Leave the Son Alone

October 23, 2011
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
“Leave the Son Alone”
Year A

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, ...........

So begins one of the most well know love poems in the entire English
language. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote this poem, and many others,
to her husband Robert while they were secretly courting. She could
hardly believe that the handsome Browning truly loved her, for she was
an invalid. She only showed the poems to him after their

marriage and he encouraged their publication because he considered them
the finest sonnets written since William Shakespeare’s penned his.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind.”
And “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

These are probably some of the most well known words of scripture. They
are not unique to Christianity though as words like them are to be found
in many different religious traditions.

How do I love thee, let me count the ways. Someone asked that question of us, way before Elizabeth Barrett Browning or Shakespeare. God asks that question of us each and every day. God does everything that God can to show us that he loves us. He courts our hearts and souls in many ways. How do we acknowledge the love letters that God sends us. The beauty of fall, a love letter from God. The nudge to get up in the morning, a love letter from God, a friend that you haven’t heard from in awhile, a love letter from God.
God sent an even more sentimental love letter to the world, when God sent God’s son to the world, and allowed him to die on the cross, for us – we were saved even before we were sinners. Because God loves us.
What does the word Love mean today? How do we define it? In answer to my question, Sherry, my son's wife, sent me the results of a question-and-answer session held by a group of professional people with an bunch of 4 to 8-year olds, where they asked them, "What does love mean?" Some of the answers I selected will both amuse and startle you.

Karl, age 5, says: "Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving lotion and they go out and smell each other."
Elaine, age 5, says: "Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer then Robert Redford."
Mary Ann, age 4, says: "Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
Tommy, age 6, says: "Love is like a little old man and a little old woman who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
Bobby, age 5, says: "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
Jenny, age 7, says: "There are two kinds of love. God's love. Our love. But God makes both kinds."
That last answer is worthy of a philosopher. Maybe we should listen to children more than we do. They see the world around them with clear, fresh eyes, and interpret it with clear, fresh minds.
Many of us as adults couldn’t come up with a better definition of love – sometimes adults just don’t know what love is. And we express our ignorance in the midst of what we call our wisdom.

The Pharisees thought they were being wise in their questioning of Jesus. We have been going through this for a few weeks now. Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, he started teaching the masses. There would have been nothing wrong with that – but they started listening, they started having hope, they were moving beyond the despair that had held them hostage. Life was going on, and as religious leaders of the community- they had nothing to do with it. And they needed to know more about this man. Was he really a jew? More importantly, was he teaching orthodox teachings? Or was he just misleading all of these people? So the questions started. Remember – by what authority are you speaking these things? Is it okay to give God money that is given to man? – and in this text we get the most important question of them all. What is the greatest commandment? - do you all know? Love - love the lord your God with all of your heart, your soul, your mind. With everything that you are. Jesus adds the second commandment to it – you must love your neighbor as you love yourself. In other words, if you don’t love he people around you, then you really don’t love God. Two different loves – that cant be separated. They have to come hand in hand.
But I want to stick to my point for a minute. We have moved from love to questions. A nobel peace prize winning scientist was asked about his success. He said that it all came down to questions. When he would come home from school, his mother would not ask how was school, she was not interested in hearing about what he learned that day. The one question that she would ask – what question did you ask today. His interest in his learning came down to his questions. As an adult he said that his entire career came down to learning how to ask good questions.
By what authority do you speak, who is more important God or man, even what is the greatest commandment – are all good questions. And the truth is they may not have been trying to hurt Jesus by asking him these questions. To ask someone a question of faith is the greatest honor that you could bestow on them. They would ask these questions of anyone. Their relationship with God was determined by their ability to question God. Do you really want to destroy your people? God why have you forsaken me? My favorite one – God how long before you vindicate me? God loved his people enough to answer their questions. I just got a bit of jewish wisdom the other day – the power of our prayer in in our belief that God hears us our prayers, and will answer them. We question god each time that we pray. God is always obliged to answer – now that is love.
The good news is that Jesus is able to answer all of those questions. He gives the right answers. He has read the scriptures, he has talked with the rabbis, he has prayed to God – so he is able to give the “right” answer. Yes he is a jew, yes his understanding of life is orthodox, yes he does love God. Jesus even has a question of his own – The messiah – whose son is he? Is he the son of God or the son of David? He references psalm 110 – when he asks why David calls his own son My Lord? Matthew has already proven that Jesus is the son of David – he comes from his lineage. Matthew does better, not only is Jesus a son of David – Matthew shows that he is the son of Abraham, he is the son of adam – he is the son of God. He gets his jewishness directly from the source. The creater of the questions. Questions designed to bring us all closer to God.

There is nothing wrong with asking questions. You don’t have to be afraid of an enemy who is willing to ask you questions – if they are willing to ask you questions that means that they are willing to be engaged. They are willing to have some type of relationship with you. The problem begins when they stop asking questions. When they stop asking questions, you cant read them.you don’t know what is going on. You don’t know what they are planning next. Unfortunately for Jesus – these were the last questions that they would ask. The conversation ends. Scripture says that when Jesus asked them about eh messiah – no one had an answer. “No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.” Jesus continues to teach and to give parables – but the Pharisees have stopped listening…..what does that mean? What are they plotting against him?

But let me ask you another question - what does it mean to be an apostle? Do you know the difference between an apostle and a disciple? I have been told that a disciple is a follower of Jesus. An apostle is someone who has seen Jesus for with their own eyes. Someone who received their call directly from Jesus.

So if Paul never met Jesus face to face – how can he be an apostle? Good question. It was a question that many asked Paul – and it seems that Paul spent his ministry answering that question. He didn’t see Jesus in the Flesh, but he knew Christ in the spirit. In 1 thessalonians Paul says that he comes as an apostle of Christ. I hope that I will have more time to talk about Pauls ministry to Thessalonica. Salonica as it is called, is a really cool large urban city, with a unique ministry. But our theme for today is the love of God. What does it mean to love God? How do we show the love of God? For Paul to love God is to live God, and if we live God we are an apostle – a witness to Christ in any age.
Not everyone who hears Paul likes him or welcomes him. Sometimes the gospel can challenge us in ways that we don’t want to deal with. But the gospel is not about us – it is aboutGod. Spreading it is not our message – it is God’s message.
In the face of resistance – Paul gives us this example of being an apostle. In every other epistles Paul will verbally defind his apostleship. Today he gives us an example. To be a witness to God. To be an authentic follower of Christ – we have to show kindness, integrity, acceptance and courage. In the midst of people who didn’t want him, Paul gave himself and all that he was. He was an authentic Christian, because he knew what it meant to love others – show kindness, integrity, acceptance and courage.

what is the greatest commandment – love the lord your God with all of your heart, mind and soul. What is the second – love your neighbor as you love yourself.

What does it mean to love the lord? Spread the gospel with all that you all – show kindess, integrity, acceptance and courage. Let us pray…..