Here we are this morning, Pilgrims of Hope, preparing for a day of giving, sharing, and memories as volunteers and supporters of Christ the King/Catholic Campus Ministries Lenten fish fry.
Most of us are here for a reason. Maybe, the reason is this community of good loving people. Maybe, it is the importance of this ministry to the university and all those that it serves. Maybe, today is for the time you spent at this ministry and the university.
You could be here for all these reasons or maybe you have another.
When I remember my here that started over 46 years ago and continues still today, I remember friends. I remember dorm & campus life. I remember the fun times. I remember searching for answers about my faith.
But the thing I remember most were the test. There was a lot of them. Some I passed. Some, I didn’t. There were classroom tests. There were tests in life, faith, and right choices.
Some were easier than others; a pop quiz for extra points that was a short T/F or multiple choice questions. Then, there were the tests I feared the most. The ones with essay questions. These were on the topics the professors thought the most important.
In that time of a young person’s life the hardest test were not always in the classroom. It was tests about right and wrong; and sinfulness or righteousness. The ways I answered those questions were more important than the ways I answered the essay questions.
I failed a lot of classroom test. But the university stood by me, it took a while; but, I graduated.
I failed a lot of test in life. But, Jesus stands by me. God loves me. One day hopefully, I’ll graduate to something better.
We still face tests everyday. Test found in the choices we make in our lives, our faith, and our love. Test that ask us to make the right choices. The most important questions are the ones we want to get right.
It has always been the case. That is why this man came to Jesus. “Teacher, tell me, what is the greatest commandment of all?”
This man was a scribe, a pharisee, a Bible scholar, a teacher of the law. He was a professor of theology. And he asked Jesus “What is the most important thing I should know. Tell me which command is the most important of all the commands? Tell me the one I should do?”
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
In my mind, I hear this professor voice say to Jesus, “Well said, teacher. You are right.” Then I hear the voice of his heart. “To love God and to love your neighbor is worth more than all the burnt offerings of the temple.”
Jesus hearing him answering wisely and from the heart said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
In the gospel passage, this man came to Jesus wanting to know more, and he brings an honest question.
Jesus answered him.
That is what CCM is about. That is what this ministry and this fish fry is about. Jesus used fish a lot.
We are here in this fish fry so that this ministry will be here for those who want to know God’s love though Jesus Christ. It is about us loving God in all we are and all we do and loving others so much we give ourselves in that love.
As a community of believers, we share our love on our journey to the Kingdom of Heaven. We tell others of God’s lovingkindness, justice, compassion, mercy, and grace. We help others experience it in their lives. In that good news is found hope. We are Pilgrims of hope.
Jesus taught all who would hear the comprehensive love that God requires. This is what Jesus said and what the questioning professor understood.
Jesus quoted the Shema (Dt 6:4-5), Israel’s confession about God and their life before God. Shema means to hear.
Hear, O Israel: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with your whole being, and with all your strength.
Then he quotes Lv 19:18. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself, I am the LORD.”
The test for the people of Israel was to teach God’s greatest commandment to their children. It was to be recited every morning and evening, when at home or away. The people were to bind themselves to this commandment, literally tie it to your arms and your foreheads and write on the doorpost of your homes.
How many of us are passing that test?
In this greatest commandments, God is asking us for complete undiluted love. Loving God with every ounce of our being. As you love God; love your neighbor. You cannot divide the two things.
To love as Jesus loved is the most comprehensive love God requires. He loved God with His whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Jesus loved God so much He did what God asked. Jesus loved us so much, He did what God asked. In the freedom of his humanity and in the freedom of his divinity, Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many. He loved God and He loved us much more than we could never do.
We know the most important commandment. It is a difficult test. How do we answer? Will Jesus say to us, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
Here is today’s fish fry question: How close am I to the kingdom of God?
Answer wisely and answer from the heart as a Pilgrim of Hope journeying to our eternal home.
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