Sermon for August 18th, 2013
Mark 12:28-34
28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ 29Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” 31The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ 32Then the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that “he is one, and besides him there is no other”; 33and “to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength”, and “to love one’s neighbour as oneself”,—this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.’ 34When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question.
Ten Laws, One Love: The Second Commandment
In our New Testament reading today, the scribe asks Jesus "Which commandment is the first of all?" I have a better question for you today: Which commandment is the second of all...or, what is the second of the ten commandments?" That sounds like an easy question, right? But according to our Lutheran brothers and sisters, as well as our Roman Catholic friends, the second commandment is "Don't take the name of the Lord your God in vain." According to the Talmud, our Jewish friends (and you'd think they would know a thing or two about the ten commandments!) name the second commandment as "you shall have no other gods before me" which they take to include the verse about no idols. And finally, for Presbyterians, the Greek Orthodox church, and Episcopalians, the second commandment is "you shall not make for yourself any idols" but NOT "you shall have no other gods before me" (which we view as the first commandment). So if you've ever been worried or unsure about whether or not you are following the Ten Commandments, don't worry...for the past 500 years and more, we as God's children haven't even been able to agree on how to number them, let alone understand them.
Last week, it was my intention to preach on the first commandment (hence the sermon title), but I never quite got that far, and instead last week's sermon was a general introduction to the Ten Commandments, and hopefully challenged some views about what the Ten Commmandments are, and what God intended them to be. So today, I'll be following the example of our Jewish friends and mushing together what we as Presbyterians consider to be the first and second commandments: You shall have no other gods before me, and you shall not make for yourself any idols.
