“You Shall Be Holy” [Lev. 19:2]
a sermon by Pastor Sonja Dalglish for FPC Weslaco
October 23, 2011
the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18, Psalm 90:1-6,13-17, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Matthew 22:34-46

Introduction
I have been thinking this week about Jesus telling us the Greatest Commandment is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39and a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Love — Love God and other people with all of ourselves.
These two commandments come from the Torah – the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, known as the Law. We are studying these now in the nine o’clock Sunday School class overview of the Bible. Jesus had all five books memorized. And out of the 613 commandments, the 613 mitzvot, he picks these two to hold up and say that everything else follows from these. It’s about love, all about love.

The first, to love God comes from Deuteronomy chapter 6 and are the words that follow the part of the Shema prayer that we learned in Camp Creativity this summer. This is a very well-known part of scripture. The second – to love our neighbor as ourself is from Leviticus which is seldom read in the Christian church because so much of it has to do with how to conduct worship and sacrifice in the temple.

Many Christians avoid the book of Leviticus because it is full of laws and although we are a nation of laws, we many times feel that with Jesus sacrifice for us we have been freed from the law. Instead, Jesus said he came to fulfill the law. And the law has much to teach us about how to live moral lives. And for people who are obsessed with knowing the right way to do everything, from how to eat to lose weight, how to exercise, how to be the best athlete, best teacher, best parent, it is surprising that we neglect how to be the people that God wants us to be. We remember that Jesus reprimanded the Pharisees for thinking too highly of themselves, so we neglect trying to live good lives, holy lives.
Some of us might even think that to live a holy life would be dull and boring. Think of all those things that we cannot do if we are holy. I have heard that actors and actresses prefer playing evil characters because they are more interesting than playing good people. And, what is wrong with that picture? Evil is in opposition to God. There is something wrong with our understanding of what good and holy are. To be holy is to be set aside for God’s purpose. This is not a matter of being better than anyone else but being the right person for God’s tasks in the world.

Holiness is like a pair of scissors. There are different scissors for different purposes, just as there are different people who are cut out for different purposes for God. Remember that there are three things to remember about scissors.

1. Use the right pair of scissors for the right purpose. I learned to never use the fabric shears for cutting paper. The way I learned this was not always comfortable for me. It would have been easier to just grab the sewing scissors at times and cut paper — after all, they were cutting ‘stuff.’ However, if you do that, your fabric scissors will be nicked and will not cut your finer fabrics as well. Not only will you have trouble cutting, but you might even ruin the piece you are shaping by having one of the nicks pull on part of the fibers, causing runs in the silk, satin, or polyester knits. And some of the fabrics you might ruin could be much more expensive than your scissors. And, I found out that you don’t use hair cutting scissors for anything but hair. Because if you do, the nicks on the blades could pull the hair on your head or someone else’s.

2. Take care of your scissors or they will not be good tools for you. You want to clean them well, store them in the right place, as well as not using them for something that will harm them.

That is what Holiness is all about. It is learning to be used for the right purpose, to be regularly cleaned and sharpened, and to be in the right place. We need to learn and understand our purpose, how to be clean and sharp, and how to be in the right place at the right time.

Leviticus
The book of Leviticus contains many laws and rules, much like the rules on using scissors. These rules have been called the “Holiness Code” by many scholars. That ‘code’ is not a recipe for magic or a secret that can only be known by a few, but as open as the Bible. It is not a prescription for how to get closer to God but a way of responding to the love of God. It begins with the statement that “You shall be holy because I the Lord your God am holy.” Holy in God’s case means that God is supremely good and loving. We are created in the image of God. Because we are God’s people, God calls us to reflect who God is by our actions. We should be different from the world.

In this passage, the way we are holy is defined as following several rules for living:

1. You shall not render an unjust judgement; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. This amazes me because so often we hear that God loves the poor, which is true, but we are also told to be just to the rich. Do not favor one or the other.

2. You shall not go around as a slanderer* among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood* of your neighbor: I am the Lord. This could be the Agatha Christi clause. It’s important to know who killed the Colonel in the library with the candlestick because if it was the heir, then the will is invalid. You cannot profit by hurting someone else.

3. You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin;

4. you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. This one could be difficult- because if you are as timid as I, it can be a difficult thing to correct someone else. A friend of mine went to lunch with a couple of ladies, one of whom removed the sign from the middle of the restaurant table and put it in her purse. My friend said, “What are you doing?” The young woman said, “I collect these.” My friend said, “That’s not collecting. It is someone else’s property. It’s stealing.” The lady put it back on the table. How many of us would have spoken up?

5. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people. Vengeance makes for exciting books and movies, but there is a saying that if you set out to do vengeance, you’d better dig two graves. Vengeance only serves to make things worse.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

I am reminded that the language of these statements is the form of a command. We ‘shall’ do these things because God is our God, because God is the Lord. This is what it means to love God.

It strikes me that these two commandments that Jesus gave us are about love. Love God and love your neighbor. It’s all about love. It reminds me of two illustrations. The first is linked to understanding that it is all about love.

A very wise teacher in the ancient world was explaining about the world. “The world is on a plate,” he said. “The plate is supported by four elephants standing on the back of a turtle. Do you understand?” One of his students looked puzzled and asked, “But what does the turtle stand on?” The teacher replied, “It’s turtles all the way down.”

Instead of turtles think love. It is love all the way down. Everything else is just an explanation of what love is.

The second illustration is to explain what it means to love. If I told you that I loved flowers, and yet did not water my plants or make sure they had the proper light, would you believe me? Love is not just an emotion. It must also be an action.

Conclusion
Next week, we will celebrate both Reformation Sunday and All Saints’ Day, remembering those who have died in the faith who now live eternally with Christ. Come celebrate the faith and the lives of the faithful as we light candles to remember them. Remember the Greatest Commandment and the command to be holy. God never asks you to do the impossible. It is with God’s help that you can be like the best pair of scissors for the task.

1. Being used for the right purpose – God’s purpose showing love to other people.
2. Being regularly cleaned – prayer & confession. Being sharpened in Bible study and worship.
3. Being in the right place at the right time.

You are set apart for God’s purposes. You shall be holy because God is holy.
Revised Common Lectionary Readings for Sunday, October 23, 2011,
the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18
Ritual and Moral Holiness NRSV
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
You shall not render an unjust judgement; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbour. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbour: I am the Lord.
You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.
Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

15 “‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
16 “‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
“‘Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD.
17 “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.
18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Gospel Matthew 22:34-46
34When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37He said to him, “&squo;You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39and a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
41Now 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.” 43He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? 45If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

First Reading Deuteronomy 34:1-12
1Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the LORD showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, 2all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3the Negeb, and the Plain — that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees — as far as Zoar. 4The LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” 5Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. 6He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. 7Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated. 8The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.
9Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the LORD had commanded Moses.
10Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. 11He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, 12and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
Psalm Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning; 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
13 Turn, O LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants! 14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil. 16 Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. 17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands — O prosper the work of our hands!
Second Reading 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
1You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, 2but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. 3For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, 4but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. 5As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; 6nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, 7though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. 8So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.