Pentecost 23

Pentecost 23 “WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?” 10/20&23/05

Do you remember the children’s television program “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood”? I can see him cheerily entering through the door of his humble home, putting on a comfortable pair of tie-up tennis shoes, proceeding to his small closet to put on his button-down-the-front, long sleeve cardigan sweater. I can hear him singing that “jingle”: “Won’t you be my neighbor?” How we relate w/our “neighbor” is central in our Leviticus lesson, written around 1445 b.c.: “Judge your neighbor fairly” (Lev. 19:15), “Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life” (vs. 16), “Rebuke your neighbor frankly” (vs. 17), and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (vs. 18).

By the first century a.d. in Israel, a handful of Laws had “snowballed” into 613 laws, all of them equally binding on Jewish life. Within this historical reality, and recorded in our Gospel lesson, the Pharisees (the Jewish religious leaders) send forward “an expert in the law,” to ask Jesus: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (Mt. 22: 36) Jesus’ familiar response includes consideration of our “neighbor,” as we are commanded to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…And love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt. 22: 37, 39) As Rick Warren challenges all who read even the first sentence on the first page of his book The Purpose-Driven Life, “It’s not about you!” “It,” life, as Jesus clearly exemplified and Scripture consistently commands, is about relationships: our relationship with God and our relationship with one another! We begin and live life in relationships!

Our lives are to be “holy,” not because we are in/nor of ourselves all that “holy,” but because “the Lord your God” is holy (Lev. 19: 2) I don’t imagine that most of us readily apply this adjective to ourselves. In job applications and resumes I’ve written, and in the many I’ve received, I don’t recall a single person describing themselves as “holy,” nor listing “holiness” as a personal qualification or characteristic. When we are asked the familiar question “How are you?” we usually reply: “Fine, thanks!” Have you ever responded: “Holy, thanks! And how about you?” This seems almost comical!

Why is it so rare, why are we so reluctant to describe ourselves as “holy”? We refer to “Holy Baptism” and “Holy Communion” and profess our belief in “The Holy Spirit” and “the Holy catholic Church.” We ascribe highest authority to the “Holy Bible” which clearly teaches…yea, even commands…that we are to be “holy” as “the Lord your God” is holy…yet, it is a rare moment when any of us might openly proclaim “We are holy!” Perhaps we are just being humble, not wanting to appear nor sound conceited. Perhaps, though, we are just being honest, realizing that we fall rather far-short of holiness many---if not most---days of our lives.

Holiness begins with, and depends upon, God! Holiness is a result of living in a close relationship with the Holy One---“God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth”---through His Son, our source of salvation, our Lord Jesus Christ. Holiness is what God is and, through Christ, holy is what we are to become more and more each day we are given life! As we enter and grow in our daily walk with God, we learn from Him and become more like Him. As we spend time with the Holy One, we see holiness demonstrated: we see grace extended, we witness mercy offered, we know of a “love that will not let me go,” and we are commanded to behave in like manner!

Biblical love is not a matter of affection and warm feelings, but of unwavering commitment. Its test is not what nor how people feel, but what we do and how we live. Genuine love of God inevitably leads to a second behavior: love of neighbor, as commanded in our Scripture lessons today. When we truly love God, we’re drawn into holy living. When we love God, we come to love what God loves. Consider 1 John 4: 7-8/ “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

There is much in this life that I do not understand and, it seems, more and more so everyday. There are verses in the Bible that continue to confuse and confound me, as I strive to understand them and apply them in life. I am an imperfect soul walking with the Son of God. I am a sinner seeking to be forgiven by One who does not sin. I am but a ball of rough clay, being worked and shaped and reshaped, in the gentle, powerful, skilled hands of the Potter. Much I do not, and need not, understand. But, love God?---I understand that! Love my neighbor as myself?---I understand that, too. My---perhaps, our---difficulty is not in understanding these command, but in keeping them. But, by God, I’ll keep trying to be the child God created me to be and the neighbor God commands me to be! “Won’t you be my neighbor?” AMEN.