Sermon; Proper 26B; Mark 12:28-34

Today's gospel passage gives us what has come to be known as the Great Commandment: Love God. Love your neighbor. And while this is in and of itself a passage worthy of discussion, it's also tied to the passages we have heard over the last three weeks.

Three weeks ago we heard about the encounter between Jesus and the man with many possessions who wanted to know what he could do to inherit eternal life. Two weeks ago we heard the story of James and John wanting to sit at Jesus' right and left hands when he came into his glory. And last week we heard the story of blind Bartimaeus who was healed by Jesus while he was on the road to Jerusalem from Jericho.

If you're following along at home you might be wondering why we are given today's passage of the Great Commandment, as it comes much later in the Holy Week story (which is where Jesus is heading to after healing Bartimaeus). If we're going sequentially, our next story should be Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a colt. But instead of a sequential run, the lectionary jumps ahead a few days, skipping over any number of stories, and giving us the encounter between Jesus and a scribe who asks, “Teacher, which commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus answers by reciting the Shema: Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” And then he adds, “And the second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'.” These two commandments are not paired together in the Hebrew Scriptures (they come from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18), but Jesus, and others, have tied them together to become the greatest commandments.

Jesus didn't invent this summary. He wasn't the first to tie them together. The “Love your neighbor as yourself” part of it is also known as the Golden Rule, and has, in some form, been part of any number of religions and societies dating back to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. Confucius used some form of it. So it's been around for a long time. And Rabbi Hillel, who supposedly lived from 110 BCE to 10 CE (that's 119 years), said something along the lines of, “Love God. Love your neighbor. Everything else is commentary.”

So why put today's gospel reading immediately after those other three? I think it has to do with what I said in my last sermon – it has to do with choice. All four of these passage have to do with how we choose, or not choose, to follow Christ.

Think back to three weeks ago. A man who had many possessions, I called him Dan, approached Jesus and asked what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus basically said, “Follow the commandments.” “Yes,” he answered, “I've done all that. But what else is there to do?”

Jesus answered, “What else? Go, sell all you own, give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” And the man left there choosing to keep his possessions over following Christ.

Two weeks ago James and John asked to be granted the honor of sitting at Jesus' right and left hands when he came into his glory. Jesus asked them if they were willing to drink the cup he was to drink and to be baptized with the baptism he was to be baptized. In other words, would they be willing to suffer and be persecuted like Jesus. They, maybe rather naively, answered, “Yes, we are able.” Later in life they experienced suffering and persecution when James was martyred and John was exiled. These two brothers remained with Jesus, choosing a life of hard discipleship over the familiarity and stability of their fishing careers.

Last week we heard the story of blind Bartimaeus. He sat on the street in his usual spot begging for money and food. I imagine he was treated like any beggar of today – sometimes with compassion, sometimes with indifference, sometimes with violence. Then he hears that Jesus is passing by so he chooses to stand out and call to Jesus for help. In the face of opposition from the crowd, he chooses to continue calling out until Jesus recognized him and called for him to be brought over.

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asks. “Son of David, have mercy on me. I want to see again.” Jesus says, “Go, your faith has made you well.”

But he doesn't go. Instead he chooses to follow Jesus on the way, becoming the last person to choose to follow Jesus until after the resurrection. Bartimaeus followed Jesus into Jerusalem. He may have followed all the way to the crucifixion. We don't know what happened to him after he was healed, but we do know he chose to follow.

And today we have the encounter between Jesus and a scribe. “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment?”

“The greatest commandment is this: Hear, O Israel: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And then love your neighbor as yourself.”

This again is about a choice. To love God with all we have is to choose to love God over our things and possessions. To love our neighbor is to choose to see others as being made in the image of God and having the same intrinsic value as ourselves.

Love, as people have said, is a verb, not a noun. It is not a warm, fuzzy feeling that makes us all giddy; it is something we do. And because we do it, because it is an action, it is something we choose to do or not do.

Sometimes choosing to love others is easy. It's easy (at least most of the time) to choose to love our children. It's easy to love our spouses on most days. It's easy to love the people who think, look, and act like us. But as we start expanding that circle and expanding our interactions, it can become more difficult to love our neighbor.

And how are we at loving God? When put into the context of what Jesus says – love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength – we probably all fall short. I know I do. Because like the man with many possessions, other things get in the way. Unlike James and John, I too often opt for the safe path. Unlike Bartimaeus, I tend to want to stay in my familiar territory, set in my ways, rather than follow Jesus on the way with eyes wide open to other possibilities.

This may be exactly why today's gospel is placed where it is – because it's reminding us about the choices we need to make.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love God more than things.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Love them enough to give to them from the abundance you have.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love God enough to be willing to walk difficult paths.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Love them enough to walk with them when they are struggling.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love God more than our willingness to sit in the same place every day. Love God enough to have eyes opened to new things.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Love them enough to not let them sit alone, but invite them to join you before they have to cry out for help.

Love God. Love your neighbor. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Love God. Love your neighbor. These are the commandments that should drive our everyday choices.

As we make our way through our daily lives, may we daily choose the better part.

Amen.