 Love Your Neighbor: The Great CommandPart 1 in a Series of Five 28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31 Our District Convention is but a short 4 months away! As such it is very much on my mind. Our theme for this convention cycle is Grace from Grace: Loving Our Neighbor. As we make our way to June and our convention I want to use my monthly Bishop’s Blast Devotions to explore this theme and prepare us for our work together. This month is Love Your neighbor: The Great Command. This command is set inside the story of a Scribe coming to Jesus to ask him which commandment is the greatest of all. Mark 12, in which this passage is set, begins with Jesus telling the Parable of the Tenants. It is a scathing rebuke of the current religious leadership. What follows in the rest of the chapter is a series of challenging questions from the three main interest groups of the day; the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Scribes. The question about the greatest commandment comes quite naturally from one concerned about the proper understanding of the Torah and the details of scriptural interpretation, a Scribe. Jesus’ answer, applauded by the Scribe, is a quote from Deuteronomy 6:4 that begins with the Shema, “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” It is exceedingly significant that the declaration of the greatest commandment is preceded by a gospel laden proclamation of the faith. Essentially the message is that Yahweh is the one and only God and therefore he is to be loved with our whole being. But this love within us is generated by the fact that the one and only God is the LORD (Yahweh), our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. When we confess him, it is with the faith understanding that he has loved us first and reconciled us to himself in Christ. Out of this faith then we love God in return. But in something of a surprise move Jesus adds to his answer a second command that is like the first, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The Scribe readily accepts and applauds this part of the answer as well. The meaning is clear. Loving God also means loving others. In essence Jesus declares that you cannot separate the two, the two are one, when he says, “There is no other commandment greater than these.” 1 John 4:19-21 is a wonderful commentary on Jesus’ answer: 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. There is one other small addition Jesus made in his answer. He added “mind” to Deuteronomy 6:4 and the elements with which we are to love God. Another translation of mind could be “understanding”. Why the addition? Quite possibly Jesus’s meaning is for us to ”understand” this Great Command Christologically. When Christ comes there is always a new dimension to the old, a new understanding. It is not enough to love our neighbor as ourselves but we are to love our neighbor as Christ loved us; that is sacrificially. Of course, none of us can do that. We couldn’t fulfill the law in the old way never-the-less in the new way of Christ. But we remember that in the cross Christ fulfilled the law for us. This forgiveness and reconciliation doesn’t release us from loving, rather it motivates and empowers us to love God and our neighbor even more. As we move toward and prepare for our District Convention, let us as individuals, congregations, and a District reflect on what it means to love our neighbor. May we love the LORD our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as Christ loved us. Amen. District Convention 2025. Speaking of the convention, we have reached a critical time in our preparations; the registration and nominations deadline was January 31st. The next step for our Nominations Committee is to tabulate the nominations and secure consent to serve and biographies on each person nominated. If you are contacted about serving in a position where you have been nominated please give prayerful consideration and return your answer in a timely fashion. The deadline for registration has passed. This does not mean that delegates cannot still register just that housing arrangements at the hotel cannot be guaranteed. We have reserved extra rooms in our block for late registrants. Once these rooms are filled we cannot guarantee a room at the convention hotel or the discounted price we have negotiated. We are encouraging all delegates to take a room for both Thursday (discounted 50% for delegates) and Friday night for two reasons. First, our sessions will begin early and our agenda will run into the evening. Delegates who are traveling from home may have a difficult time staying for the whole convention or making it on time for the beginning of business. Second, we are planning social events on both Thursday and Friday evenings as well as the Convention Service on Friday evening. These are important times for worship, celebration, and fellowship. We intend these to be times of edification and bonding for our District. Please take advantage of the lodging at the hotel both Thursday and Friday nights. If you have questions about the convention please call the District Office. Congregational Statistical Reports. On January 23rd Synod sent an email to each congregation about filling out a Congregational Statistical Report (sometimes referred to as the Parochial Report). It was sent to either your churches general email, the pastor, or lay leader depending upon the email addresses you supplied to Synod in last year’s report. If you do not recall receiving this email please ask around to see who from your congregation received it. If you are still having difficulty please call the District Office and we can help put you in contact with the right people. The deadline for completing the report is February 28th! Completing this report in a timely fashion is especially important this year because Synod is trying to do some analysis on the effects of Covid and the numbers gathered for 2024 will be used as the basis for representation at the 2026 Synodical Convention. This work will begin in the spring so timely completion is important. Life Rally and March in Washington DC On January 23-24th I had the privilege of joining President Harrison and the District Presidents of the LCMS for the Life Rally and March in Washington DC. The plan was for the District Presidents to join President Harrison on stage for the benediction. Because the rally got behind schedule President Harrison alone gave the benediction (the Secret Service were restricting access while other dignitaries were leaving the staging area). Before the rally we attended the Divine Service at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Alexandria and after the rally marchers walked from the Washington Monument to the Capitol Building. LCMS marchers were gifted with a florescent knit cap to identify us (see below).  A portion of the LCMS marchers walking to the Capitol Building.  President Harrison addresses the LCMS Life Ministry Dinner. Lutheran Social Ministries of NJ (LSMNJ). Some of you may be aware of the unfortunate social media posts that appeared earlier this month regarding various Lutheran social ministries. While LSMNJ was not mentioned specifically, its association as a Lutheran social ministry has cast it into the same basket with others. I have talked with a number of other District Presidents who are involved in other Lutheran social ministries (some of which were named) and they have assured me of the fine and above reproach work that they do. I can assure you of the same for our LSMNJ. All of these organizations are audited every year and I’m sure these audits are available for inspection. It is important for us to heed the call of our Lord to mercy ministry. Our Lutheran social ministries have answered the call of the poor and disadvantaged for help. Frankly, the task is great and our government cannot do it all. It calls upon religious and other organizations to do this work on its behalf. Lutheran social ministries faithfully serve. If there are problems in some of them then by all means the situations should be corrected. But baseless accusations of money laundering are unfair and should not be heeded. Regarding these kinds of things our Lord calls us to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Matthew 10:16 Congregational News
District Short Clips Official Visits. Currently 21 Official Visits have been completed. Another seven congregations have been scheduled a Visit for the winter/spring months although some have already been cancelled due to inclement weather. The only others who have not been visited are those who are vacant or have a newly installed pastor. As these pastoral vacancies are filled they will be included in the visitation schedule. Special arrangements may be made for congregations with longer vacancies. 2025 Mission Golf Classic. The Mission Golf Classic for this year has been scheduled for Wednesday May 7th at Heron Glenn Golf Course, Ringoes NJ. The entrance fee for a single golfer is $200 that includes a cart, boxed lunch, dinner meal, golf range and more. All proceeds will go to support the missions of the NJ District. Brochures will be mailed out to congregations soon. Council of Presidents. This month I had the privilege of attending the Council of Presidents in St. Louis (normally meets four times a year). Much of our time was spent working on responses to convention resolutions directed to the Council of Presidents or Districts. In addition, we received reports or presentations from the Synodical President, Concordia Publishing House, Concordia Plans Services, Office of National Missions, Commission on Theology and Church Relations, and Worker Wellness. Official business took up the better part of one afternoon and as always, our days included devotions, chapel, and Scriptural or Confessional studies. The days are long and tiring but accomplish much. Conclusion
The words “love your neighbor” are simple yet encompass much. Our Lord in Mark 12 reminds us that along with loving God, loving our neighbor is the greatest of all commands. Therefore, loving others ought to receive our highest attention and efforts. More thoughts on this multi-facetted command next month. The Lord be with you, President/Bishop Gewecke |