That you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life; and that your days  may be prolonged.  Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them; that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with  milk and honey.  "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD;  and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart;

Today's Song of Praise is taken from Psalm 18:

    R. I love you, Lord, my strength.

    I love you, O LORD, my strength,
    O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.

    R. I love you, Lord, my strength.

    My God, my rock of refuge,
    my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
    Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
    and I am safe from my enemies.

    R. I love you, Lord, my strength.

    The LORD lives! And blessed be my rock!
    Extolled be God my savior,
    you who gave great victories to your king
    and showed kindness to your anointed.

    R. I love you, Lord, my strength.

Today's Epistle is from the Letter of Paul to the Hebrews, beginning at the 7th Chapter, and the 23rd Verse:

        The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office;  but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues for ever.  Consequently he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.  For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens.  He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself.  Indeed, the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect for ever.
 

+ A Reading from the Gospel of Mark, beginning at the 12th Chapter, and the 28th Verse:

        And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"  Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one;  and you 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.'  The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."  And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he;  and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any question.

        In today's Gospel, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy -- echoing the ancient cry of Judaism:  "Shema Yisroel!  Adonai elohenu, Adonai echod!"  "Hear, Israel!  The Lord is God, the Lord is One!"  Judaism has held to this cry for 3,000 and more years that we know of -- the affirmation that there is only one God, and He is Yahweh, the Lord of Israel -- He, with whom Israel (and thus we ourselves) have a Covenant.

        Deuteronomy goes on to say:  "... you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."  Not simply fear the Lord, nor simply obey Him, but LOVE Him.  The Jewish relationship with God is a passionate one -- something we often lose sight of, in our passion to understand and explain everything.

        The novelty of Jesus' revelation -- the revelation of the New Covenant between the Father and the New Israel -- is that very lovingness.  Jesus refers to the Lord and Creator as "Abba" -- "Daddy".  The Judaism of his day was obsessed by rules and commandments, and the minutiae of the Law.  We, in our day, make rules and laws and strictures that have nothing to do with love, nothing to do with charity, nothing to do with fairness.

        Jesus goes beyond Deuteronomy, however, and gives us a second Great Commandment:  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  In Mark's Gospel, which we read today, He goes on to say: "There is no other commandment greater than these."   In Matthew's Gospel, He goes further, and says:  "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" -- i.e. all of the Jewish Scripture and legal system.

        We are thus bound, not only to love God, but to love our neighbor -- and even our enemies, as Jesus says elsewhere.  We are positively commanded to go out and do for the least of them what we would do for Jesus -- for God.  And to do it out of love, not grudgingly.  We are called to rise up out of ourselves, to see our fellows as God sees us, and to deal with them as God deals with us.

        But who is this Jesus, this Nazorean, this man from Galilee of the Gentiles, that he should add to the Law and the Prophets, that he should command not only his own disciples in that day and age, but generation after generation, not only of Israel, but of the Gentiles, and not only Greeks but barbarians, and, indeed all men, unto the ends of the earth and the end of time?  Paul answers this question in today's Epistle by pointing out how Jesus differs from the High Priests -- the Lord's spokesmen to Israel.

        They (as we are) were mortal, and there were tens and hundreds of them, because they ran out the ends of their lives -- and died as we all will.  But, says Paul:  [Jesus] "...holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues for ever.  Consequently he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."

        And how does He live forever?  Because He is God and the Son of God, as we say in the Creed:  "...Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father; God from God, Light from Light; true God from true God.."  While he is fully man, as we are human, with a body and aches and pains and doubts, He is also God, the Maker of the Universe, "...one in Being with the Father..."

        And that is why we are called Christians -- for our Savior is not only Jesus of Nazareth, but Jesus the Christ (the Anointed one of the Lord), and "very God of very God", come into time and the flesh to reach out to us, and draw us back to the Father.  To draw us back to "Abba", whom Deuteronomy commands us to love.  And it is that passage of Deuteronomy which prompts us to begin the Creed:  "I believe in ONE God..."

        Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three Persons -- but One God.  And the love they command of us is simply their relation among those Persons -- an ardent and burning love that supports all existence.  Turning a way from love (which is what sin is, at bottom) is to choose annihilation, non-existence, and illusion.

        Let us then with the Psalmist, sing:    "I love you, O LORD, my strength,  O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer!"

         In the Name of
        The Father     +
        And of the Son
        And of the Holy Spirit
Amen.