God's Love Can Hold It All
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So our gospel lesson today represents the third of three attempts to entrap Jesus after he's entered Jerusalem.
This time, one of the religious leaders challenges Jesus authority by asking him which commandment of the law is the greatest. And Jesus does something remarkable with his answer. First, he quotes one of the central affirmations of the Jewish faith, the Shema from Deuteronomy.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And then, Jesus links this love of God with another verse from Scripture. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. This combination of love of God with love of neighbor is what's so distinctive. It means that our relationship with God goes hand in hand.
With the ways that we seek to live and love with the people God has put in [00:01:00] our lives. Our friends, our family, even strangers. In this way, Jesus establishes himself as the new Moses. The new authoritative lawgiver. It all comes down to this, he says. Love God, love your neighbor. The question of what it means to love your neighbor as yourself came alive for me recently while reading a profile about a man named Michael Bach.
Now, Michael Bach works as a private security guard in Portland, Oregon, and at 6'5 350 pounds, he cuts an imposing figure. He's also an expert in jujitsu, and he carries a gun and pepper spray when he's on patrol. But more often in his work, he relies on love and connection rather than force or intimidation.
Contrary to some of my own assumptions, I learned [00:02:00] that Michael Bach spends most of his days building relationships, offering resources to people with addictions and mental illness, buying their breakfast, replacing their shoes, reversing their overdoses. and de escalating episodes of psychosis. It's incredibly difficult work that comes at the high cost of being neck deep in other people's pain.
But the title of the article was what really caught my attention. It reads, he's a dab of glue in a broken city. Can he hold it together? Do you hear the double entendre? I first understood the question, can he hold it together, as in, can he fix the broken social systems and structures that plague a city like Portland and many others like it?
To which the answer is obviously no. Michael Bach may be a hero, but he's [00:03:00] not Superman. He can't save the city. But you can hear it another way, too. Can he hold it together, as in, Can he hold himself together in the face of so much suffering? Or will the cost of love be too great to bear? Now I realize that our lives, our personal experiences, and the context in which we find ourselves might be quite different than a private security guard in Portland.
But can't you relate to the feeling behind both of those questions? The worry that No matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, however much we love someone, it might still not be enough. I think we've all at some point or another felt like a dab of glue in a broken city, a broken world, or a broken family.[00:04:00]
When the pain of people across the globe is breaking our hearts. Or when the pain of someone sitting across from us feels overwhelming. It is in these moments that we most need to accept the depth and breadth of God's grace. Yes, love God, love your neighbor. But remember that what matters most is that we are loved by God.
As it says elsewhere in scripture, we can abide in that love. We can rest in it. Earlier in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, Come to me, all of you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. [00:05:00] And you will find rest for your souls.
When we lay our burdens down, and rest in the love of God made known to us in Jesus Christ, then and only then will we begin to trust that what we have to offer is enough. God's love can hold it all. Amen.
