Sunday 10/25/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The Greatest Commandment”
Old Testament Scripture: Deuteronomy 34:1-12
New Testament Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 22:34-46
Friends, brothers, and sisters in Christ, welcome again on this our
Reformation Sunday, and this our Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost.
Reformation Sunday is the Sunday that
many, mostly Protestant Christian Churches remember the roots of our churches
and our denominations. While many of us grieve that the Christian Church is not
just one united church or denomination, we also know that at different times in
the church there was corruption and sometimes great sin. Sometimes for these
reasons, or for political reasons, new Christian denominations formed.
Reformation Sunday then, is about remembering some of the great reformers of
the Christian Church, like Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, etc. Three
years ago, when it was the 500th anniversary of the reformation of
Martin Luther, various high ranking Roman Catholic leaders came out and stated
that Martin Luther was right that there was indeed corruption within the church
during his life.
In general, then, reforms within the
Christian Church occurred in response to abuses, corruption, and other sinful and
un-Godly beliefs. I hope and pray though that one day that universal church of
Jesus Christ can be reassembled, but I do not think that I will see this in my lifetime.
Given this, while this is a United Methodist Church, we are all Christians, and
all part of Christ’s universal church.
With this said, before diving into our
gospel of Matthew reading that I am preaching on this morning, I wanted to
mention our reading from the Book of Deuteronomy for this morning. I am
mentioning this, because this dovetails on the seven-week sermon series that we
just had from the Book of Exodus.
If you remember, God told Moses that
he would free the Israelite or Jewish people, and of course Moses led his people
to freedom. Moses unfortunately will never physically get to the Promised Land,
or the land of milk and honey, however. In our scripture from the Book of
Deuteronomy for this morning, once again, God shows Moses the Promised Land, or
the land of milk and honey, and then God told Moses that he will never
physically enter this land. Moses then dies, and Joshua will be the one who
finally leads the Israelite or Jewish people into the Promised Land, the land
of milk and honey. So, I just wanted all of us to have closure on that!
With this said, in our gospel of
Matthew reading for this morning Jesus gives us “The Greatest Commandment”.
Specifically, once again, Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37-40:
“37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:37-40, NRSV).
In our reading from this morning from 1 Thessalonians, once
again, the Apostle Paul is telling the church in Thessalonica, or the
Thessalonians that he and his companions enjoyed caring for the people and
loving them (1 Thess. 2:1-8, NRSV). The Apostle Paul talked about the
importance of loving and caring for others.
I have found in our culture though that we use the word “love”
so loosely. For example, a student in high school who has been dating a boy
might be asked, “Do you love him? Or do you love him, love him?
I remember for example, a female friend of mine from
college that went out on a date with a guy that her friends set her up with. What
we might this know as, “A Blind Date”. The next day I asked her after the date,
“So, do you like him”? She said, “Well yes I like him, but I don’t know if I
like him, like him”. Anyone ever heard these types of terms before? Is love
then just a simple word, or is love both simple and yet complex? I would argue
the answer for both is yes.
The Christian Bible that we have today is generally
66-books of scripture, or 73-books of scripture in the Roman Catholic Church
bible, as our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters have seven more books in their
Old Testament. Many Protestant scholars refer to these books as the “Apocrypha”.
This said, the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, as the Old
Testament is the scriptures used by our Jewish brothers and sisters. The New Testament,
however, was originally written in Ancient Greek. By the late 300’s, the bible
was translated in Latin, and this was called “The Vulgate”. “The Vulgate” or
the Latin Bible would dominate Western Christianity for over 1,000 years, until
reformers like John Wycliffe and Martin Luther translated the Bible in their native
languages, about 500-600 years ago.
Where I am going with all of this, is in the Ancient Greek
language, there is more than one word for love. Ancient Greeks did not need to
say that they “liked, liked, or loved, loved” someone, as they had different
words for that. We have some of these types of words in the English language as
well, but the word love in our culture is a very elastic and vague construct.
So, what were the Ancient Greek words used in the original
New Testament for love? Well there were three of them, and I will include a
fourth that is not in the Christian New Testament. In fact, famous Christian
author and scholar, C.S. Lewis wrote a book in 1960 about this very topic. This
book is called, “The Four Loves,” and it discusses “Storge,” “Philia,” “Eros,”
and “Agape.” Once again, these four types of love that C.S. Lewis wrote about
60-years ago are “Storge,” “Philia,” “Eros,” and “Agape” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Loves).
We know, as we have heard from our gospel of Matthew reading
for this morning that Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with
everything that you have, and to love your neighbor as yourself. We also know
that Jesus said everything stems back from this the greatest commandment.
