Homily for 25 October, Trinity XXI/30P.A.
“When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.”
S. Matthew puts this little detail in to make sure that we don’t forget even for a moment that this isn’t a real question. This isn’t a case of somebody being confused and seeking a clarification; this isn’t a matter of a reasonable doubt being addressed. At the centre of the Judaism of Our Lord’s time there were these two great schools – the Sadducees and the Pharisees – they opposed each other, they constantly criticised each other often fought with each other. There is a dramatic moment in Acts when S. Paul is dragged before the highest Jewish court, and he manages to escape simply by mentioning that he was raised as a Pharisee and so dividing them against each other.
But what united these two groups was their opposition to Christ. This is particularly striking in S. Matthew’s account, which was probably written for a mostly Jewish audience. Here was the long-promised, and long-awaited Messiah, and what do those who were longing for him do…they try to ignore him, and then try to trip him, to lay traps for him. For whatever reason, their hearts were not open enough for Christ. Even though he fulfilled prophecy after prophecy about the Christ, the Messiah, they weren’t interested.
Both of these groups had started with good intentions. Working to uphold the Law of Moses, working to preserve the work of the Temple and the Priesthood. But they had become too inward looking, too obsessed with their own particular ideas. Something arrived, the thing which they were supposed to desire with all of their hearts, the Messiah, the great Redeemer of Israel, but they refused to recognise him.
When they had the greatest answer to prayer, the greatest fulfilment of prophecy in front of them, what did they do? They took tried to expose him as a fraud, they took turns trying to be better than each other at beating him in argument. But, of course, they failed and they failed utterly.
Our Lord spots it a mile away, and even more importantly, he knows the answer. There are several times when he points out their games, even going so far as to call them hypocrites. But at the same time, he still gives the answer – because he is always the answer. He gives that answer so that the moment that any one of them – whether Sadducee or Pharisee – opens his heart by even the smallest amount, then they can see the truth, they can acknowledge the truth, they can come and be welcomed by that Messiah who has come to gather his people.
As I said a few moments ago, S. Paul was raised as a Pharisee, and we know how opposed to Christ and the Church he was…but the Lord opened his heart and the light of Christ was able to flood in. While those Pharisees gathered around Our Lord trying to trick him, there is always the chance that one or two of them might have been ready to hear his message, and so Our Lord does provide the answer…and as I’ve already noted, he is the answer.
He gives a two-fold answer – to love God with all of our heart, and soul, and mind; and to love your neighbour as yourself. We know both of these, and hopefully we try, with God’s grace, to live up to them. But these are not some randomly chosen commandments, they are not even just the best way to live, they point right back to Christ.
When we look at his life it fits perfectly with these two commands. In everything he did he sought the glory of the Father, in everything he did he showed perfect obedience to the Father. There is nobody who can even get close to the level of love which he had and has for the Father. This is love which was there before the universe even began and which will continue through all eternity without the slightest change. Similarly his entire life was an act of love for those around him, for those he made into his neighbours. By choosing to become man, to become one of us, he chose to enter into our world, and did so to show his love for us all. His love in his teaching, his love in healing, and above all his love in his death and resurrection. He continues to show his love to us by his presence in the Church, and especially his presence in the great Sacrament which we celebrate today.
So his answer to that lawyer could also be summed up as ‘be like me’. Love the Father like I do; love those around you like I do.
That was his message to those Pharisees. Challenging them to open their hearts and to put aside their preoccupations which kept them from recognising him. It was his message to any Sadducees who were still around as well…and it is his message to us.
We’re already several steps along the path – we recognise him as the Christ, we worship him as our God – but do we completely live up to those commands? Do we truly love God with ALL of our hearts and souls and minds? Do we truly love our neighbour as much as we love ourselves?
Christ is making that answer to each of us today. But with it he is also offering his grace. He knows that such perfect love cannot come from our broken and fallen hearts – so he offers us some of the love in his heart. As we hear those words, as we reflect on those commandments, as we recognise how completely they are fulfilled in Christ; let us turn to him, seeking to have his grace poured into our hearts so that we can be filled with the love which he has for the Father, that love which he has for all of our neighbours. So that through his work deep within us, we can be who truly fulfil these commands.