Readings: Exodus 22, 20-26; Psalm 18; 1 Thessalonians 1, 5-10; Matthew 22, 34-40
Exodus: One of the great books of the Bible, the second book of the O.T. The name means 'departure' and refers to one of the most important event in Israel's history, the departure of the people of Israel from Egypt where they had become slaves after going there to escape drought in their own land.
Our selection has Yahweh speaking the law to the people as they wander around in the desert.
The Great Commandments
A priest in Chicago who is a psychologist and whom I admire, Andrew Greeley, tells the story of a woman who had three or four kids. As she was bringing up the family she noticed that so many of the children around her were rebellious, disrespectful, lazy, and without discipline. She determined that her kids would be respectful, active, and disciplined.
She demanded they assume responsibility in the house for various chores, they had strict curfews and limits, and they were disciplined when they failed or were disobedient. Time outs, privileges taken away, groundings, no TV, no cell phones, and so forth. All were used to maintain discipline.
The kids grew up, were successful, and all moved away. Seldom did Mom hear from them. One day when she was talking with her youngest, a girl, who was celebrating her birthday, the mom asked her why she and the others never kept in touch. Had she not trained them all well for life and taught them discipline and integrity? "Yes, Mom," the girl replied. "But I never felt you loved us. I was a project."
Matthew in today's gospel explains what the two greatest commandments are, love God & love your neighbor as yourself. Over the years I have taken a psychological approach to these two, noting that there really are three. The third command is implicit, love yourself. My observation is that, first, loving myself is often the hardest, and second, it is the foundation of the other two. Can't love God or anybody else very well if I hate myself.
Today, however, I would like to make some observations about two groups of people, the Pharisees and the neighbor. This will give you an idea why the question of the Pharisees is important and a trap.
About the Pharisees, a rather crazy group of people not even absent from our own times. The word means 'separate.' The Pharisees saw themselves as separate and so did the people. They were separate because they obsessively and rigidly observed the law.
Their goal was to win Yahweh's favor by being perfect and at the same time act as an example of righteousness to the people.
Their road map was the law. Guess what the law meant for the Jew of this time. First, there were 613 commandments, then 365 prohibitions (one for every day of the week), and finally, 268 prescriptions. Total: over 1200 rules for behavior, and the reading from Exodus provides some examples. The Pharisees studied and meditated on these laws. The poor people, the people who had to work could never hope to focus on all these laws, which is why the Pharisees were mostly rich and, therefore, separate from the people and in their eyes superior to the people.
The pharisees' struggle: are all laws equal because they all come from Yahweh, or are some more important than others. It was this question they studied, meditated upon, and argued over. Which leads us to today's encounter with Jesus. They are trying to trap Jesus, make him choose one of these 1,200 laws. He sidesteps the trap and pronounces the two laws which sum up all the laws.
The sad side of the pharisees' life style is that they are obsessed, and that is just unhealthy. Religious obsession can be as harmful to your health as drugging, drinking, or smoking. They have OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. Love is minimal here. In fact, fear is probably the motivator. Whatever, the relationship is between God and the law observer is not the standard that Jesus is suggesting.
Which leads to the neighbor, the person I am challenged to love as I love myself. Two observations.
First, there are two groups of my neighbors, immediate and remote. The immediate neighbor is my family member, my village neighbor, the people I encounter daily or regularly.
The remote neighbor is the alien mentioned in the the Exodus reading, the kid being made to be a soldier in Darfur, the mother in Guatemala, our mother & daughter in Cuernavaca, Mexico, the sick who come to CCAC. I would even suggest that the pharisee is my neighbor.
Secondly, while Jesus says that I am challenged to love my neighbor as myself in this setting, in another place he raises the stakes. He says to love my neighbor as "I have loved you." Pretty lofty demand. Infinite demand, infinite acceptance.
I am convinced that loving a god we cannot see or touch, if that is possible, is built on loving others, which is built on loving myself, something the sad, obsessed pharisee cannot do. Thank God that none of you are pharisees, or you would not be here. However, we can follow the footsteps of the mother who failed to show how much she loved her kids.
As we head into a marvelous time of our year, Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, we begin with Halloween this week. How are you showing your neighbor your love?
AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-10-26.mp3
Picture 1: Wendy, Ray, & Celeste
Picture 2: Margie Duggan
Picture 3: Roseamry & Tom Fleming, Rob & Beth Robinson
