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I’m curious – who figured out today’s sermon title?
❤︎ = love, ∀ = every, 1 = one
This was my attempt to sum up today’s scripture reading.
Caveat – I was an English major, not a math major. How do you tell the difference between an English major and a math major? You ask them what these symbols mean.
Today’s scripture feels mathematical because it starts with the word “owe.”
“Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” (Romans 13:8)
Is it possible to owe nothing?
No. Paul, in the previous verse, has said:
“Fulfill your obligations as a citizen. Pay your taxes, pay your bills, respect your leaders.” (Romans 13:7)
In other words, pay what you owe, but don’t forget this other – even greater – obligation, to love one another.
Paul continues with this idea of obligation. We are obligated to obey the law, and he names four of the commandments that make up God’s law found in Exodus and Deuteronomy:
“You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,”[a] “You shall not covet,” Exodus 20:13-15,17; Deuteronomy 5:17-19,21
Paul points out, as Jesus also did, that the law is summed up in the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” and answered with the story of the Good Samaritan, the outsider who was the only one who stopped to help the man who had been beaten up by robbers. Jesus had also said, in the sermon on the mount, to “Love your enemies.”
So you can see why I chose this title. ❤︎∀1
There might be a better way to write, but, well, I didn’t know of it, so here we are.
To further complete the statement, it becomes an equation:
Love your neighbor as you love yourself. ❤︎∀1 = ❤︎ Self Love everyone = Love self
Assuming that you love yourself…how do you love yourself?
What do you do for yourself? Here’s some ways I love myself….
Lucky Charms & coffee,
cake,
and puns.
What about you? How do you love yourself? Or take care of yourself?
Whatever you put on that list, then, is the sort of thing we should also do for our neighbors.
Coffee and Lucky Charms for everyone!
What? You don’t want Lucky Charms? But they’re magically delicious!
You can’t afford to buy your neighbor a house?
Maybe that’s why Paul added the flip-side statement:
“Love does not harm a neighbor.” (Romans 13:10)
That sounds a bit easier. We can certainly follow that. Except that, we don’t always know when we’ve harmed someone. What are some of the ways we do harm? What are the types of things?
How do we know when we do harm? Love asks and love listens.
There’s a line from the book and movie Love Story by Erich Segal.[1] “Love means never . . . having to say you’re sorry.” But it’s not really true. We do need to say we’re sorry. It’s why some churches are paying reparations for the harm racism has caused. One church pays a monthly rent to the native American tribe that used to own the land where the church is. Others are paying into funds for housing and education for African Americans.[2]
We do need to say we’re sorry. And we also need to give each other grace. Don’t we give ourselves grace?
Maybe sometimes we give ourselves too much grace. Loving our neighbors is hard work, and we’re tired, so we’ll get around to that later. But Paul doesn’t give us grace on the timing. He says the time to do it is now.
This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11)
What does it mean for our salvation to be near? It’s right here, right now. Paul says in the next few verses that we’re to put on Jesus Christ like we put on a garment…maybe that’s another way to say we need to wear our hearts on our sleeves, making our love visible. To be like Jesus is to love like Jesus, which is exactly what Jesus tells us to do in John 15:12, to love one another as he has loved us. Jesus gave his life for everyone.
Loving our neighbors won’t always be as big as giving our lives for them…well, maybe not literally, anyway…or will it?
There’s a story in Mark 10:
17 As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked. “Only God is truly good. 19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’[a]”
20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”
21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt love and compassion for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Some would say that this does not literally mean that WE have to sell all our possessions and give the money to the poor. . . but maybe it does. If Jesus calls us to lay down our lives for one another, as he has laid down his life for us, why wouldn’t he challenge us to give all we possess? Aren’t we called to radical and sacrificial giving?
This is why we say the gospel of Jesus is countercultural. Our culture would say, “God helps those who help themselves.” That’s from the kleptomaniac bible. Our bible says, “Owe no one anything except the debt of love.” Loving our neighbors as ourselves is our obligation.
What keeps us from loving our neighbors as ourselves?
Owing a debt of love sounds more like something we would say about money, and makes me wonder if we’re afraid of running out. But that’s not how love works. Some of you know the old song about the magic penny – if you try to keep it, you’ll lose it, but the more you spend it, the more you’ll have to give. That’s how love works.
The reason love works that way is that we love because God loved us first. One of the ways we demonstrate this is that we baptize infants. It’s a beautiful statement of God’s love. “Infant baptism is a bold, unfettered affirmation that what comes first is the love of God. It proclaims that even before we can utter the word God, God claims us. God comes to us—not because of our own faith, not because of our own beliefs or actions, but simply because God loves us.”[4]
God showed us by sending Jesus who gave his life for us, and through whom we have compete and unconditional grace.
And that’s why loving one another as ourselves is our obligation. God pours love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. It’s a continuous flow. The more we give the more we have. So take every opportunity to love our neighbors as ourselves.
You may have heard of the Rev. Richard Allen. He was the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal church. He also had the honor of giving the eulogy at George Washington’s funeral. During his life, Washington had wanted to abolish slavery but was unable to overcome the opposition, some of which may have come from his wife. In Washington’s will, he freed the slave that had been his valet, but not the ones that served his wife. In the eulogy Rev. Allen challenged his listeners to honor Washington by doing what Washington had been unable to accomplish – freeing all their slaves.[5]
It’s the ultimate act of loving to set someone free, to let someone go, and Allen wrote a beautiful piece about loving being the ultimate or last thing we do:
Let the Last Act of Life Be Love . . . O, crucified Jesus! In whom I live, and without whom I die; mortify in me all sensual desires; inflame my heart with Thy holy love, that I may no longer esteem the vanities of this world, but place my affections entirely on Thee. Let my last breath, when my soul shall leave my body, breathe forth love to Thee, my God; I entered into life without acknowledging Thee, let me therefore finish it in loving Thee; O let the last act of life be love, remembering that God is love.[6]
Thanks, God!
Cover photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_means_never_having_to_say_you’re_sorry
[2] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/more-us-churches-are-committing-to-racism-linked-reparations
[3] Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/christening-the-dew-the-priest-38999/
[4] Joann H. Lee in the Sep 03, 2014 issue of Christian Century, “What comes first—your actions or your beliefs? Here’s Paul’s answer: neither one. What comes first is the love of God.”
[5] https://pages.uoregon.edu/mjdennis/courses/history_456_richard%20allen.htm
[6] Richard Allen, “Acts of Love,” in The Life, Experience, and Gospel Labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard as quoted in:Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, Cynthia L. Rigby, Carolyn J. Sharp. Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship (p. 656-657). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
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