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Ideas for sermon preparation on Matthew 22.34-46

Popular perceptions of the commandments are to do with ‘thou shalt not’. Jesus’ summary of the law, the Shema, with which every synagogue service begins, affirms that love is at the centre of Jewish and Christian belief and practice. These words provided an inspiration, and then a framework, for some of the great social reform movements in Britain in the nineteenth century – the abolition of slavery, prison reform and the provision of universal elementary education – and also the part played by the churches in today’s food banks and night shelters.
Jesus enjoys the rabbinic practice of arguing over the interpretation of Scripture and is unafraid to ask hard questions of the text before him. This is central to Jewish traditions of study, depicted well in Barbra Streisand’s film Yentl, about a young woman who poses as a boy in order to study the Talmud. The opening song begins with the words, ‘There’s not a morning I begin without a thousand questions running through my mind…’. ?
The ‘Son of David’ was imagined by Jesus’ contemporaries as a military figure, who would win freedom from foreign forces. However, Jesus, as David’s Lord, is a figure of vulnerable, self-giving love, not violence. This understanding, along with the convoluted line of deduction, challenges simplistic and preconceived notions of how God makes himself known in the world.
Jesus unequivocally locates the foundation of holy living in loving God and loving your neighbour, but other strands of belief are open to investigation and interpretation. He demonstrates how questioning and wrestling with knotty problems of Scripture enriches faith. Not knowing a clear-cut answer to everything does not denote ignorance or lack of faith, but invites the Spirit to bring understanding. ?
Love is at the very heart of the gospel and we see this worked out in the very non-religious context in Paul’s evangelisation of the Thessalonian leather workers. Paul makes no claim to Scripture among these pagan labourers; he needs to embody and enable the love of God and love of neighbour that Jesus proclaims without reference to a religious tradition they did not share. Their community is a work-based group of low-paid labourers living in communal lodgings. This freshest of expressions of church was an intimate community that discovered together, day by day, what it meant to live with the love of Christ, demonstrated by another manual labourer, Paul the tent maker, who lived among them ‘like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children’. Paul lived the gospel as much as he preached it, and did so in communities with no historical predisposition towards the values of the gospel. How might his Thessalonian experiences shape our proclamation of the gospel in our ‘post-Christian’ society?

Respond to the Word

Activities based on Matthew 22.34-36 and 1 Thessalonians 2.1-8, including A simple worship activity for all ages

Question trap

Trap questions are a common literary device. Retell a story about a question, e.g.Rumpelstiltskin or The Hobbit (see below). Just as Jesus needed to have all his wits about him, so we sometimes need to think quickly when put on the spot. Try to identify together one good question about Christian faith, and one question that will not really lead to deeper understanding.

The story of Rumplestiltskin is widely available on the internet and in collections of folk tales. There is a beautifully illustrated version in Classic Fairy Tales, Berlie Doherty, illustrated by Jane Ray, Walker Books, 2000, ISBN 978-0744561159.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien is readily available in paperback but is probably best known among young people from the film/DVD – the scene referred to is in Part 1.

Question time!

Ask people to write a genuine question they have about faith or life on a mocked-up graffiti wall. Decorate the rest of the space with question marks and create a question mark border around it. Gather round the wall and invite one or two people to select a question, and see if you can manage to answer it together. There are no complete answers, and wonderment remains at the heart of our faith. Emphasise that this is to be done in a spirit of genuine mutual enquiry. We are not trying to catch each other out, like the Pharisees did with Jesus!

Tender and gentle among you

Display a map of your local area and, if relevant, a map of more remote places where your church supports the work of the gospel. Give everyone a few stickers and invite them to place a sticker wherever the tender, gentle work of the gospel is being practised. When your maps are complete, share again the words of today’s reading from I Thessalonians.

A simple worship activity for all ages

God asks us questions, too! Let’s answer some of them together. God asks: Are you listening? (hands on ears) Yes! God asks: Do you love me? (hands on hearts) Yes! God asks: Will you follow me? (walking on the spot) Yes! God asks: Will you stick by me? (fist in air) Yes! God asks: Do you know that I will always be with you? (raise hands) Yes! (say together, repeating the actions) We are listening. We love you. We want to follow you. We will stick by you. Thank you for being with us always!

