Jesus' Love Wins

Text: Matthew 22:34-46

In the name of Jesus: Amen.

We live in a very confusing time in the twenty-first century. It is especially true for our youth and young adults. You see, for the last ten years, we have been told by our culture that we need to love more and more (which we Christians can agree with). Indeed, we could all love one another a little bit more. Our culture, though, goes on to tell us that if we increase love, our world would be a safer place, because love conquers hate.  Love supposedly wins over everything.

At the same time, we are being told to love more; we are also being told to judge less. We are told that we should not judge anyone’s choices and that we should not label anyone. In other words, we are told that we should not judge others but promote, celebrate, and encourage them to do whatever they want, without forming an opinion about them or their actions.

Now, the Apostle Paul is pretty clear in 1 Corinthians that we Christians really shouldn’t have anything to do with judging those outside the church.[1] That is to say; since unbelievers are not members of a Christian congregation, the jurisdiction of the church does not extend to them. Besides, pagans are going to do what they do, because they are pagan. On the other hand, Christians are encouraged to judge themselves and each other, in light of God’s Law.  As of late, though, Christians in North America are being ridiculed for teaching and upholding the Law of God to themselves within their own churches. We need not go far to hear this. We have all heard the criticism of our church in the community, from people who are neither members nor attendees.  They say, “Oh, Zion, they are the strict church,” as if that is a negative characteristic that should be stopped.

So, the mantra that we have heard the last ten years is that we are to love more and judge less, which essentially is translated to mean that we must have more tolerance and less Law to make our world a safer place and to create a so-called utopia.

While we could spend time together looking at how naïve this kind of thinking is, the point that we must address this morning is that love and the Law are not opposites and are not at war. We are not faced with an either-or proposition with love and the Law. Permit me a few minutes to explain. It is not true that if we judge less with the Law that there will automatically be more love. And it is not true that if we love less that it will result in more judging. The reason why? Love and the Law are not opposites that are sitting on some titter-totter.

We hear about the Law and love in our Gospel reading from Matthew. A lawyer of the Pharisees asks Jesus which is the greatest commandment in the Law. And instead of responding by listing one of the 613 laws held by the Pharisees of that time, Jesus says that the greatest law is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And Jesus continues, saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now, did you hear that? The greatest commandment is to love God and to love your neighbor.

Many people will talk about love, as you know; however, they will fail to identify what they mean by the word love. However, Jesus is clear in our Gospel reading that love is the fulfillment of the Law before God and to our neighbor. Therefore, real love will never disagree with God’s Law and God Law will never obstruct love. What this means is that there is no conflict between love and the Law. True love is expressed when we keep the Commandments of God towards our neighbor. And God’s Law is fulfilled when our neighbor is properly loved.

So, if you want to love your neighbor, then obey the fourth commandment by respecting police and other people in authority. If you want to love your neighbor, then obey the fifth commandment by not hating or murdering your neighbor. If you want to love your neighbor, obey the sixth commandment by not sleeping with your neighbor’s spouse. If you want to love your neighbor, obey the seventh commandment by not cheating him out of money. If you want to love your neighbor, obey the eighth commandment by not gossiping and assassinating a person’s character.

Dear friends, love seeks to honor God and your neighbor in the 10 Commandments. More specifically, love seeks proper Christian teaching with accurate doctrine. Love seeks to remember the Sabbath Day by going to church to hear God’s Word. Love seeks to respect those in authority like parents and governing officials. Love seeks to preserve life, especially those that are weak and insignificant – those unable to protect themselves in the womb or at the end of life. Love seeks to protect marriage from pornography, divorce, and adultery. Love seeks to defend our neighbor’s possessions, and it seeks to defend our neighbor’s reputation. Love seeks to rest in contentment, not loath our neighbor’s new car or house.

