29 Oct SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2023

Did you know that the world’s two greatest religions determined as such because they each have the largest number of total followers throughout all of history are Islam and Christianity? And did you know that the major difference between them is precisely related to the very question Jesus asks the Pharisees in today’s gospel reading? How about that?

So when Jesus asks, “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” Mohammed would have answered, “You are a messenger like me, because God did not have a son. I think you are Jesus, not the Messiah, because only God can save. You are son of the virgin Mary who was given ability by God to perform miracles and was strengthened with the Holy Spirit.”

That’s it. Muslims don’t believe that any person to whom “God has given the Scripture, wisdom, and prophethood would ever say, ‘Be my worshipers rather than God’s.’” So, Muslims, followers of Islam, would echo the response of the Pharisees and point directly to Jesus’ Ancestry DNA results and say, “Jesus, you are the son of David.”

I only know this because I’m currently attempting to read an English translation of the Quran in an effort to understand what parallels exist among the two largest belief systems on earth. Especially with all that’s going on in Israel and Palestine, in Ukraine and Russia, it’s important for Christians to “stand with” faithful children of God regardless of where they reside and not falsely pretend that one country’s citizens are more like us than another simply because that country’s political system is “democratic.”

Today’s gospel reading puts into context just how radical and mind-blowing it was then and still is for Jesus to claim divinity and equality with God. It also helps to explain how difficult it has been and will forever be for Jews, Christians, and Muslims to reconcile their religious differences. It confirms that every text deemed scriptural continues to reflect the passion of certain individuals and groups, continues to influence and shape world governments, continues to guide political discourse, and will sanction or condone a society’s cultural practices.

That’s why I do not intend to skip over the first or last parts of today’s gospel reading. Before Jesus ever met Pilate, he was constantly on trial. At every public appearance of late, he found himself named the defendant. It seemed like a constant for him to be asked questions by some kind of official. Today’s inquiry just happened to come from experts and enforcers of Jewish tradition and law known as the Pharisees.

Upon finding himself once again on the stand, Jesus sees that the courtroom is entirely full. Folks are even standing around the sides and in back, while others watch what’s about to unfold on either closed-circuit televisions or cable news. He recognizes a chance to speak and be heard. He knows who’s listening: not only the judge and jury, but reporters, stenographers, bailiffs, other officers and ordinary folk.

Jesus knows that what he says will be documented verbatim in official court records held in perpetuity. This particular moment in time holds great potential. It’s a chance to set the record straight in the hope that his testimony before those present will teach everyone what’s most important.

Regardless of their advanced degrees and accomplishments, regardless of their self-importance, knowledge, power or acquisitions, Jesus is about to summarize the content of entire law libraries. He’s about to explain why God and then others ever carved the Ten Commandments into stone or hung them on a wall. “Listen up,” Jesus says. “Just two things stand out during every argument, every instance of back and forth, during every conflict, war, time of discussion or dissension.

God has but two concerns. Are you loving God and neighbor? Are our hearts, souls, and minds devoted to God? Does the regard we hold for ourselves or our families get conferred to others?

But he stresses that showing honor and respect toward God cannot deny showing the same towards self and neighbor.

Bear with me while we once again see whether the Quran parallels Jesus’ teaching. Per the Quran, what’s most important is giving God what God deserves: unwavering belief, selfless obligatory acts of piety, and demonstrations of loyalty. It, too, requires kindness and charity, though it’s directed toward mainly family and fellow believers. Followers of Islam are taught, or should I say commanded by law, to fulfill righteousness in an all-encompassing way of being.

What Jesus teaches is not all that different. By loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, followers fulfill the first and greatest commandment. But he stresses that showing honor and respect toward God cannot deny showing the same towards self and neighbor. Jesus says that loving your neighbor as yourself is very much a dual requirement to loving God.

Turns out there’s really little to no difference between what the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy quoted by the Pharisees and the recorded revelation shared by God to Mohammed prescribe. In both cases, a messenger from God says, “These are the commandments, statutes and ordinances which the LORD your God commanded me to teach you to do out of fear and reverence for God. Keep all, all the days of your life so that your days may be prolonged, things may go well and you may multiply.” How’s that? Does that work? Can humans keep all statues and ordinances motivated by fear or anything else?

What’s going on within our own country and around the world proves otherwise. There is no one who is not in the role of either a Pharisee casting doubt and asking questions, or a spectator in the courtroom who’s listening out of curiosity, who finds conflict fascinating or dare I say, distracting as a change of pace to our own faults and grievances, our own family’s drama, our own countries shortcomings and division. What Jesus hopes will happen to listeners today is that each and every person here is ready to allow their heart, mind, and spirit to be moved by his testimony. What Jesus hopes is that you will find his words to be true and himself worthy of your trust. When he turns to the crowd and asks, “How is it then that David by the Spirit called Jesus Lord, and how then can Jesus be his son,” that we, too, will be unable to answer. That we will not say, “I guess David was wrong because you’re just a messenger or Hebrew prophet.”

My closing argument is this. If we believe what Jesus says in today’s gospel account, then we are compelled to do what he says, “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind as the first and greatest commandment.” Christians, Muslims and Jews all agree on this. Where Jesus sets himself apart, and our faith becomes distinct among others, is the command to love your neighbor as yourself.

Love for neighbors regardless of cultural or political differences, regardless of nationality, regardless of heritage or birthplace. It’s not DNA that matters. It’s the difference Jesus makes in the world of faith. It’s his ability, not our own, to produce righteousness, because only he is righteous. Hardly anyone came to Jesus’ defense when he stood trial or was crucified. Why? Because, by default, we are spectators.

What God makes possible is this: anyone within the sound of Jesus’ voice that day could be changed. Anyone who was watching what unfolded firsthand, or who heard about it secondhand, later on as it was rebroadcast or picked up by other networks, who once heard an account of what was spoken by Jesus that day in some other public places or private abode could also receive what they need: grace to believe and grace to do what Jesus spoke of that day while on trial when his words were recorded for time immemorial and preserved for time in eternity.

Is there any part of you that doubts who Jesus is or what is asked of us by God, the Father? Jesus never asked to be worshiped instead of God or ever tried to supersede God in divinity. We believe that Jesus is the purest expression of God on earth. Is he not worth receiving and in return, of being given our all? Leave it to Jesus to remind us that our all includes not only loving God, but loving those with whom we share the earth: our host planet that provides a protective atmosphere from the sun and is the source of our breath, that contains other beings who also live on land and are attempting to survive, living with limited space and resources, limited time and under the mercy of a God who is far beyond what we can imagine God to be. Let us pray.

Like the Pharisees, Lord, we can’t imagine giving up what we know or possess to accept what seems foreign, frightening or at the very least different. But we trust that you are who you say and that you guide us and provide what is essential. Most of all we need your grace to believe and do, to accept and submit, submission being the definition of the word islam.

You ask us to love and not fight though every religion and country justifies doing so. Help us live according to your desires for us: to love you and our neighbor, showing honor and regard for God and self as a shared testimony to the world of your willingness to bring truth to life. In your holy name we pray, Amen.