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ALL SAINTS SUNDAY

Priority One

Mark 12:28-34

If your house were on fire, and you knew that you had only a few minutes to gather those things most precious to you and get out, what would you make sure that you had with you?

I’m guessing that, first and foremost, you would make sure that your children or other loved ones were safe, especially those who might have trouble getting out on their own.  Then, cherished pictures or irreplaceable mementos – a wristwatch from your grandfather, a stack of letters from someone you love dearly.  Finally, maybe your wallet or purse or even your computer if you could carry it.

And once you were out on the front lawn or on the street, you might begin thinking about the significance of what has just happened.  As you watch your house being reduced to ashes, you know that you have made important choices.  There are many other things that you have left behind – some that might be replaced and others left behind for good.  But what is most precious to you, you have taken with you.  You have identified priorities.  And with what is most important to you, you will move on.

This is something like what one of the scribes asks Jesus.  “Which commandment is of first priority?”  It is the kind of question that the rabbis talk about all the time.  But this is no idle question.  It is not a classroom problem to be worked out at a distance from the real world.  It is a real life question with enormous implications.

You see, this discussion is happening in the temple.  The temple is the center of Israel ’s religious life.  It is where the annual and weekly and daily rituals take place that ensure Israel ’s on-going relationship to God.  It is where individuals go to make themselves right with God, to keep themselves right with God.  Israel ’s religious life without the temple would be unthinkable.  It might even be a sign that Israel ’s relationship with God was done with forever.

Yet we know that the unthinkable is coming.  In two weeks, we will hear Jesus tell the disciples, as they are departing the temple – “Do you see these great buildings?  Not one stone will be left upon another.  All will be thrown down.”  And we know that, within two generations, Jesus’ words will come to pass.  The temple that was originally built by King Solomon (10th c. BCE) and destroyed by the Babylonians (6th c. BCE) and slowly rebuilt under the leadership of Ezra and lavishly renovated by King Herod (1st c. BCE) will be utterly destroyed by the Romans.  They will dig up the foundations so that it will not be rebuilt. 

So, what happens to Israel ’s faith then?  Where does Israel turn?  How does it remain faithful to God without the temple?  Jesus says, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord your God is One.  And you shall love the Lord your God with every fiber of your being and you shall love your neighbor as you love your very self.”

And the scribe concurs.  In fact, he says that loving God and loving neighbor is far more important than all the whole offerings and burnt sacrifices ever made at the temple.

Why is this?  When we love God, we are not merely following orders.  God cannot command us to love anymore than we can command those whom we love to love us in return.  God has made us in his image.  God has made us from the plan of love through the power of love for the purpose of love.  And when we love God, we fulfill the purpose for which we were made.  When we love God, we live according to our true selves.

Since God has made all people in the divine image, then we also live according to our true selves when we love others as we love ourselves.  The commandment is not to love others instead of loving ourselves.  It does not to love others more than we love ourselves.  We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Given the context, Jesus’ teaching is more radical than we might think.  Jesus is not saying that, once the temple is destroyed, Sabbath observance according the laws of Moses is what we help us to remain faithful.  This is the position of the Pharisees.  Jesus is not saying that, once we lose our spiritual home, the circumcision of Abraham will keep us faithful.  This is the position that Paul fights all the time.  Jesus is saying that, when we have lost everything, we should go back to the beginning.  If we want to know how to go on with our lives after the destruction of the temple, we should go back to creation.  We should remember our original nature as made in the image of God, that we are made in God’s love.

This is also what makes us saints.  It is not who we are, but our connection with God that makes us saints.  It is not what we do, but what God does for us that makes us saints.  It is not that we first loved God, but that God first loved us.  God not only gave us our very lives.  God also gave us Jesus.  This is the basis of our relationship with God.  It is the basis of our relationship with others as well.

Some years ago I was part of a meeting at a retreat center in Oconomowoc of people concerned about spiritual life within the church.  It was sponsored by the Wisconsin Council of Churches.  There were Methodists and Presbyterians, Episcopalians and UCCers, Roman Catholics and Lutherans.

I don’t remember much about the day.  I do remember that, toward the end of the day, we were seated around card tables and the leader of the group offered us a question for discussion – If you were the bishop, what one thing would you do to encourage spiritual renewal in your church?

One woman at my table, who was Roman Catholic, said right away, “If I were bishop, I would close all the churches.  That would force everyone to reorganize in new communities.”

Now, this woman, I had learned, had worked in a Roman Catholic parish for many years, but her employment had ended unhappily for her.  So, there was likely some resentment in her statement.  There was another Roman Catholic who was startled by the radical nature of her statement.  She said, “Oh, you wouldn’t have to go that far!”  But I think there was also some wisdom in what she said.

What would we do if we didn’t have buildings for our churches?  This is not a completely theoretical question for Hope either.  Hope lost its building in 1973 to a fire.  At that time, I don’t imagine anyone suggested that there was no need to rebuild.  No one suggested that loving God and loving neighbors was enough.  Buildings provide structure and stability for communities of faith, as well as the capacity to house larger gatherings of Christians.  Just as we are pre-wired for God, we are also pre-wired for community.

But it’s not so much about the building.  It’s about what we do beyond the building, what we take with us into the world when we leave the building, and how we live out in the world.  What is most important when we go out into the world?  What is the top priority?

Of all the commandments about sacrifices and offerings, this is most important – Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Of all the commandments about Sabbath observances and festal rites, this is the most important – Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Of all the commandments about religious faithfulness and community loyalty, this is the most important – Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And when you seek to live this way, as God has created you to be, as God intended you to be, as God has loved you to be, you are never far from the kingdom of God.