To the point, our culture is wrong when it attempts to reduce the judgments of the Law, and we are wrong when we try to uphold the Law without love.  They cannot be separated! To follow the Law is to love and to love is to do the Law. They are not opposed. Therefore, a type of love that does not go the way of upholding the truth of God’s Law is not real love but a fake love based upon nothing more than an empty idea. On the other hand, the Law without love is false too.

You see, the Law is spiritual, as the Apostle Paul says.[2] It is not performed with outward works only, but it demands the feelings, spirit, and heart as well. Yes, to love with real love means that we are to love God and our neighbor with all of our heart, all of our motivation, all of our powers, inwardly and outward. Everything that we have is to be poured into this love, all our thoughts, words, and deeds. Our whole life – from beginning to end – is to love God and our neighbor. 

So, considering all that we have heard thus far, do you love your husband or wife or children or parents or neighbors as you love yourself? Do you have a love for all the people God brings into your life on a daily basis? Are you upholding the Ten Commandments toward God and your neighbor? Or does your head sway side to side dodging the commands of the Law, while you repeat our culture’s pious slogans of love?

Two things should be obvious to us at this point. First, our culture’s call to love more is not only vague but a very shallow and incorrect view of love. Secondly, when Jesus calls us to love God and our neighbor, with all of our hearts and all of our souls and all of our minds, we realize that we do not do this.    

Indeed, our culture will never be that totally safe place, and hate will never be conquered entirely in this life, and love does not always win because we cannot and do not love perfectly in our thoughts, words, and deeds. This utopia is never possible for us because everyone loves himself or loves the one from whom he can benefit.  Our love is stained with sin so that we turn inward to ourselves.   

The words of our Gospel reading, though, to love God and our neighbor with all of heart, soul, and mind are not just hopeless words.  They are not mere good ideas that Jesus suddenly came up with. But rather, love for God and love for neighbor are the description of the life Jesus – the life that He lived. Jesus loved God His Father with an undivided heart. That means He loved His neighbors as much as He loved Himself.  That love of neighbor is His love for you and me. 

Our Lord Jesus looked at our loveless lives, at the way we sometimes treat our loved ones and the way we almost always treat the strangers we run across. He saw the murderous, embittered, gossiping, and angry hearts that are the reason we fail to love our neighbors. So He came to live among us. And as He came to live among us, He lived His whole life perfectly – fulfilling the Law to perfection in thought, word, and deed (and with love). Yes, Jesus reached out with a love that was most often never returned. However, this did not get in the way of His love.[3]

And nowhere does Jesus’ endless love for God and neighbor shine more brightly than on the Cross. There He took the most loveless hatred that we could muster, and instead of hating us for it, He loved us right through it all. As He hung on the cross, His love for us was poured out until it killed Him.[4]

And this very love of the cross comes to loveless people like you and me. In our baptisms, the love and forgiveness of Mt. Calvary was poured out upon us. Yes, in our baptisms, He chose to love you and me.

And this love was not just poured out at Mt. Calvary or our baptisms, but it is poured out upon you when you hear His Word and receive the forgiveness of sins in the Supper. His love never ceases to be poured out upon us. 

Dear Baptized Saints, Jesus fulfilled the Law for those who cannot keep the Law. He loves those who cannot properly love. And He considers it all worthwhile.  

His love is at the center of your whole Christian faith, not your love.

His love is the end of your sin, your death, and the devil.

His love is the end of your fear and is your security.

His love fulfills the Law – perfectly for you.  

His love wins – for you.

His love is the reason why you can look forward to that perfect utopia called eternal life.

His love is that which fills you, that you might readily show this love to your neighbors in thought, word, and deed.

It begins and depends not on our love, but Jesus' love.    

In the name of Jesus, who keeps the Law perfectly for us and who creates in us love by His Spirit: Amen.

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[1] See 1 Corinthians 5:12.

[2] See Romans 7:14.
[3] Taken from Rev. Joshua Reimche's sermon on Matthew 22:34-46 on October 4, 2015 at Our Savior's Lutheran Church of Bottineau, ND.
[4] Ibid.

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