Sunday
02/19/17 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Won’t you be my neighbor?”
Old Testament
Scripture: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
New Testament
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Gospel Lesson:
Matthew 5:38-48
Friends, sisters and brothers, welcome again on this the
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany. Seven Sundays after the Wise Men or the Magi
came to see the Christ-Child. Seven Sundays after they came to see God in the
flesh, the Messiah, and they then left changed and empowered.
Next Sunday on Transfiguration Sunday, we will begin to transition
from “Common Time” or “Ordinary Time,” which we are in now, towards the season
of Holy Lent. The season of Holy Lent will begin on Wednesday March 1st,
which is Ash Wednesday. My annual Ash Wednesday service, will be at the Homer
Avenue UMC at 7:00 pm.
With this said, one of things that I have been challenging
myself to do in this New Year in the way of preaching, is to preach more from the
Old Testament, or the Hebrew Bible. I have found that on many Sundays I have predominately
just been preaching out of the New Testament, and the Gospels. While I will
still do this often, I also want to preach more out of the Old Testament, or
the Hebrew Bible.
The
reason for this, is that the Old Testament, or the Hebrew Bible sets the stage
for the New Testament. Specifically, the Old Testament sets the stage for the New
Testament, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In fact, some of the statements that Jesus makes in the
Gospels, are literal scriptural quotes from the Old Testament. For example,
Psalm 22:1a says: “My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?” (Ps. 22:1a, NRSV). In the Gospel of Matthew 27:46, as
Jesus is on the cross, the gospel of Matthew says: “And about three o’clock
Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46, NRSV).
In the gospels, Jesus went into the
Temple and read the scroll or Book of Isaiah, from the Old Testament. In this
scripture, Isaiah predicted the coming of the Messiah, and Jesus then said that
the scripture was fulfilled in him.
In the gospels, and all throughout the
New Testament, there are verses from Old Testament prophets that are making predictions
about the coming of the Messiah. Jesus discusses more than once the importance of
the Ten Commandments for example, which will be discussing next Sunday. The New
Testament and the Old Testament then, are very much interconnected, and because
of this, I am going to try to preach more about the Old Testament or the Hebrew
Bible. Specifically this morning, I want to talk about our reading from
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18.
Now to just quickly give you an overview
of the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible, there are different types of books in
the Old Testament. The first thing to point out, is our Christian Old Testament
is taken largely from the Jewish Hebrew Bible, or the “Tanakh” in Hebrew. The
first five Books of the Old Testament are often called the first five books of
Moses, or the “Pentateuch”, or as our Jewish brothers and sisters call it the “Torah”.
The rest of the Old Testament is
divided into book of the history of the Jewish people, wisdom books, the
Psalms, and the books of the prophets, like Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Micah. I find
that often in discussing Jesus Christ that the New Testament quotes the Books
of the Prophets the most. This is because the Jewish prophets were often the
ones making predictions about the coming of Jesus Christ.
So I have given you all of this quick background,
to help us to better put into context our reading this morning from the Book of
Leviticus. Once again, the Book of Leviticus is in the Old Testament, or the
Jewish “Torah”, and it is the third book of our Christian Bible. The Book of
Leviticus includes to a great extent, moral, ethical, and other teachings that
Moses received from God. For example, the idea of forbidding the wearing fabric
that has two colors woven together, comes from the Book of Leviticus. Devout
and Orthodox Jews still to this day, follow all of the teaching of the Torah,
or the first five books of the Old Testament.
Jesus Christ however, said in Matthew
22:37-39, and other places when asked about which law was the greatest, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You
shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mt. 22:37-39, NRSV). So don’t
worry, you can still eat pork, you can still eat shellfish, and you can still
weave different colors of fabric together, as we as Christians no longer live
under the old Jewish Law of Moses. The Old Testament scriptures inform us
though, and Christ referred to them often.
This morning,
I titled my sermon, “Won’t you be my neighbor?,” as I grew up watching the
television show, “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood”. The show would always begin with
the character Mr. Rogers singings the introduction song of “Won’t you be my
neighbor?” In this song, I felt the character of Mr. Rogers was inviting me to
be his neighbor, and that I could be a neighbor to others.
