²⁸One 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 neighbor 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 neighbor 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.” Mark 12:28-34

“As Christians, we claim to believe that Jesus was more than just an exceptional Jewish Rabbi. We claim to believe that there was something special about him. Through the centuries, scholars have spelled out that something special in terms of what we’ve been discussing over the last few weeks: that Jesus came as one who really and truly shows us what God is like. And he came to show us that God really and truly understands what it is like to be fully human. And he came to show us that God has fully entered our experience and has done all that needs to be done to really and truly redeem us all. As Christians, we claim to believe, and we often recite in worship, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Cor. 5:17) We say that’s what we believe, but I think if you looked at what we actually talk about in church as a measure of whether we believe that, we’d come up with some surprising results. We in Christian churches seem to go through the motions of our faith—until somebody disagrees with us on something really important like the décor in the Sanctuary. You may find it hard to believe, but I would say most religious debates tend to get bogged down in details that are at best tedious and at worst trivial. They essentially boil down to grand adventures in “missing the point.” (thewakingdreamer.blogspot.com, Perfect Obedience, Alan Brehm, November 3, 2009)

 Do any of you people here today know how many commandments there are in the Old Testament, in all thirty nine books of the Old Testament? How many rules there are?  Well, there are 613 commandments in the Old Testament.  And what do you think:  are there more positive or more negative commandments?  There are more negative commandments.  There are 365 negative commandments in the Old Testament, “Thou shalt not!) and there are 248 positive commandments (You shall!!). The very essence of the Old Testament religion for the Pharisees was to know and obey these 613 rules. 

So one day, one of these Pharisees came to Jesus and asked him a question in order to trap him, “Jesus, of all the 613 rules and regulations of the Old Testament, which one is the most important?”  Jesus answered, Deuteronomy 6:4, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul.”  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second (he had only asked for one but Jesus gave him two.) one is like it.” And Jesus reached back into the book of Leviticus, chapter 18, about the lepers, and there in Leviticus 18, he chose an obscure line, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments HINGE all the Law and the Prophets.”  On these two commandments, HINGE the whole Bible. What use is the Bible without these two hinges?  The whole Bible is not really useful without these two hinges.” (“The Hinge, The Two Great Commandments” Edward Markquart, sermonsfromseattle.com)

Pastor Dave

Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” Matthew 8: 23-27

“It was late October 1991. The crew of the fishing boat Andrea Fail, out of Massachusetts, had taken the vessel five hundred miles out into the Atlantic. A cold front moving along the Canadian border sent a strong disturbance through New England. At the same time a large high-pressure system was building over the maritime provinces of southeastern Canada. This intensified the incoming low-pressure system, producing what locals called the “Halloween Nor’easter”. A dying hurricane Grace delivered immeasurable tropical energy to create the perfect storm. Ferocious winds and huge waves reduced the Andrea Gail to matchwood. Only light debris was ever found.

Those of us who study and write about Jesus find ourselves at the mercy of our own perfect storm. The very mention of Jesus raises all kinds of winds and cyclones today.” (“The Perfect Storm”, Simply Jesus,  N. T. Wright, p. 13)

When we first begin to take Jesus seriously in our lives, we may feel as if we are in the “perfect storm”. I remember feeling this way when I first enrolled in Seminary. Every week, just before lunch on Wednesday, all of the activities on campus stopped for a service of Word and Sacrament. I remember sitting there the first few weeks thinking to myself “It is Wednesday and I am sitting in a church service.” – as if I had never been to church before. What was happening, as I determine looking back upon it today, is Jesus was disturbing my norm. The winds of the Holy Spirit were blowing in and through my normalcy, creating waves and low-pressure systems that put me in uncomfortable places. But why? I had always gone to church. I was involved in ways many others were not. What I was soon to discover is the storm that threatens all of us when Jesus disturbs our normalcy – the storm of complacency. Jesus is not just a Sunday experience. We are to be wrestling and swimming among his words, teachings, and commands every day. But for many who think of themselves as Christians, Jesus is a Sunday storm – the rest of the week is for the rest of living life. But when we take Jesus seriously, then the real battle begins – for we soon realize that each and every day, life is plowing forward like a boat in a storm, and we are just hanging on a lifeline hoping to stay afloat and not drown. For many people, like me, that is why I need to take Jesus seriously in my life – for Jesus is my lifeline.

Pastor Dave