One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

           Jesus, in this text, talked about love. Love is one of those words sometimes used rather flippantly. It is a powerful word. Ask someone what the opposite of love is, and they might respond with the word, “hate.” Actually, the opposite of love is apathy. Love is a powerful feeling of caring, and the opposite of that is not to care.

           I love my wife and my family.

I often use the word, “love,” to describe the way I feel about other things. I love taco salad. I love to fish. I love ice hockey. I love stock car racing—even though I have yet to attend a big time stock car race. The closest I have come is a friend of mine who goes to a couple of races a year. As the green flag is about to drop, he dials up my cell phone—and holds his cell phone in the air so that I can hear the roar of the engines for just one lap. Taunting me is what he is doing.

           Go to a Twins game and you will see a few signs held up by young gals professing their love for, say, Joe Mauer. My son was married last year. A month after the wedding, he and his wife went to a Twins game. My daughter-in-law had a sign which read, “Circle me Bert—just married—sorry, Joe, you are too late.”

           We know how that is. Back when I was in my late teens, my buddies and I thought we were in love with a certain woman professional golfer. She never won a tournament, but that did not matter to my friends and me. We thought she was cute.

Then the women’s tour came to Minnesota. They were playing at the Keller Golf Course in St. Paul. The Patty Berg Classic I think it was called. My friends and I went to watch the golf. Well, we spent the entire day following her around. We watched her play golf. One of my friends, when he saw her approaching the first tee, started walking hastily in that direction. He tripped over his own feet. Ended up flat on his face. Not a good first impression. Love can be a funny thing. We were not the only ones following her. There were lots of guys, most of whom were in our age group.

           But you know…. We could not get close to her. There were ropes all over the place. We just couldn’t walk up to her and ask her if she would consider joining us for a cheeseburger and a coke afterwards. She never knew my friends and I existed.

           We have all, I suspect, had that kind of experience. Just an adolescent crush. Something we thought was love. My buddies and I moved on with the rest of our lives.

           Love is a word or thought often used with some reckless abandon. It is sometimes used to describe feelings that are no more than superficial.

           So jump with me, now, into this text. Jesus mentioned love. Not the kind of love that comes and goes. Not the kind of love where we love and then move on. Nothing superficial. He was talking about something that defines who we are.

           The Sadducees first had a go at Jesus. They did not believe in any kind of resurrection. So they asked Jesus about the resurrection. It was a rather odd and convoluted question.

It involved seven brothers who married the same woman. Not all at the same time. But one married her and died and then the next married her and died and so on. They wanted to know whose wife she would be in the resurrection. They were trying to trip up Jesus. Remember, they did not believe in resurrection anyway. Jesus’ answer was that in the resurrection people would neither marry nor be given in marriage. A great answer. The crowds were astonished. The Sadducees tried but failed to trap Jesus.

           Perhaps on the sidelines the Pharisees were snickering a bit. They thought they might have an attempt of their own at entrapment. They had earlier tried to trick Jesus with a question about paying taxes. One of them, an expert in the law, posed a question. The question was, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” In Mark’s account of this incident we learn that the questioner seemed to be impressed with Jesus’ response to the Sadducees. In Luke’s account Jesus turned the tables on his questioner and asked him, “You are the expert in the law. How do you read it?”

           But here in Matthew, Jesus gave the answer. He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” He was quoting from the book of Deuteronomy. He was lifting up a crucial passage in the life of the Jews. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

           But then Jesus added something. A bonus answer. He said, “And the second is like it.” The second? The expert in the law asked for only one. The greatest. But Jesus gave a second. This time he quoted from the book of Leviticus. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” These two commandments form the pegs on which hang all the law and the prophets. That’s what Jesus said.

           Now why do you suppose Jesus gave the man more than he asked for? And notice that Jesus did not just add a second one—as if

the second one was of lesser importance. Notice his exact words. He said, “The second is like it.” The second is like the first. Love God with all you have. And the second is like that. Love your neighbor. Loving God and loving neighbor. They are alike. Interesting.

           You see, our love for God will be made manifest—it will be evident—in our love for others. There is no getting around that truth. There is no soft sell. How will we know we are loving God with our whole selves? We will know it by how we also love others. You know, if I ever wonder just how much I love God…if I ever wonder if I love God as much as I should…well, I can begin to satisfy my curiosity by taking a good look at how much I love the person next to me or the person down the street or the person in the next town and so on.

           Read the entire epistle of 1 John. In it the apostle John wrote, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the Love of God be in him…let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God…If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother or sister, that one is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother or sister, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” Those are very strong words coming from the apostle of love.

           See, the loving God part of Jesus’ words…well, we do not take too much issue with that. We would agree that as followers of Jesus we are to love God with everything we have. It’s that loving others part that trips us up. Trips me up all the time. Even the guy who asked Jesus the question had an issue with Jesus’ response. In Luke’s Gospel it is recorded that he asked Jesus a follow-up question, “And who is my neighbor?” He asked that question because the passage Jesus quoted from Leviticus states specifically, “You shall not hate any of your kin…you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” So is my love, then, limited to those who are my kin? My people? We know Jesus’ answer to that.

           There are those people I thought I have loved, but I never met them. That was easy and safe and all that. What about those around me? Those who are not like me? Those who are not my kin? Those who are not a part of my group? Those who are not my people? Those who are not even Christian? Any of us have trouble loving someone and showing it?

           There aren’t supposed to be any ropes separating us. But there are those people who think differently from the way I do. All those who do not see things as I do. People I think are wrong. You know what I mean. And rather than love them, I am perfectly content to complain about them and gossip about them and judge them and just not associate with them. And never give much thought to what might be going on in their lives.

           Which is the greatest commandment? Love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. But, hold on. There is more. The second is just like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.

           We proclaim our love for God whom we have not seen. But look around at our neighbors—those we see. What can we say about them? Each of them has been created in God’s image. In God’s image. My love for God will be seen in my love for those into whom God breathed the breath of life.

           One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with a question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”