Question trap

Discussion about having to think quickly on your feet (for adult and all-age groups)

Trap questions are a common literary device. Retell a story about a question, e.g. Rumpelstiltskin or The Hobbit (see below). Just as Jesus needed to have all his wits about him, so we sometimes need to think quickly when put on the spot. Try to identify together one good question about Christian faith, and one question that will not really lead to deeper understanding.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien is readily available in paperback but is probably best known among young people from the film/DVD – the scene referred to is in Part 1.

Template: Hearts

Drama: Legislate for love

A retelling of the story of Jesus and the Pharisee

Cast: One person to play the Pharisee and one to play Jesus.

Pharisee: Rabbi, may I ask you a question?

Jesus: Ah! A Pharisee, of course you can…everyone else is trying to trap me by clever questioning, so be my guest and ask your question.

Pharisee: Thank you, I think! My question is this, of all the commandments that there are in Scripture, which one is the greatest?

Jesus: Ah, a seemingly innocuous question. But how can one rate one of God’s laws above another?

Pharisee: Teacher, surely you know that some commandments concern more trivial, rudimentary regulations regarding more everyday matters.

Jesus: I see we have a lawyer here.

Pharisee: That I am sir. And I give as evidence the Ten Commandments: five concern our standing before God and these come first, so they must be the most important. The rest concern our dealings with our fellow human beings and these come second.

Jesus: You are right my friend.

Pharisee: Thank you, but I think you owe me an answer to my question: which is the greatest commandment?

Jesus: It is obvious, as you know well: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

Pharisee: Indeed, what we call the ‘Shema’, the Jewish Creed… and you’ve missed a bit. It begins with ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one’, then it goes on to say ‘and you shall love the Lord your God.’

Jesus: Let me ask you a question. Why is this the greatest commandment?

Pharisee: Are you trying to trap me, sir?

Jesus: Only if you don’t know your Hebrew.

Pharisee: Ha! Ha! The word ‘shema’ means two things, it means ‘to hear’ and ‘to obey’. So if you hear the word of God, your duty is to obey.

Jesus: Well done! But I’m sensing that you are a little disappointed with my answer, perhaps because I am telling you what you already know.

Pharisee: I would like to push you a bit. Religiously speaking your answer is fine, but I am a lawyer as you say, and I want to know what you really think. By what law do you live your life? I know you love the Lord your God with your whole being, but what does this mean for the way you conduct your life.

Jesus: You are a formidable student! It means that there is an equally important commandment: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’

Pharisee: Hmmm…now we are getting somewhere, for I know that every religion has something akin to this law, whether it’s talking about treating people the way we wish to be treated or, conversely, not treating people badly because we don’t wish to be treated badly ourselves. Is this a religious obligation, though?

Jesus: What else could it be? The two commandments are inseparable, they go hand in hand. If you love God, then you must love those whom God loves.

Pharisee: Ok, here we go! I am a lawyer as you say and it’s great to say that we should love God and everybody, but can you legislate for love?

Jesus: Do you think I am talking about having a warm, cosy feeling towards all and sundry? Do you think I’m suggesting that love has no practical application?

Pharisee: I don’t understand.

Jesus: The two commandments go together and the love we have for God should be the same as the love we have for each other. Remember: love with all your heart, soul and mind, with every bit of your being – self-giving, sacrificial love.

Pharisee: Tell me more.

Jesus: If you start with a love like this, then there is no way you will steal, covet, injure, murder or harm your fellow human beings in any way. You will spend your lives speaking out for the oppressed and working against injustice at every turn. Society will govern itself fairly and justly, for the good of all. What other laws do you need?

Pharisee: That’s too idealistic, we need laws and plenty of them, because you can't trust people to live this way. It’ll never work, though I wish it did.

Children & Young People

Respond to the Word

A range of activities for Very Young Children (VYC), Children (C) and Young People (YP) based on Matthew 22.34-46

Respond Love the Lord your God (YP; 10 mins)

Reminding ourselves of the greatest commandment

You will need: plastic wristbands, or ones made from strips of paper joined with glue or a stapler; marker pens. ?

