Sermon - living faith

Following Bill Loader’s lead this week, I imagine here a conversation between Jesus and a less sympathetic Scribe than the one who confronts Jesus in Mark 12: 28-34. First, read Mark’s version.

Scribe: “So Jesus, which commandment is the first of all?”

Jesus: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.”

Scribe: “Mmmm…”

Jesus: “And the second is this: love your neighbour as yourself. There isn’t a commandment greater than these.”

Scribe: “Oh really?”

Jesus: “Yes, these are greater than any law, more important than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Scribe: “Well, I don’t know about that. Surely if one loves God, one will obey all God’s commands? These include sacrifices and burnt offerings, not to mention much besides.”

Jesus: “Absolutely, but they are all subordinate to devotion.”

Scribe: “Perhaps, but on what basis is ‘love of neighbour’ second? Surely all of God’s commands are second? The ‘love of neighbour’ is but one of many.”

Jesus: “God’s command to love is one, just as God is one. ‘Hear Oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.’ All commands - all law - are subordinate to the nature of God, subordinate to love.”

Scribe: “Are you suggesting we should stop making sacrifices?”

Jesus: “There is no need for sacrifice for love fulfils the law. Law was created to regulate human relations and love perfects those relations.”

A conversation between modern Christians reminiscent of this conversation between Jesus and the Scribe, might go like this:

“How can you accept homosexuality? Don’t you follow the Bible?”

“No, I don’t. I follow Jesus. I read the Bible”

Today is called “All Saints Day” in the liturgical calendar. It is a day we recall the people who have died in the past year as well as the saints of old who have rooted us in the faith. One of these saints is John Wesley.

Whereas Jesus gave to us the principle of interpreting scripture through the eyes of love, Wesley gave us a method to do this.

For Methodists the Bible is but one of four sources for theology and ethics. The Bible is to be read in tension with Reason, Tradition and Experience. This amounts to a wrestling for truth, but never a pronouncement of truth. Our decisions are always contingent upon new information. And this is why we speak of faith for certainty has no place in this struggle. This is why we speak of our religion as ‘living’ and that Jesus is alive – for we follow a man who still walks in surprising directions, shifting the goal posts, wily and unpredictable.

After Jacob deceived his brother and left his family he slept one night, no doubt troubled by his past and searching for direction. During that night God came to him and they wrestled with each other. In the morning, Jacob was more resolute, but still bore the mark of having wrestled with God. Our faith is like that. We wrestle with God and each other to discern a truth that propels us to action.