The Last Rider
Matthew 22:34-46
by Jim Westmoreland
A 6 year-old was asked where his grandma lived. ''Oh,'' he said, ''she lives at the airport, and when we want her, we just go get her. Then, when we're done having her visit, we take her back to the airport.''
This story gives us some insight into how many of us are tempted to relate to God. When we need Him, we think we can find Him at church. When we think we don't need Him anymore, we can just leave Him at the Church, and when we do need Him again, we'll go back and check on Him. This approach to God makes God only a band-aid dispenser or a fireman who puts out the latest crisis-fire in our lives.
This is quite different from the God that Jesus taught us about, One who created us, loves us personally, who cares for our well-being like a shepherd, One who is at the center of our identity and who gives us peace and happiness in our hearts, One who knows us intimately through our daily relationship with Him and who causes us to be involved with others to share His love in caring and serving forms of ministry. This is not a God of convenience. It is not a religious itch we can turn on and off like a tap of water. And, it is not someone we can pick up at the airport or drop by and visit at church when we are in the mood.
The religious leaders of Jesus' day had some trouble with where God was and what He expected. For some, God resided in the Temple in Jerusalem. If you were faithful, you would come to the Temple on feast days, or at least once a year for the Day of Atonement. The Pharisees added a spiritual maze of rules that one must obey to please God.
Our text today appears in a series of controversial stories that begins with the questioning of Jesus' authority by the chief priests and elders (Mt. 21:23-27). The Pharisees then try to trap Jesus on the question of paying taxes to Caesar. Matthew follows this incident by bringing in the Sadducees to challenge Jesus on the question of the resurrection of the dead (Mt. 22:23-33). In today's text the Pharisees send in a lawyer. Now the Pharisees weren't typically as scrupulous about the Mosaic law as were the Sadducees, so they sent a lawyer, a Torah specialist. There were 613 laws, all of them equally binding on Jewish life.(1) Which of them, the lawyer asked, was the greatest?
The question seems simple enough, but it is clearly a trap for Jesus to leave something out. Jesus responds by quoting from the Shema, the confession of faith for all practicing Jews, which is found in Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." Jesus quotes the following verse which says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."
And then Jesus gives the second part of his response by quoting from a passage from Leviticus that is detailing commandments on how we are to treat one another. From 19:18b Jesus, says to the Pharisees, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
What does it mean to love God with all of our heart, soul and mind, as Matthew records Jesus' response? Jesus said in John 14:15, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." We show our love for God when we seek Him, when we stay close to Him, when we read and study the Bible and when we live as Jesus showed us how to live. The prophet Micah described true religion as seeking justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. Both justice and mercy are relational words to describe how we relate to others. Jesus said, "love your neighbor as you love yourself."
How do we love our neighbor? Jesus said in Matthew 25, "as you've done it unto the least of these you have done it unto me." But He also spoke to us about our sins of omission, our failure to do what God has called us to do. He said, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me" (Matt. 25:45). Having the right belief system is not enough. I am only a noisy gong or a clanging symbol if my heart is not filled with a love for others that overcomes my prejudices and causes me to work for the good of those in my community as much as I work for my own good.
I want to share a picture of love and its benefits, in full color and high definition. This is a true story, which comes from Stephen Post, the director of the Institute for Research into Unlimited Love. It is the story of Christina Noble, a poor and abused Irish girl from the slums of Dublin. She had a dream, one that took her all the way to Vietnam -- a vision that inspired her to work with the street children of this poor, disease-ridden country. "You might laugh at that," she writes in her book Bridge Across My Sorrows. "You might say it was nothing but a dream and that only someone who was Irish would act on a dream as if it were a message from God. And you could be right."
But she acted on that dream, and moved to Vietnam as a middle-aged woman with no education, no money and no real idea of what she was going to do.
In Ho Chi Minh City, she saw two little girls dressed in rags, playing in the dirt across the street. She thought they were playing, but found out that they were actually "grubbing for ants" and eating them.
One of the little girls reached out to her, wanting the touch of another human being, and when Christina embraced her she realized that she was making a life-changing connection. She discovered that God was calling her to work with children who lived in poverty, children who were suffering as she did when she lived in the slums of Dublin. "This poor and crippled country would be the place of my salvation," Christina realized, "the place where I would regain hope and rebuild my life."
By discovering exactly what God wanted her to do, Christina gained the confidence she needed to create a center for the care of street children, one that is both a hospital and a social center. At any given time, about 75 children receive inpatient residential care, and another 1,000 are treated each month on an outpatient basis. Christina is making a real difference in Vietnam, because she acted on a dream that she believed was a message from God.
Love of God and love of neighbor -- the two come together when we discover what God is challenging us to be and to do.(2) God has plenty for us to do right here in Daviess County. Many have responded to get involved with the needs of others and regularly plan and give their time to provide service and ministry. All of us struggle with finding what God wants us to do. We struggle to keep our hearts open and compassionate. It is easy to be busy, to be tired, to look forward to getting our comfy clothes on and assuming the position in our favorite chair.
Who hears God's nudges and whispers to our hearts to help and looks away, refusing to even consider what God might be leading us to do? In our own community Tommy Haven felt called to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. He had a pickup truck and a trailer. Even today, there are homes with 20-25 people living in them because families opened their homes to the victims who had no home to go back to and were without jobs. Canned goods have been sent. Water has been sent. But Tommy realized that they were not getting any fresh meat. So, he visited our area meat packers and they agreed to donate frozen meat for him to take to the Katrina victims. He persuaded a man at a local flea market to loan him five chest freezers to haul the meat, and he has been making trip after trip on faith, trying to cover expenses with donations to pay for his gasoline expenses down there and back. New donations are needed.
People in the community have helped with money for gas, others have helped him maintain his truck and trailer and repair and replace tires. Two other ministers have overseen a checking account to deposit donations and provide money. Tommy turns in all his receipts and provides pictures of those who are being helped. Tommy doesn't have to do this, except that He feels this is what God wanted him to do.
An old man stood on a Virginia riverbank many years ago. He was waiting to cross the river and, since it was bitterly cold and there were no bridges, he would have to "catch a ride" to the other side. After a lengthy wait he spotted a group of horsemen approaching. He let the first one pass, then the second, third, fourth and fifth. One rider remained. As he drew abreast, the old man looked him in the eye and said, "Sir, would you give me a ride across the river?" The rider immediately replied, "Certainly."
Once across the river, the old man slid to the ground. "Sir," the rider said before leaving. "I could not help but notice that you permitted all the other men to pass without asking for a ride. Then, when I drew abreast, you immediately asked me to carry you across. I am curious as to why you didn't ask them and you did ask me."
The old man quietly responded, "I looked into their eyes and could see no love and knew in my own heart it would be useless to ask for a ride. But when I looked into your eyes, I saw compassion, love and the willingness to help. I knew you would be glad to give me a ride across the river."
The rider was touched. "I'm grateful for what you are saying," he said. "I appreciate it very much." With that, Thomas Jefferson turned and rode off to the White House.(3)
Our eyes are the windows of our souls. This text about loving God and loving our neighbor raises a question: "If I had been the last rider, would the old man have asked me for a ride?" Amen.
Century Christian Church, October 23, 2005 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
www.centurychristian.org
1. William H. Willimon, "Who's Testing Whom?", in Pulpit Resource, Vol. 33, No. 4, p.18.
2. Homiletics, Vol. 17 Number 5, September-October, 2005, p. 58.
3. Zig Ziglar, See You At The Top, Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company; 2nd Rev edition (August 30, 2000)