First reading: Exodus 22:20-26
Psalm: Ps 18:2-4,47,51
Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Gospel: Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law tested him…

Over the past five weeks our Gospel readings have been taken from St. Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 21 and 22. Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph in Chapter 21 and had cleared the moneychangers from the Temple. Just before this grand entrance Jesus had reminded His disciples, for the third time:

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death,
and deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Now the battle was on. Jesus was seated in the Temple precincts. The people were listening to Him. The Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, lawyers, and Herodians – none of whom really liked each other, put their focus on discrediting Jesus in front of His listeners, having Him arrested, and killing Him if at all possible.

They devised word traps aimed at proving that Jesus was a bad Jew and/or an enemy of Rome.

The disciples stood by and watched as every word trap turned into a trap for the hunters. Jesus used every occasion to enlighten His disciples and all who listened. St. John Chysostom in commenting about these chapters from Matthew states that Jesus not only turned their words against them, but used their words to show who He was.

For all the scheming and plotting the hunters never stopped to ask themselves whether their target, Jesus, might be the Messiah. They never stopped to consider, even for a moment, that Jesus might be Emmanuel, God among them. Jesus’ replies show clearly that He is God in their midst.

Brothers and sisters,

When the lawyer asked:

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

He didn’t realize that he was asking the Teacher. He was asking God, who gave the law.

In reply Jesus boils down the 613 Mitzvos into two commandments: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Further, He tells them that all law, all scripture, all of the prophets, in other words, God’s entire communication with humanity, hinges on these two commandments.

Love God, love each other. It as simple as that.

Some of the greatest philosophers and theologians have tried to capture and document the complexity of God. Who is He? Why does He interact with us? Why does He need us? How does He define Himself? What is the meaning of His self-revelation, suffering, death, burial, and resurrection? In contemplating God one could ask a million questions and find a million answers. I believe that those who come closest are those that define God as a simple being. God is One. He is all-in-all. He is simply love. Not wishy-washy romance or pining after a beloved, but pure, directed love.

Jesus directs and communicates the Father’s love. When Jesus tells us that we should come onto Him, take up His yoke; when He tells us that His yoke is easy, His burden light, He is telling us that perfection is found in our struggle to be like God; to be people of simple love.

My friends,

We are heavily burdened. If we were to enumerate the different costs associated with our lives they would amount to little except burden. The things occurring in the world this very days amount to unfathomable burdens. The credit crunch, failed banks and businesses, retirement savings accounts at half their value, terrorism, wars, our daily labors, getting up, going to work, struggling through the challenges that lie before us. Life would be a disaster if not for those moments that touch us, the moments that communicate simple love.

When we gather here in church to praise God, to communicate our love for Him, He communicates His love for us. When we see a new life, arising out of an act of love, we are filled with hope and promise. Celebrations that connect us to God and to our families, at Christmas and Easter, a wedding, and anniversary, a birthday, even a funeral are moments where burdens melt away and we are left staring at simple love.

These moments of love are moments in which we get to peer through a keyhole. We see the light and the promise on the other side of the door. The light on other side of the door is the love that we really long for, the love we need. That light is the perfection of love in God. Through the gift of faith we see that light and are left with a choice.

The choice God asks us to make, in all its simplicity, is this: Will we love God and love each other. When we decide to walk in God’s way, when we decide to live as children of God, children of the light, children of love, we become caught up in God’s life. We learn that love of God and love of each other is more than duty, but real joy – a gladsome burden. In making choices that reflect love of God and love for each other we grow to be more like Him. Each day we get better and better at living a life of love, at showing forth the light of God’s love.

During the Sermon on the Mount Jesus told us:

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.
Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.—

Our light is the light of our Father in Heaven. It is the light of our brother, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is the light of simple and direct love.

As we walk through the day, as we encounter those enumerable burdens, we meet them as changed people. When we encounter darkness we are to challenge it with the light of love. Unlike the challenge the lawyer in today’s Gospel presented, a challenge without love, we are to meet our challenges with love. It is as simple as that. The unruly child, the angry boss, the demanding customer, the rude driver, the terrorist, the disease we never expected, the person in our family who refuses to return our love, the untimely death. There is no room in any of these for fear, only love.

All of God’s revelation hinges on love. It is simple. Love God, love each other. Amen.