FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth
Easter Day
April 11, 2004
Text: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31)
As most of you know, Holy Week and the Masters Golf Tournament coincided this year. It doesn’t happen often, but when the final round of play falls on Easter Sunday, some folks have to make a decision – either come to church or drive on over to Augusta. For Christians who are truly avid golfers, that’s a theological dilemma.
It shouldn’t be so for pastors – we know where we’re supposed to be today. However, some years ago, there was a Baptist preacher who was so inspired by watching the Masters on TV that he called his associate pastor on Saturday night, broke the 9th commandment and told him that he was sick with the flu, couldn’t be in the pulpit on Sunday and needed his colleague to preach the sermon. Having covered that base, he packed his clubs and left early the next morning for a golf course that was three hours away, far enough so that nobody would recognize him.
The sun was shining, the sky was blue and as the preacher teed off on the first hole, he knew is was going to be a great day. But an angel up in heaven who was watching what happened, became upset, went to God and said “Look at this preacher. He ought to be punished for what he’s doing.” God nodded in agreement. And then, the preacher parred numbers one and two, birdied numbers three and four and went on to finish three over with a 75 – the best score of his entire life.
Well, the angel was undone, and turned toward the Lord with a frown on his face, saying “This is a disgrace. I though you were going to punish him.” God smiled and replied “I already have. Who’s he going to tell?”
On this glorious Easter day, we have come here to worship God and to tell the Greatest Story Every Told, about how the stone was rolled away as Jesus rose up out of that grave, so that you and I and all of humanity could have abundant life, here and now and for the rest of eternity. The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! And if we don’t tell that story to the whole wide world, then who else will?
Throughout the Lenten season, our sermon series has concentrated on the Ten Commandments, those ancient rules given by God to Moses and the Hebrew people as they wandered through the wilderness, headed for the Promised Land. Over the past six weeks, we have talked together about all ten of the Lord’s commandments, concluding on Good Friday with those words which desperately need to be heard today, especially in our violent, war-torn world: “You shall not kill.”
But did you know that there are actually two more commandments to add to the list, both of which were declared by Jesus when a religious leader asked him in the midst of an argument, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one: and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…and soul…and mind…and strength…and the second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)
Those same words, also recorded in Matthew 22 and Luke 10, were familiar to Jesus and the religious leaders who were questioning him, because they originally came from the Shema, the Jewish confession of faith found in Deuteronomy 6 and from the 19th chapter in the Book of Leviticus. But never before had those two passages from the Hebrew scriptures been joined together to constitute the summation of the ancient law (see “The Shema,” the Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, pages 321-322, Abingdon Press, 1962).
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” is the framework of the first four commandments:
1. You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me
2. You Shall Not Make Any Graven Images
3. You Shall Not Take The Name Of The Lord Your God In Vain
4. Remember the Sabbath Day, To Keep It Holy.
And “Love Your Neighbor As Yourself” summarizes the final
six commandments:
6. You Shall Not Kill
7. You Shall Not Commit Adultery
8. You Shall Not Steal
9. You Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor
10. You Shall Not Covet…Anything That Is Your Neighbor’s.
You see, Jesus was telling those first century people and all of us still today that if we really do want to live according to God’s will and God’s way, we need to be faithful in our relationship with the Lord, and in all of our relationships with one another.
The cross symbolizes those relationships through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the center of our lives, forgiving our sins and helping us to reach out toward our brothers and sisters in God’s great human family on earth…and lifting us up toward our Father in Heaven, from the moment of our birth until we die and cross over to the other side.
In biblical and theological language, that is what Good Friday and Easter are all about – loving God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, lifting us upward toward the Lord…and loving our neighbors as ourselves, as we reach out in love, forgiveness and reconciliation to family members and friends, to other Christians and those who belong to different faith traditions, and to the people of other nations, including the citizens – the men, women and children of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Back in the early 1980’s, when Dr. James Costen, the Dean and later President of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, was seeking to become Moderator of the General Assembly, I heard him tell a story to the gathered convention about his grandson names Josef. Jim Costen was singing in the shower one morning, and as his eight year old grandson listened, he asked the question “Granddad, what are you doing in there?” Dr. Costen answered “Josef, I’m praising the Lord!” The little boy thought for a moment, and replied “Why is it that you’re so happy in the shower today, but when we get into church on Sunday morning, it all sounds and seems so dull and sad?” Then, Jim Costen looked out over the audience and said with a radiant smile, “My grandson Josef is right – what we Presbyterians need is less seriousness and a lot more joy! We need to learn how to praise the Lord!” And having heard those words, the entire convention stood up to applaud Jim Costen, and then elected him that day to be the Moderator of our denomination.
