454398

2012
EXT124110.1177/0014524612454398Sermons for the Christian YearThe Expository Times

Sermons for the Christian Year

The Expository Times
124(1) 25­–32
4th November: Proper 26 © The Author(s) 2012
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Deuteronomy 6.1-9; Psalm 119.1-8; DOI: 10.1177/0014524612454398
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Hebrews 9.11-14; Mark 12.28-34
The Great Commandment

Robert Jeffery
Cowley, Oxford

Psalm 119 is the great psalm of the Law. The we are reminded of the Law, which Benson sees
Law is referred to in every verse but one. Fr as the way to Holiness. But Christ is also “The
Richard Benson (Founder of the Society of St Way” so to keep the commandments is to fol-
John the Evangelist) wrote a rather strange low the way of Christ. The whole Psalm refers
book about this Psalm called The Way of to the Law in almost every verse. The writer
Holiness1 and Dietrich Bonhoeffer on his visit uses ten different Hebrew words to describe the
to Anglican Religious Communities asked if he law. These are translated as the Law,
could get hold of a copy. Bonhoeffer was very Testimonies, Ways, Precepts or rules, Decrees
devoted to the Psalms, which played a regular or statutes, special commandments, Judgements
part in the Seminary at Finkenwalde, where he against Sin, Promises of Blessing, the Word,
trained Pastors for the Confessing Church. For and Faithfulness. In reciting the Psalms in
them the Psalms were a central part of their English there seems to be so much emphasis on
“Life Together.”2 Bonhoeffer even started to the Law that it is in danger of supporting the
write a commentary of the 119th Psalm but he views of the Scribes and the Pharisees, which
never finished it.3 He found the Psalm both irri- Jesus also attacked. This is seen in Bonhoeffer’s
tating because of its repetition and helpful for comment that “There are Christians who want
“Here a rather slow quiet patient movement to be more spiritual than God himself”5.
from word to word, from sentence to sentence is Benson took his understanding further in his
helpful. They recognise then, that the apparent book The War Songs of the Prince of Peace6
repetitions are, in fact, always new variations and others have commented on the use of the
on one theme, the love of God’s word. As this Hebrew alphabet, which makes it into a rather
love has no end, so also the words that confess artificial form of religious poetry. Benson
it can have no end.”4 So in reciting this Psalms eccentrically gives a mystical meaning to each
letter, which of course has a numerical value.
1 R.M. Benson, The Way of Holiness, Methuen 1901.
This form of acrostic is used in other Psalms.
The first 3 verses refer to Blessedness but the
2 Life Together, Bonhoeffer Works Vol. 5, (Fortress Press: focal point of the whole psalm is the centrality
1996).
3 Bonhoeffer Works Vol. 15, (Fortress Press: 2012) pp. 5 See (3) p. 500
496-533.
6 R.M. Benson, The War Songs of the Prince of Peace, 2
4 D. Bonhoeffer, The Prayerbook of the Bible: as (2) above. Vols. (John Murray: 1901).

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26
of the Word of God and the Law. In monastic
Communities the whole Psalm was said daily in
the Hours of Prime, Terce, Sext and None
The Old Testament lesson points out what the
basis of the Law is. We hear the Shema which
became a central point of Jewish worship begin-
ning “Hear O Israel”. The previous Chapter
of Deuteronomy has given us the Ten
Commandments. Chapter 6 in a way gives a sum-
mary version but verse 5 in particular is a reminder
to remember the great acts of deliverance by God
and how we should remember that Divine Love
and respond to it with our whole being.
Today’s Gospel follows the same path. Jesus
has responded to questions of the priest, the
Pharisee and the Sadducee, but he is more sym-
pathetic to the Scribe. Here a Scribe hears from
Jesus the Shema. But adds the phrase “and the
mind” so expressing the totality of a person’s
devotion. The Scribe accepts this summary of the
law and so, says Jesus, he is not far from the
kingdom. This passage may reflect an early
Christian attempt to to harmonise the Gospel
with the Shema. This combination of these pas-
sages may have been known in Jesus time. There
had been many attempts by Rabbis to summarise
the Law as shown in the words of Hillel (23 BC)
that “What you yourself hate (to be done to you)
do not do to your fellow; this is the whole law the
rest is commentary: go and learn it”.7 The Scribe
then reaffirms this and puts the great
commandment as far superior to the ritualistic
7 See D. Nineham, St Mark, (Penguin: 1962) pp. 323-328.
11th November: Proper 27
Mark 12.38-44
Alma Lewis
Lay Reader, St Colman’s Scottish Episcopal Church, Yell, Shetland
Today’s Gospel is so familiar that it is easy to
accept it at face value and concentrate on the
final remarks of Jesus. ‘Truly I tell you, this poor
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The Expository Times 124(1)
acts of Sacrifice, maybe hinting that in Jesus
(who made the ultimate sacrifice) all ritual acts
become of little significance. This is also the
implication of the passage from the Letter to the
Hebrews.
Benson placed great emphasis in the first
words of the Psalm “Blessed are those who
walk in the way of the Lord”. This is the bless-
edness for which we were created. But that
blessedness cannot come without fellowship
with God. He writes: “If we see the life of God
restored to us in Christ so as to walk according
to the moral law of our being then we gain the
happiness which God intended us to acquire….
If we walk in God’s Presence we walk in His
ways. They are all summed up in the one Way.
Christ is unchangeably manifested amidst the
changeful accidents of this present life. We walk
in His ways by planting our feet in his footsteps.
Those who do no ill can suffer no ill but as they
walk in God’s ways they find God their joy.”8
So Law and Love are one, when they come
together in the Christian life. Bonhoeffer adds:
“words that confess it can have no end. They want
to accompany us through all of life, and in their
simplicity become the prayer of the child, the adult
and the elderly.”9 So these two great Christian
men, Benson and Bonhoeffer, both concerned
about community living, draw on the Shema and
the Psalms to build up a Christian “Life Together”.
8 See (6) above Vol. 2 pp. 402-407.
9 See (4) above p. 165.
widow has put in more than all those who are
contributing to the treasury.’ It is easy to interpret
this as praise for her actions, but is that really so?