“The One Thing”
Luke 10:25-37 Mark 12:28-31
July 15, 2007
This is my 18th year of formal ministry as a pastor. It is the start of my
first year here. With a few more years added on as a lay staff person at
United Methodist Churches in Iowa it means that I have been listening to
the faith questioning hearts of people for a little over 20 years. What an
amazing, joyful part of my life it has been and still is.
Over those years I have spent countless hours trying to respond to
basically one question. Virtually all of the emotional struggles… all of the
relationship issues… all of the existential angst… the eschatological
ponderings come down to one question. What is the one thing that is
most important for my life?
Do you remember the movie “City Slickers?” Billy Crystal’s high paced
urban life has pretty much fallen apart and he goes with some friends to
a dude ranch trying to pull it back together. He encounters a crusty old
cowboy played by Jack Palance. At one point, when just the two of them
are off looking for a stray, the conversation centers around why people
come to the dude ranch.
(Video clip)
It is a question that has been asked since the beginning of time and… I
imagine will be asked until the Parousia… the return of Jesus. It is the
question being asked in the Gospel reading for today. Just in slightly
different words. “What is the one thing to give my life meaning?”
Over the length of his ministry, the Sadducees would debate Jesus,
trying to trip him up with questions of religious law, which was prodigious
in its intricacies. One of the teachers of the law came and heard them
debating. In Luke’s account of one of those encounters, the question
was asked: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus
responded, as he so often did… and as any good Rabbi would… by
asking his own question: “You can read, what does it say in the Law?”
And the expert replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,” and,
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
“’You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
The author of Mark’s gospel records the encounter a little differently.
Mark suggests that one of the Sadducees thought Jesus had been
giving some pretty good answers to their tough questions and so the
teacher of the law asked Jesus: "Of all the commandments, which is the
most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: (And Jesus first
answers with the Shema, a quote from Deuteronomy which is named
after the first word of the quote: “Hear”) 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God,
the Lord is one.” He then continues, “Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is
no commandment greater than these."
The Law that was being referred to was the Torah… A collection of
writings that we know as the first five books of our Bible. Specifically,
both Jesus and the Sadducee gave their answers by putting together
quotes from the books called Deuteronomy and Leviticus.
Can you hear what is being said... The one thing that will ensure eternal
life… the one thing that will make a difference… the one commandment
that is the greatest of all the commandments… is to love.
There is nothing greater than love for God and love for everyone we
encounter on our journey, including ourselves. Love for God… Love for
everyone we encounter... love for ourselves... that is the one thing… that
is the most important thing. And… it all happens because of God’s love
for us.
Experienced through Jesus… powered by the Holy Spirit… expressed
through each of us. There is nothing greater. That’s the good news. The
Old Testament prophets spoke of it... Jesus lived it... Luke and Mark and
Paul and all of Jesus’ disciples preached it... Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all
your strength and Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is nothing greater.
Now… I could go to great lengths today to pull in all sorts of anecdotes,
illustrations, stories with profound twists and turns… but they won’t point
you any closer to what I have learned over my years of ministry… they
won’t paint any clearer picture of what I have experienced to be the one
answer to both our reason for being and our reason for continuing to be.
I can’t just preach it to you. Because love… God’s love… in order to be
transforming… needs to be experienced first-hand. That is what I think
Jesus was trying to clarify for the Sadducee. Here was a person who
had all sorts of formal knowledge… knew the religious law inside and
out… could recite the do’s and don’ts… had lived the do’s and don’ts
and still wanted to know the one thing to make life worthwhile.
So… Jesus taught him to not only understand the words of the law… but
to also live the law. Jesus taught the Sadducee to love God, love others
and love himself. You can read throughout the Bible about the
transformation that occurred in people who lived the love rather than just
studied the love. You can also find millions of stories in other writings
filled with profound twists and turns… you can find millions of anecdotes
and illustrations of people who have learned to love themselves and
others… who have loved God and been transformed.
But imagine the transformation if instead of reading about it… if instead
of hearing others speak about it… you live it.
Understand that God loves you and accepts you just as you are. Let go
of the mistakes of the past. Starting from this moment and living forward
begin by loving yourself. As you discover how much love God has for you
and how much you can love yourself begin to reach out to others with
that same love. I am convinced that with this one thing. Your life and the
world will be transformed. That’s good news.
So... that’s what I leave you with today. After being asked the same
question over the last twenty years… after experiencing twenty years of
hundreds of people’s struggles and joys... seeing twenty years of
transformation and triumph... it comes down to this one thing: God’s love.
