Not far from the kingdom of God

The law is a terrible and wonderful thing. Within, among, and between nations, laws are meant to hold us accountable for our behaviour. They set a standard by which we navigate relationships. Laws provoke conversations and invite interpretations. Laws can be changed – to suit the times and to adapt to changing circumstances. But we are taught to believe that certain laws are universal – sacrosanct – inviolable. And much of this thinking comes from an ancient tradition of (so called) ‘god-given-laws’ 

Pointing to heaven and saying “Thus says the LORD” is a pretty efficient means of getting your point across.

The tradition from the Hebrew Scriptures that sees Moses called to the mountain to receive ‘the Law’ is the pinnacle of this law-giving tradition for us. The encounter has all the drama of a C.B. DeMille extravaganza (which is how most of us think of the story) with C. Heston in the starring role (even offering the voice of God.) 

Ten COMMANDMENTS – rules used to describe all law. The outline of THE way to behave as God’s favoured folk. Guidelines to our relationship with God and with one another. And a source of controversy – even in Jesus’ day.

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“Which is the greatest commandment?” 

seems like a trick question, doesn’t it? 

If the rules are God’s rules, aren’t they all equally important? 

Turns out, distinctions are made.

The scribe asks a question to which (he thinks) he knows the answer - he is certainly quick to agree when Jesus offers this kernel of wisdom. And this is a big deal, because scribes were familiar with the sprawling complexities of the law. 

Now…every society needs people who know the law - who study the law - who delight in the law - but in Jesus day (as in ours) there are those who fail to see beyond the endless ‘letter of the law’ and into the spirit of it. Jesus answer rolls Moses’ ‘top ten’ into a one-two punch: Love God, love your neighbour. This is the summary of the law - 10 grand commandments boiled down to their essentials. And years later we nod and smile and wish it were that easy.

Civil law, (that is what the Mosaic law was - rules around which Jewish society was organized…) is one thing, but church law is our thing. Decently and in good order, that’s our motto.  Presbyterians have taken much pride in an orderly and rational approach to faith. We gather in courts; we deliberate and debate according to another particular set of rules. We hold our office bearers to high standards, and take an extraordinary amount of time to change our direction or change the rules we say we would live by…and yet, the one who came ‘not to abolish the law, but fulfil it”(Matthew 5:17) today tells us that it really is as simple as this: love God, love your neighbour. 

The distance between us and the kingdom of God is little more than these two steps…and we seem unwilling (or unable) to take them both.

Love God? Sure! Who doesn’t…who wouldn’t…given the impressive nature of God’s credentials. Scripture and experience suggest that God has our best interest at heart, and will go to great lengths to see that we discover joy and peace - hope and love…

And love neighbour…? Well, if you’ve chosen well, and cultivate a relationship, I suppose it’s possible…but that’s not really what Jesus meant, was it. Neighbours are those outside the family - beyond the bond of marriage or blood. Neighbours are often competitors for limited resources, or for the love of God (think folks with different practices or beliefs…) God has rules, and those who keep the rules win God’s favour, right? So I’d better keep the rules better than my neighbour. How else will I win the prize which is God’s favour - God’s preference? (See how quickly that went sideways…?)

But Jesus comes to our rescue.  The prize is the loving and the being loved. Nothing else matters - not the sacrifices, not the burnt offerings, the ritual, the appearance of holiness or righteousness…the prize is the loving and being loved. The end.

I once argued (in an academic paper) that the Presbyterian ‘System’ was designed to promote god relationship. The paper was for a class being taught by the principal clerk of the General Assembly, and he laughed out loud at the premise.

Once I had attended a few Assemblies, I was able to understand his disbelief in my premise - a General Assembly is rarely so civilized an undertaking as I once imagined - but I hold firm to my argument: our system of church government - just like the system of laws described by the ten commandments - is shaped to help us find our way through disagreements, misunderstandings and more grievous forms of bad behaviour. The law of the church is one thing, but the core of that law is, as ever, expressed simply and eloquently by Jesus. At the bottom of our rules and rituals - at the heart of our ‘decency and good order’ - two things remain constant. That our actions reveal love in us. Love for God. Love for one another. 

So on this day of giving thanks - on this day of recognizing three folks whose gifts have impressed us and whose lives have been claimed by a call from God, how do we reconcile the orderly, formula-rich ritual of their installation and ordination with Jesus’ summary of the law? How do we find the love in these vows and verses, and in our system that seems to favour process over relationship?

Well, it’s like this. We call people from our midst who have lived out their love for God by showing up and stepping up. We recognize (by way of our sometimes dense system of rules and procedures) that there are folks among us whose gifts and grace mark them as followers of Jesus. We invite them to join with others, similarly called, to lead us and care for us. We invite them to exercise that holy love in their decision making and in their care for the congregation.  Love God - love neighbour - and so is the kingdom revealed. Step by careful step; inch by glorious inch. 

It turns out, we are really not that far from the kingdom of God.