December 12th, 2023

Scripture

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42 “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit[b] calls him Lord, saying,

44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?

45 “If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?”

--Matthew 22:34-45

The GOAT

As Advent begins Churches become a bit more well-attended because college football season is coming to an end. By the time this is read, we will be well into the preparation for bowl season and the Heisman Trophy winner will have just been announced. Pundits and critics will have discussed who will be the best players of the season and the conversation will inevitably turn to who is the GOAT, the greatest of all time.

While football wasn’t on the table back in the time of Jesus’s ministry here on earth, there were scholars who talked over and over again about the scriptures and how they might be interpreted. These discussions resulted in the expansion of the Ten Commandments to more than 600. The Pharisees knew this, and they wanted to put Jesus in his place. So, they asked the question ‘What is the greatest commandment?”, or, as we might put it, the GOAT.

Nearing the end of his time on earth, Jesus took the opportunity to instruct his people about the importance of those original ten and answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said all the rest were subject to the test of these two. The question he asked the Pharisees next was so complex and complete that these learned gentlemen never questioned him again. Discussion ended.

You shall LOVE God, and you shall LOVE your neighbor as you LOVE yourself. The greatest commandment requires us to love, no matter the circumstance.

Love, love, love, love.
Christians, this is your call:
Love your neighbor as yourself,

For God loves us all.

This is the GOAT. Enough said!

The Rev. Deacon Kay Boman-Harvey

All Saints’ Episcopal Church; Miami, OK