Twenty years later, after he retired and took an office in our church to help raise millions of dollars for the Presbyterian College in Kenya, Jim Costen, who was a great man and a dear friend, lay dying in Crawford Long Hospital. And as we went to visit him, we could hear in the night, echoing through the hallways, Jim Costen singing hymns of praise. Today, this Easter, is the first anniversary of his death, and Jim Costen, a caring and faithful Christian who is now in Heaven, he more than almost anyone I have ever known, loved the Lord with all his heart and mind and strength and soul!
And so can we, if we are willing to let Jesus the risen Christ show us the way. “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it” said Jesus, “so that the Father may be glorified” (John 14:13). Ask him to help you pray more fervently, to worship more joyfully, to study the word more consistently and to keep His commandments more faithfully…and you will discover how to love God more deeply than you ever have before!
Which leads us to the last commandment and the conclusion of this sermon: “You Shall Love Your Neighbor As Yourself.” We know that’s what Jesus has called us all to do, but there are so many things which stand in the way - our self-centered attitudes, our fears of intimacy, our anger and resentment, our grief and our pain. There are people here this morning who are so busy with their relentless schedules and activities that they don’t or won’t make the time for those whom they claim to love the most, and others who are listening by radio or watching over television who have shut themselves in and locked everyone else out.
If that is where you are today, but you don’t want to stay that way, then this closing story is meant for you.
Up at Chautauqua, New York ten years ago, Mr. Fred Rogers was invited to speak about the family, and more than a thousand people crowded into a large lecture hall to hear him. Barbara and I, together with his wife Joanne, and our two children, sat there in the audience and we were all mesmerized by the things Fred Rogers said, the wisdom and insight he shared with us and the compassion and concern that flowed from his heart.
After his talk, the moderator of the meeting opened up a time of conversation with everyone, passing a microphone from row to row so that people could speak directly with this special man who had helped them raise their children or comforted them through his television ministry during a tough time in their lives, or who just wanted to ask him a question about family relationships.
One woman wanted to know how to handle her three year old’s temper tantrums. Another asked what to do about sibling rivalry between two teenage sons. Someone else sought advice on having a regular family dinner hour in the midst of hectic schedules. And a frustrated mother wondered out loud how to cope with potty training for her child, a subject which Mr. Rogers treated with sensitivity, discretion and a healthy sense of humor.
And then it happened. An older woman, all the way across on the other side of the room stood up and began to speak into the microphone: “Mr. Rogers, I’m a grandmother from Cleveland, Ohio, and I love my grandchildren very much. But last year our son and his wife divorced, and now she has moved to California and won’t let us see the grandchildren. It hurts more than I can say and…” At that moment, her voice cracked and the grandmother began to cry out loud.
Sitting there in the audience, none of us knew what to do. It was awkward and painful, and Mr. Rogers tried to say something to her, but the woman had lost control and was sobbing.
So, he got up from his chair, climbed down from the stage, made his way across the crowded room, and right there, in front of a thousand people, Fred Rogers opened his arms and embraced that grandmother and held on to her until she stopped crying.
By then, most everyone in the audience had tears in our eyes, and we watched as the two of them sat together for a few minutes, after which Mr. Rogers returned to his seat on the stage and said “Thank you, everyone, for caring about her.
It was an unforgettable moment. One human being, reaching out to touch another human being who needed help and healing. And let me tell you, the Spirit of Jesus Christ was present in that place in a powerful way!
CONCLUSION
My friends, I believe that’s what Mary Magdalene needed as she came to the tomb that first Easter morning. And to her surprise, with tears in her eyes, she met the risen Christ who called her by name…and she would never be the same again. (John 20:1-18)
If that is what you came here looking for today, if that is what you need right now, then open your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and ask Him to help you keep the greatest commandment of all: ‘Love The Lord Your God With All Your Heart And Soul And Mind And Strength, And Love Your Neighbor As Yourself.” We can’t do that on our own, but with the help, the hope and healing power of Jesus Christ, all things are possible! Because the Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.