In verses 37-38 of today’s passage, Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6.4-9, words that form part of the Jewish Shema. Deuteronomy 6.8 instructs the Jewish people to bind these words ‘as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates’. Explain to the group that they will do the same with wristbands.
Invite everyone to take a wristband and to write the words ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind’ on it with the marker pens. You may like to play the song ‘Love the Lord your God’ (see Sing) during this activity.
Invite them to wear their wristbands and conclude together in prayer. ?
Invite everyone to keep their wristbands on for the coming week as a reminder.

Wondering Heartfelt love (VYC+C+YP; 15 mins)

Talking about how we share love

You will need: 10-15 printed pictures of different ‘hearts’ (do an internet search for ‘love hearts’ or ‘pretty hearts’). ?

Invite the group to sit in a circle and help you scatter the heart pictures in the middle of the circle. ? Invite each person to choose the heart they like best. ?
Ask them: I wonder why you chose that heart. I wonder what that heart means to you. I wonder how our family, carers and friends show us that they love us. I wonder how we show our family, carers and friends that we love them. I wonder how we can show love to people who might need our help. I wonder who we find it hard to show love to.

Play Sharing Jesus’ love (C; 10 mins)

A game to identify some of the ways we share love

Invite the group to sit in a circle. Ask everyone for suggestions for sharing Jesus’ love with other people. ?Invite the group to chant, ‘Jesus came to share his love; we share his love by...’ You may like to clap it. ?
Ask for a volunteer to move round the outside of the circle in time with the chant.
When the group says ‘by...’ the volunteer should tap someone on the shoulder. That person will then describe one way they can share Jesus’ love with other people. ?
The original volunteer sits down in the second person’s place. The chant starts again and the second person then goes round the circle and taps someone on the shoulder. And so on, until everyone in the group has played the ‘tapping’ role.

Think Riddles (VYC+C+YP; 10 mins)

Unravelling trick questions

You will need: for VYC: a copy of Rumpelstiltskin; for C + YP: printouts of some riddles and puzzles. (Try the following sites:
• www.kidspot.com.au/kids-activities-and-games/kids-jokes+34/10-easy-riddles-for-kids+12735.htm
• www.funhuh.com/funny-riddle/easy-riddles-for-kids-333

or put ‘Riddles and puzzles for children’ into a search engine). ?

Remind the group that in today’s story, Jesus was asked a question to test him.
With very young children, read the story Rumpelstiltskin, in which the Miller’s daughter has to solve a riddle in order to keep her baby. Afterwards, talk about the story and the riddles in it. How were the riddles solved? Do the children have any favourite puzzles? ?
Ask older children if they know any riddles (e.g. What is black and white and read all over? A newspaper!). Share any that you know, or print them out beforehand from the internet and test the children. Can they invent any of their own?

Sing and dance Love the Lord your God (C+YP; 10 mins)

Praising God in song and dance

You will need: a recording of the song ‘Love the Lord your God’ and the means to play it (you can preview it here); space to do a circle dance (or free dance if it is preferred); a Bible. ?

Invite the group to sit in their own space in the room. ?
Sing together, ‘Love the Lord your God’ (see Sing), or play a recording.
Explain that the commandment to love God and our neighbour is important to both Christian people and Jewish people. ?
Read Deuteronomy 6.4-5. Explain that these words are special to the Jewish people. Read Matthew 22.37-38. Explain that these words are special to Christian people. ?
Play and sing the song again a number of times.
Invite everyone to join in with a circle dance, or make up their own free dance to the song.

Pray Praise the Lord your God (VYC+C+YP; 10 mins)

Making a heartfelt gesture

You will need: the crown and heart from Prepare the space; decorated hearts from the Gathering activity (and/or the heart template); pens; a bowl of heart sprinkles from a party shop (enough for a small amount each). ?

Gather the group round the crown and heart. ?
Invite the group to write the name of someone on the heart shape that they decorated at the beginning of the session. ?
Invite everyone to think how Jesus might help that person. ?
Go round the circle inviting each person to put their prayer heart beside the crown and heart. They can say the name of the person aloud or not, as they wish. ?
Invite each person to take a small amount of the sprinkles from a bowl and sprinkle them on their heart, saying, ‘Jesus, be close to and bless (add name). Amen.’