Proper 25 A + The relational cross + 10.25.26 + Guest Joel Chan

The Rev. Dr. Joel Chan

All Santos, Oxnard

Proper 25 A + 10.25.26

Scripture readings: Deuteronomy 34:1–12; Psalm 90:1–6, 13–17; 1 Thessalonians 2:1–8; Matthew 22:34–46.

At our latest Welcome Table gathering several nights ago, I sat next to an attendee who said, “You cannot love God without loving others!”

The comment was in reference to the rejection her niece experienced from her mother when the niece came out.

Although the attendee was talking about her niece’s specific situation, she was articulating a common disconnection. Even though we Christians all consider ourselves loving and God-fearing people, we forget sometimes that loving God means loving others. They are inseparable ways of acting and being.

However, we all seem to forget this Truth – I will call it a truth.

To address this, I want to offer a way that could make it easier for us Christians to remember this Truth. I offer a technique that could help us internalize and reflexively remember: “That we cannot love God without loving our neighbor.”

That technique uses the force of the most powerful symbol in our Christian spiritual lexicon: The Cross.

I offer that the image of The Cross can help us remember to love others just as reflexively as we love God.

Humans are a very visual species. Recall the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” When we see an image, we translate that image into meaning. Not just a thousand words. But into thousands and thousands of words. Into ideas. Into memories. Into emotions. Into hopes and even fears.

When we see a cookie (or a piece of polvorone), it’s not just a confection. These cookies transport us back to the first time we smelled and saw our mothers (and fathers) make those treats. We remember the anticipation of receiving them. We remember the joy in eating them. We remember the love that surely went into making them for us.

We did not merely see, but we lived the experience of love. So, a cookie is not just a cookie. For many of us, the sight of a cookie represents LOVE.

So, let’s take a look at The Cross. We don’t have Jesus on our cross. But regardless of whether he is physically present there, we all (perhaps even non-Christians) would see a cross and immediately think of Jesus. AND by extension, we SEE and THINK of what Jesus represents and symbolizes for us.

For some, the cross would represent Jesus’s ultimate sacrifice: the ultimate end of his Passion as he gave himself for us and for our salvation. For others, it represents the Easter Resurrection; not merely the sacrifice, but the answer or response from God to that sacrifice. For others, it represents the wisdom of the teachings and the Gospel that Jesus left before his death.

I want to pause - and ask you all to collectively look at this cross ...

Now - I want you all to close your eyes. I want you all to take several deep breaths. As you breathe deeply, I want you to hold that image of The Cross in your mind, and let your thoughts move to what that cross means for YOU. Take these seconds to EXPERIENCE in your mind, and in your heart, and in your body, what the image of this Cross means for you.

I hope we all can agree that the power of the image of the cross – even if it is only in our mind’s eye – and even for several seconds - is powerful! We can remember and feel the cross’s importance. This experience came to us quickly. Instinctively. Just from the image of The Cross.

 

So now, as my new friend alluded to, how does The Cross remind us that we cannot love God without loving others?

Look at the cross. Notice it has a vertical part – or the spine. And it has the horizontal part – or the arms.

If there were no spine, there would be nothing for the arms to attach to.

If there were no arms, then there would be just a pole.

Both the vertical and horizontal components are necessary to form a cross.

In MT, Jesus said (V37-40):

22:37 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.’

22:38 This is the greatest and first commandment. [articulate the spine]

22:39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

22:40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” [articulate the arms]

Our first two readings – which came before the cross – testify to these two commandments. They testify that God’s love is turned toward a life intertwined with others.

Psalm 90

Let’s start with the Psalms. It speaks to a universal belief shared by all of us – including our Jewish and Islamic brethren. We see God as our refuge – for the generations that preceded us, for us now, and for the generations to come.

The psalmist reminds us that our time is limited, and our plans are never entirely within our control.

Yet the psalm does not leave us in despair. It turns us toward the eternal faithfulness of God.

Unfortunately, it was removed in the lectionary, but verse 12 reads: “So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.” The psalmist recognizes that time is short, and we ask God for the wisdom to discern what is important in our short lives. 

The psalm concludes with a prayer that God’s favor may rest upon us and that God may prosper the WORK of our hands.