Luke 10:25-37 Mark 12:28-31
July 15, 2007
This is my 18th year of formal ministry as a pastor. It is the start of my
first year here. With a few more years added on as a lay staff person at
United Methodist Churches in Iowa it means that I have been listening to
the faith questioning hearts of people for a little over 20 years. What an
amazing, joyful part of my life it has been and still is.
Over those years I have spent countless hours trying to respond to
basically one question. Virtually all of the emotional struggles… all of the
relationship issues… all of the existential angst… the eschatological
ponderings come down to one question. What is the one thing that is
most important for my life?
Do you remember the movie “City Slickers?” Billy Crystal’s high paced
urban life has pretty much fallen apart and he goes with some friends to
a dude ranch trying to pull it back together. He encounters a crusty old
cowboy played by Jack Palance. At one point, when just the two of them
are off looking for a stray, the conversation centers around why people
come to the dude ranch.
(Video clip)
It is a question that has been asked since the beginning of time and… I
imagine will be asked until the Parousia… the return of Jesus. It is the
question being asked in the Gospel reading for today. Just in slightly
different words. “What is the one thing to give my life meaning?”
Over the length of his ministry, the Sadducees would debate Jesus,
trying to trip him up with questions of religious law, which was prodigious
in its intricacies. One of the teachers of the law came and heard them
debating. In Luke’s account of one of those encounters, the question
was asked: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus
responded, as he so often did… and as any good Rabbi would… by
asking his own question: “You can read, what does it say in the Law?”
And the expert replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,” and,
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
“’You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
The author of Mark’s gospel records the encounter a little differently.
Mark suggests that one of the Sadducees thought Jesus had been
giving some pretty good answers to their tough questions and so the
teacher of the law asked Jesus: "Of all the commandments, which is the
most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: (And Jesus first
answers with the Shema, a quote from Deuteronomy which is named
after the first word of the quote: “Hear”) 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God,
the Lord is one.” He then continues, “Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is
no commandment greater than these."
The Law that was being referred to was the Torah… A collection of
writings that we know as the first five books of our Bible. Specifically,
both Jesus and the Sadducee gave their answers by putting together
quotes from the books called Deuteronomy and Leviticus.
Can you hear what is being said... The one thing that will ensure eternal
life… the one thing that will make a difference… the one commandment
that is the greatest of all the commandments… is to love.
There is nothing greater than love for God and love for everyone we
encounter on our journey, including ourselves. Love for God… Love for
everyone we encounter... love for ourselves... that is the one thing… that
is the most important thing. And… it all happens because of God’s love
for us.
Experienced through Jesus… powered by the Holy Spirit… expressed
through each of us. There is nothing greater. That’s the good news. The
Old Testament prophets spoke of it... Jesus lived it... Luke and Mark and
Paul and all of Jesus’ disciples preached it... Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all
your strength and Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is nothing greater.
Now… I could go to great lengths today to pull in all sorts of anecdotes,
illustrations, stories with profound twists and turns… but they won’t point
you any closer to what I have learned over my years of ministry… they
won’t paint any clearer picture of what I have experienced to be the one
answer to both our reason for being and our reason for continuing to be.
I can’t just preach it to you. Because love… God’s love… in order to be
transforming… needs to be experienced first-hand. That is what I think
Jesus was trying to clarify for the Sadducee. Here was a person who
had all sorts of formal knowledge… knew the religious law inside and
out… could recite the do’s and don’ts… had lived the do’s and don’ts
and still wanted to know the one thing to make life worthwhile.
So… Jesus taught him to not only understand the words of the law… but
to also live the law. Jesus taught the Sadducee to love God, love others
and love himself. You can read throughout the Bible about the
transformation that occurred in people who lived the love rather than just
studied the love. You can also find millions of stories in other writings
filled with profound twists and turns… you can find millions of anecdotes
and illustrations of people who have learned to love themselves and
others… who have loved God and been transformed.
But imagine the transformation if instead of reading about it… if instead
of hearing others speak about it… you live it.
Understand that God loves you and accepts you just as you are. Let go
of the mistakes of the past. Starting from this moment and living forward
begin by loving yourself. As you discover how much love God has for you
and how much you can love yourself begin to reach out to others with
that same love. I am convinced that with this one thing. Your life and the
world will be transformed. That’s good news.
So... that’s what I leave you with today. After being asked the same
question over the last twenty years… after experiencing twenty years of
hundreds of people’s struggles and joys... seeing twenty years of
transformation and triumph... it comes down to this one thing: God’s love.
| The One Thing |
DeWitt United Methodist Church
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