All That’s Required
Jesus’ father, Joseph, was a carpenter, and it is assumed that Jesus grew up learning how to work with wood, and that he worked as a carpenter before he began his ministry. As a carpenter, he learned how to build furniture and utensils, doors, and door frames; he also learned how to prepare roofing beams; and he may at times have doubled as a brick mason or a metalworker.
It was a lowly craft, putting him in the artisan class, far removed from the aristocracy.
Yet, I imagine that working with wood was something Jesus found pleasant and perhaps even enjoyable. Sometimes, he was probably able to add his own creativity into the work he did, adding designs and ornamentation, depending on the desires of the one he was working for.
At other times, when the work was more mundane, more monotonous, he could get lost in his thoughts, as he worked to sand and smooth a particular piece of wood. As his hands moved back and forth and back and forth over the wood, he could pray, meditate, and reflect on the Torah as he worked. Perhaps, specifically, he would meditate on the Shema.
The Shema is the central affirmation of Judaism. It appears in the 6th chapter of Deuteronomy.
In Hebrew, “shema” means hear, Because the Shema begins with the words: “Hear O Israel!”
Then, the next line says: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
And then, finally, it says: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”
Put all together, the Shema goes like this:
“Hear O Israel! The Lord your God, the Lord is one… Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”
This passage in Deuteronomy then goes on to instruct God’s people to “recite these words to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol. Write them on your house’s doorframes and on your city’s gates.”
And many Jews did just that. They literally wrote the Shema on little pieces of parchment, then placed those little pieces of parchment in tiny containers, which they strapped onto their wrists and onto their foreheads; and they did indeed write these words on their door frames.
Perhaps Jesus, when he was doing his woodwork, building door frames for Jewish neighbors, made sure there were spots on those doorframes where the Shema could be displayed… And while he was busy building such things, it’s quite likely that Jesus himself recited the Shema and meditated on it.
Because of how centrally important the Shema was and is to Jewish faith, it should not have surprised anyone that, when asked what the most important command is, that Jesus recited the Shema.
This little episode—when Jesus is asked what is the most important command, and Jesus answers by quoting the Shema—appears in all three synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
There is some slight variation, which I appreciate:
In Deuteronomy (as it has been passed down to us), it says: “Lord the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength…,”
In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.”
In Mark’s gospel, Jesus says: “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.”
In Luke’s gospel, it says: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.” Interestingly, in Luke’s gospel it appears that a lawyer is actually the one who recites the Shema, and then, when he does, Jesus responds: “You are right.”
And, in all three synoptics, not only the Shema from Deuteronomy is quoted, but also a command from Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
And then it is affirmed that these are the most important commands.
I like how it spells out that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. My own reflection on this command has led me to believe that, in order to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, that I need to take care of every aspect of my being. I need to take care of my emotional health, my spiritual health, my mental health, and my physical health.
Because when I am emotionally strong and healthy, and spiritually strong and healthy, and mentally strong and healthy, and physically strong and healthy, then I am able to better love God and do what God calls me to do, and go where God calls me to go, and live as God calls me to live.
Some of you may remember that, once upon a time, several years ago, I preached a series of four sermons, and each one focused on one of these different aspects: Taking care of our emotional health, taking care of our spiritual health, taking care of our mental health, and taking care of our physical health, so that we could love God to the best of our ability.
Of course, taking care of our emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical health is also how we love ourselves.
Hence, the addition of the command from Leviticus, to love your neighbor as yourself.
Then, in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says something very interesting. He says: “On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets.”
I always thought that the use of the word “hang” here was peculiar, that maybe another word would have been better, until I remembered that Jesus was a carpenter. Once I remembered that Jesus was a carpenter, I realized that he was picturing a door like the ones he used to make, the doors he would then hang on the frame after making them, hanging them on the two hinges that would attach the door to the frame.
The two hinges are what hold the door. The door hangs from the hinges.
These two commands—love God, and love your neighbor as yourself—are like the two hinges. Everything else hangs from them.
If you don’t have strong hinges, then it doesn’t matter how strong or beautiful the door is; it will come crashing down.
If love for God and loving one’s neighbor as oneself isn’t holding up what you believe in, then that belief will fall to the ground.
In fact, if someone tells you a command that isn’t rooted in love for God and love for your neighbor and yourself, then that command should fall to the ground. It should fall to the ground and be swept out with the trash.
Because a command not rooted in love is a command you shouldn’t follow.
Now, as I said, you may remember me preaching on all this before. It is the Shema, after all. The most important command.
But what I want to say to you today, is how grateful I am to have been your pastor, because you all take seriously the command to love God and love your neighbor, and you’re not content to just keep loving at the same level, but to constantly be growing in love.
I firmly believe that there is no such thing as perfection in these types of things, but there is improvement, there is growth, and there is goodness. Even Jesus demonstrated the capacity to learn and grow and improve when he was chastised by the Syrophoenecian woman.
You all have been willing to learn and grow in love, to look inward and find the areas where your love could improve, and then to make the commitment to actually do better… to love better.
And it’s hard work, as some of you know. There are some people, some neighbors, we just don’t want to love, or whom we find it so very difficult to love.
And you’ve prayed to God about that, and you’ve described to me how you are growing in love, working to expand your love to be more like Jesus, whose love was radically inclusive and all-embracing and wholly affirming.
Somebody posted online this week that Jesus’ greatest commandment wasn’t convert your neighbor; it was love your neighbor.
Many Christians forget that.
And some Christians think that their highest calling is to “out-debate” their neighbor, or “prove wrong” their neighbor, instead of love their neighbor.
Mostly, the only people Jesus debated were the teachers, who believed they were right—more right than anyone else—and who spent most of their time debating and defending their way of practicing their faith.
Jesus did engage in some debates with them… but far more than that, he simply loved the people who followed him. And he challenged everyone, including the religious teachers, to be more loving.
So I am grateful for the love you have shown, to one another, to me, to my family, to all who walk in our doors, and to our neighbors near and far. The hinges on your doors are strong. I do believe that you have taught me more about how to love as Jesus loved than I have taught you.
And that really is all that’s required. You know what is the most important thing, and you live it out. And I know that the love that is shared here will remain strong, for many months and years to come.
And if you’ve been a recipient of that love; if your life has been transformed by the radically inclusive and all-embracing and wholly affirming love that you’ve experienced here… then you’ll want to share it. Right? Don’t you want to tell others the news that Jesus’s love is so much greater than anything else the world has to offer? Don’t you want them to know that here, at Bixby Knolls Christian Church, we’re learning about that kind of love, and we’re practicing that kind of love, and we’re growing in love for the world?
The world is desperate for that kind of love. A lack of love is the root of every kind of evil in this world, every kind of violence, every war.
Let’s continue growing in love. Let’s invite the world to grow in love with us. Let’s transform the world with the love of Christ.
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