Yet Jesus just says “love,” or at least in our English
translation. Yet in looking at the original Greek Lexicon online, which compares
the ancient Greek manuscript of the gospel of Matthew to modern English, Jesus
uses a derivation of the word “Agape” (https://biblehub.com/text/matthew/22-39.htm).
So, Jesus does not say the word “love” this morning, as he uses a derivation of
“Agape”. Given this, it might be important to know the three words that describe
love from the Ancient Greek New Testament, plus the extra one that I will
discuss. Let me explain them in order.
First, we have “Storge”. Well what is “Storge”? “Storge is:
“liking someone through the fondness of familiarity, family members or people who relate in familiar ways that have otherwise found themselves bonded by chance. An example is the natural love and affection of a parent for their child.
So “Storge” is the love
of a parent for a child, or the way that we love our family. People of course
can also join or become part of families to. This form of love then, is
certainly more specific than you “like, like, or love, love him”.
The next type of love is “Philia,” which is what the city
of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is named after. Well what is “Philia?” “Philia”
is:
“the love between friends as close as siblings in strength and duration. The friendship is the strong bond existing between people who share common values, interests or activities.
Does anyone know what
the nickname for the city of Philadelphia is? The city of ________brotherly
love. So, to love a friend or a brother is a different kind of love than the
love of a parent for a child. “Philia” is a deep and caring love, as is “Storge,”
but they are different.
The
next of the four words is “Eros”. “Well what is “Eros”? According to C.S. Lewis
it says:
“for Lewis was love in the sense of "being in love" or "loving" someone, as opposed to the raw sexuality of what he called Venus: the illustration Lewis used was the distinction between "wanting a woman" and wanting one particular woman”.
“Eros” then is romantic
love, which is different from brotherly love, or “Philia”, and different from “Storge”,
which is more of love for your children and family. “Eros” is also where the word
“Erotic” comes from, making it more romantic and sexual in nature.
The
last of the four Ancient Greek words for love is “Agape”. What is “Agape”?
Remember, this is also the word that Jesus used this morning, when a derivation
of “Agape” was used. We are to “Agape” our neighbors as ourselves. So “Agape”:
“is the love that exists regardless of changing circumstances. Lewis recognizes this selfless love as the greatest of the four loves, and sees it as a specifically Christian virtue to achieve. The chapter on the subject focuses on the need to subordinate the other three natural loves – as Lewis puts it, "The natural loves are not self-sufficient"– to the love of God, who is full of charitable love, to prevent what he termed their "demonic" self-aggrandizement” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Loves).
When I used to be involved with “Walk to Emmaus” weekends
in the former NCNY UMC Annual Conference for example, we would get gifts for
the persons attending these spiritual retreat weekends. I will not get specific
for the sake of those who have not made a “Walk to Emmaus” weekend, but we
called these gifts that we got others “Agape”. It was a general and a broad expression
of love, and likely to people that you maybe have never met.
Melissa and I also, for example, have a sponsor child in the
country of Bolivia, named Arianne. We have never met her, but we do exchange letters.
We have “Agape” love for this child.
So, this morning, Jesus, along with questioning
the Pharisees, tells us to love God with everything we are and have, and to “Agape”
our neighbor as ourselves. You will notice here my friends, that Jesus never
commands us to even like our neighbor! We do not even have to like our neighbor;
we just have to “Agape” our neighbor as ourselves. We are supposed to be kind,
charitable, giving, and caring. This is the general love that we should extend
to everyone, including God. This is the highest form of love.
If our neighbor is not a good and
close friend, we do not have “Philia” love for them, and if they are not part
of our family, then we don’t have “Storge” love for them. Sometimes people do
marry their neighbors to, which would be when “Eros” love could enter the picture.
So once again, “Storge” love is the
love of your family. For example, you probably have members of your family that
you are not the biggest fans of. Yet, you would help them and care for them,
after all, there family, right? You also have members of your family that you are
close to.
Once again, “Philia” Philadelphia,
brotherly love. That person that you worked with for years. That person that
you grew up with, that your kids and their kids went to school with. That
person that when they die that you are emotional and upset that a true and lifelong
friend had died. This is “Philia” love.
Once again, “Eros”, were we get romantic
or “Erotic” love. I am not going to give an example for this once, and I will
assume that you get this one!
Lastly, the love we are called to have for all people and God, “Agape”. I have this love for all of you, and I try to have “Agape” for all people. Are we all fallen sinners? Of course, we are. Yet who is better and who is worse. Who is greater and who is lesser? I strive to love and care for all people with “Agape” love. For “The Greatest Commandment” is to “Agape” God with everything you have, and to “Agape” your neighbor as yourself.
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