:18)

• Merciful and Forgiving (Psalm 86:5)

• Provider and Shepherd (Psalm 23:1)

This is the God we are called to love — Such love is not optional. It is the very foundation of faithful living.

Jesus’ answer to the expert in the law was remarkable. Jesus was asked to choose the greatest law out of more than 600 laws. I believe Jesus added the 2nd commandment, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” intentionally, challenging them with a deeper question: 

How can you truly love God without loving God’s people?  “We may also wonder who belongs to God’s people.” 
Psalm 24:1 declares: “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”
Everything and everyone belong to God. 

Therefore, Jesus was not limiting it to the Israelite community alone when he says, “love your neighbour” — He was extending it far beyond.

“I recall a specific experience of mine in India. After university, I was chosen to assist a doctoral student from Germany in her research as an interpreter. Her work required us to live in a rural village for a year. But the community was very particular — no outsider could simply move in. When we approached the village head, the answer was a firm ‘No,’ especially when they saw us as “foreigners”. A meeting was called, and after long discussions and negotiations among the leaders, they finally agreed to let us stay in a small mud house. At first, there was distance and suspicion. But slowly, the women began visiting us, sitting on our verandah to talk. Soon, children joined, and evenings became filled with stories and laughter. What began with resistance turned into friendship, and we were welcomed as part of their community-no longer “foreigners” to them. The village community extended its boundaries for us. That experience taught me that being a neighbour is more than living side by side — it is becoming part of one another’s lives.”

Leviticus 19:18 could be read as limiting "neighbour" to the Israelite community. But the same chapter, in verse 34, opens the circle wide: "The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God." 

Notice the reason God gives: "You were foreigners once."  Our love for the stranger begins with remembering our own story.

This means that loving our neighbour” is not limited by nationality, culture, or community. It is a command to embrace all people — the stranger, the outsider, the different one. Jesus ties love of God and love of neighbour together because they cannot be separated. To claim one without the other is to miss the heart of the commandment.

Indeed, a commandment hard for the Pharisees and Sadducees to live out, and still hard for us today!

In today’s world, the definition of “neighbour” has expanded far beyond kin and clan. The command in Leviticus 19:34 — “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself…” — speaks directly into our modern reality. Migration has transformed the demographics of nations and regions. Communities are no longer homogeneous; they are diverse, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious. I grew up in India, a land celebrated for its diversity. The challenge has always been to seek unity not through uniformity, but unity in diversity. 

And this diversity is not accidental — it is part of God’s unfolding plan for humanity.