September 6, 2026 Pent. 15. Ezekiel 33: 7-11, Ps. 119:33-40, Rom. 13:8- 14, Matthew 18:15-20. “Like Commandments? Here’s the Best One!”
Romans 13 is a famous passage! Used by hardnosed leaders, & authoritarians, to get people to fall in line & be obedient, to whatever they want from people, almost ever since it was written!
It was famously used by the Apartheid (separation) regime of white supremacists in South Africa, for half a century, when the great & wise Nelson Mandela got released from prison in 1990. Then in 1994, he was elected President of the whole country! Mandela was a great humanitarian, & human being! But the white minority gov’t, used Romans 13:1-8, to justify when they would torture, imprison, & murder people of color!
Nazis also used this passage to justify anything Hitler’s gov’t. wanted to do to anybody they didn’t like, on the pretext of racial superiority, against other people they thought were sub-human.
And, sad to say, authoritarian preachers & churches do the same thing – Romans 13 has been used to justify all kinds of evil & discrimination, & hatred of so-called “lesser” people. “Life unworthy of life,” as Heinrich Himmler, head of the Nazi SS famously put it.
But they got it wrong! They used the first section of Romans 13 & FORGOT THIS PART! Christian nationalists do the same. So today we’re focusing on this 2nd lesson which connects with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18, on how to deal with conflict among Jesus’ followers.
Doesn’t always happen that way, but here Paul & Jesus agree! This part is not about obedience at all costs, but about discerning the heart of what Jesus, & God want from us.
Like a story of the Wise Master, that goes like this: There were rules in the monastery, but the Master always warned against the tyranny of the law. “Obedience keeps the rules,” he would say. “Love knows when to break them.” BINGO!
Just the way Jesus operates! And right here in 2nd lesson. St. Paul tells us: “He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. . .
And whatever other commandments there are, these are fulfilled in the saying, “SHOW MERCY TO YOUR NEIGHBOR AS IF TO YOURSELF.” Love does not wrong his neighbor because love is the law’s fulfillment.” Imagine that! The best rule of all – LOVE GOD, LOVE NEIGHBOR! So, you like commandments, because maybe you’re a stickler for law & order?
Some of our politicians, it seems, like to boast about putting the 10 commandments in schools. But maybe they should be put up in the halls of congress, where our political leaders seem to have forgotten them in mass! Especially that one about “Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Or “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” BOOM! But 1st many of our leaders need to grow back a conscience!
In one gospel story, a scribe asks Jesus: “Which is the most important commandment?” Jesus replies: The most important commandment is: ‘Hear, Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and love the Lord your God with all your heart & with all your soul and with all your mind & with all your strength.’ This is the most important commandment. And the 2nd is like it; Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)
This is just what Paul says in our 2nd lesson! “Show mercy to your neighbor, as if to yourself.” And “Love does not wrong his neighbor because love is the law’s fulfillment.”
By the time you get to John’s gospel, the last of the 4 gospels, there is only 1 commandment: “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. This is how everyone will know you are MY disciples; if you have love for one another.”
Love always concerns respect for the human dignity of another person — for the other! Since sometimes the other, the one on the outside; isn’t somebody else, its you & me!
Do we have to be commanded to love? Well, Jesus thinks so. He says so! He must be right! If we’re not commanded to love, what else would we be commanded to do?
Do you know what the 1st video satellite message sent around the world was? In 1967, 2 years before the moon landing, the first video
production going around the world was the Beatles, dressed in their colorful Sgt. Pepper costumes; they sang “All you need is Love.” You could do a lot worse, with a worldwide video broadcast, but this one, they got it right!
After all, Jesus & Paul, tell us, Love is the best of the
commandments. Anything less than love, does not come from God!
A family goes out for a Sunday ride. The weather is warm & pleasant. Suddenly the 2 children in the back begin to beat their father on the shoulder. “Daddy, Daddy, stop the car! Stop the car. There’s a kitten back .there on the side of the road! The father says, “So, there’s a kitten on the side of the road. We’re out for a drive.” “But daddy, you must stop & pick it up.” “I don’t have to stop & pick it up.”
“But daddy, if you don’t it will die.” “Well then, it will have to die. We don’t have room for another animal. We already have a zoo at our house. No more animals.” But daddy, are you just going to let it die?”
“Be quiet children, we’re just trying to have a pleasant drive.” “We never thought our daddy would be so mean & cruel as to let a kitten die.” Finally, the mother turns to her husband & says, “dear, you’ll have to stop.”
He turns the car around, returns to the spot, & pulls off to the side of the road. He goes out to pick up the kitten. The poor creature is just skin & bones, & full of fleas. Yet when dad reaches down to pick it up, with its last bit of energy, it hisses & growls at him. He grabs it by the loose skin at its neck, & says, “don’t touch it, its probably got leprosy.”
When they get home, the children give it several baths, about a gallon of milk, & ask, “Can we let it stay in the house tonight? Tomorrow we’ll fix up a place in the garage.” Father says, “Sure. Take my bedroom. The house is a zoo.”
Some weeks pass. & one day the Father walks in, & feels something rub against his leg, looks down, & there is the cat. This time when he reaches down, there’s no hissing. The cat arches its back to receive a caress from the father’s hand.
& no, its not the same scared, hissing cat from the side of the road, & we all know exactly what makes the difference.
If you like commandments, you get the best one from Paul & Jesus, “Love God, & love your neighbor as yourself. Love fulfills the law,” always. We just have to learn to practice it more! Amen!