Our scripture
this morning from the Book of Leviticus, is about Holy living, and about loving
our neighbor, and each other. Let’s look again at what it says.
The scripture
begins by saying: “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the
congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I
the LORD your am holy…” (Lev. 19:1-2, NRSV). In this scripture God is talking
to Moses, likely on Mount Sinai, where Moses received the 10-Commandments.
The scripture
then says this, “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to
the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You
shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather fallen grapes of your vineyard;
you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God” (Lev.
19:9-10, NRSV). Jesus is accused of breaking the Sabbath in the Gospels for
gleaning or gathering left over food in a field on the Sabbath Day. Jesus also
tells us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. In this scripture form the
Book of Leviticus, God is telling Moses to tell farmers to leave so food “for
the poor and the alien” (Lev. 19:10b, NRSV). Many of us know what poor means,
but “alien” too many means, travelers or sojourners, or it could be refugees
(Lev. 19:10b, NRSV). Some other scriptures specifically say the word “refugee,”
and for these reasons our present political and social fight about letting “refugees”
into this country has biblical roots. There are folks on both sides of this
debate, as some have concerns about national security, and etc., but there are
scriptures that discuss it specifically.
The scripture
then says: “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not
lie to one another. And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the
name of your God” I am the LORD” (Lev. 19:11-12, NSRV).
Continuing on,
the scripture says, “You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal;
and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning” (Lev.
19:13, NRSV). God says then, that you need to pay your workers on time.
The scripture then
discusses how we are supposed to treat the deaf and blind. It says: “You shall
not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear
your God: I am the LORD” (Lev. 19:14, NRSV).
Continuing on,
the scripture says: “You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be
partial to the poor or defer to the great; with justice you shall judge your
neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you
shall not profit by the blood of your Neighbor: I am the LORD” (Lev 19:15-16,
NRSV). Strong words from the Lord, my brothers and sisters.
This scripture
reading ends with, “You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you
shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not
take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love
your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Lev. 19:17-18, NRSV).
Once again, in
indirectly quoting this and some other scriptures, Jesus says in Matthew 22:37-39, “‘You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and
first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’”
(Mt. 22:37-39, NRSV). In the Book of Leviticus reading for this morning, it
says, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” as Jesus said in the gospel
of Matthew (Lev. 19:18b, NRSV).
You see we often talk so much as
Christians about loving our neighbor, and Jesus condenses all the Laws of Moses,
or the Laws of the Torah, down to loving God, and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
Yet, it is good sometimes to have some guidelines on how to do this, isn’t it?
I think that the reading from the Book
of Leviticus this morning gives us a variety ways to best treat and love our
neighbors, and others. Further, we are not called to love our neighbors in just
one or two ways, but to love them in every way we can. For example, if there
were thirty ways, let’s say, to love your neighbor, do we all really do all
thirty of them? Or do we pick and choose the ones that work best for us?
One of the historic hallmarks of the
Christian faith, has been our love, our hospitality, and our radical love of
our neighbors and each other. When the church does this well, the church grows
and flourishes. It isn’t always easy, but this morning God tells us after
commanding us to do this, “I am the LORD”.
So we are not bound under the laws in
the first five books of the Old Testament or the Torah, say for the Ten
Commandments, but there is much in there on how to love and care for your
neighbor, and all persons.
To then reference our reading quick from
this morning, from the Book of Leviticus, let’s hear what Jesus has to says
again in Matthew 5:38-48. See if you can make any connections to our reading
from the Book of Leviticus, as I go through this.
Jesus says, “You have hear that it was said, ‘An eye for an
eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But
if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone
wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone
forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs
from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow you” (Mt. 5:38-42,
NRSV).
Jesus then goes even farther than our
Book of Leviticus reading for this morning, and says: “You have heard that it
was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you,
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may children
of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the
good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Mt. 5:43-45,
NRSV).
Jesus then says, “For if you love
those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do
the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are doing
than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as
your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt. 5:46-48, NRSV).
Jesus therefore takes the idea of
loving your neighbor, to the idea of loving all people, and loving all people
radically. Loving them without an agenda, and doing it, because Jesus called us
to do it.
What can we all do this week then, to
love our neighbors more, and to love each other more? I ask this because as the
song goes, “Won’t you be my neighbor?” Praise and glory be to Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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