The prayer is not for longer life, but for a life LIVED WITH PURPOSE. I offer that the purpose is the service or benefit of others.

Like the psalmist, we should ask God to make our brief lives fruitful. We too should pray that the work we do, the people we serve, and the relationships we nurture reflect something of God’s enduring love.

Our lives are short, but our love for both God and for others gives our short lives lasting significance.

Deuteronomy

And this theme of lasting significance is seen in our reading from Deuteronomy. Our reading from the Torah brings us to the end of Moses’ life.

Moses has epitomized this Cross of Relationship. He has devoted his life to a relationship with God and in a relationship with God’s people. He has served both.

So the narrative in Deuteronomy paints a sad picture. Moses, who has brought his people out of Egypt and has shepherded them through the wilderness, now stands atop Mount Nebo. He looks across to the promised land. He knows he will not enter it himself. In his place, Joshua will now move the Israelites into the promised land.

Moses reminds us that our calling is not to control the entire narrative. We are called to be faithful in the part entrusted to us. We belong to God, and we belong to a community whose life continues beyond our own.

Moses’ work mattered even though he would not see every promise fulfilled. So, faithfulness to both God and others does not always allow us to see the outcome.

This Relational Cross that Moses displays means that loving God means trusting God’s future. Loving our neighbors means doing our part to help them enter that future with hope.

1 Thessalonians

Which now brings us to Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.

Here, I offer that we can see Paul’s very personal understanding of this Relational Cross.

Paul reminds the Thessalonian Christians that he and his companions did not come among them with deceit, flattery, or selfish motives. They came with sincerity, courage, and tenderness. Paul describes their care using the image of a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.

Then he says something remarkable: they were determined to share not only the Gospel of God but also their own selves, because the people had become very dear to them.

Paul paints a beautiful, intimate depiction of a Christian relationship – of Christian Agape!

Paul does not treat people as projects to be completed or audiences to be persuaded. He sees them as people with whom a genuine relationship has developed. He shares the good news of Christ, but importantly, he also shares his time, his presence, his affection, and his life.

This is what happens when the love of God takes root in human hearts. We begin to see people not as interruptions to our plans but as persons worthy of our attention and care.

Sometimes we imagine that serving God requires us to do extraordinary things. We may think of missions to distant lands, preachers delivering powerful sermons, or church leaders organizing great acts of service.

Those things can certainly be important. But Christian love is often expressed in much more intimately relational ways.

It is the phone call to someone absent from church. It is sitting beside a grieving friend without trying to explain away the pain. It is listening patiently to someone whose views differ from our own. It is helping a neighbor with a practical need without expecting praise or recognition.

It is the willingness to give another person the GIFT of our presence.

CONCLUSION

In Matthew, Jesus brings our minds – and our eyes – to the Relational Cross. He brings everything into focus with the two great commandments: love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

The psalmist reminds us that God is our dwelling place and that our days should be lived wisely.

Moses shows us the faithfulness of a life given to God and God’s people.

Paul demonstrates that sharing the Gospel means sharing ourselves with tenderness and sincerity.

Overarching today’s teaching is that the love of God and the love of neighbor are two expressions of one life of faith.

The more deeply we receive God’s love, the more freely we can offer love to others. And as we love our neighbors, we begin to recognize the work of God in the lives of those beyond our own.

We may not be able to solve every problem. We may not always find the right words. We will sometimes fall short, misunderstand one another, or struggle to forgive. But God’s Grace invites us to begin again.

With the image of the Relational Cross in our minds, we know that even if we apparently fail, we are given Grace to start again. The backbone of our love for God gives us more opportunity to manifest that love of God as arms that reach out to enfold others in that love.

We do not need to wait for a grand opportunity to love. We can begin with the people already around us.

A kind word. An honest apology. A patient conversation. A meal shared. A burden carried together. A prayer offered for someone who is struggling.

These small acts may seem ordinary, but they are the places where the commandments of Jesus become flesh and blood. They reflect the intersection where loving God and loving each other meet.

For in the end, the life God calls us to live is not measured simply by what we know, what we possess, or what we accomplish. It is measured by the love we receive from God and the love we allow to flow through us to others.

Hopefully, every time we all see the Relational Cross, literally or figuratively in our mind’s eye, it will help us internalize the Truth that: “We cannot love God without loving others.”