Sermon: Love, Love. An All Saints Sermon
Text: Mark 12:38-44

Introduction
One surprise from my sabbatical was the depth of grief that surfaced, more than I anticipated. One of you shared a thought with me that many of us experience seasons of loss every five to ten years. In my role, funerals come much more frequently—almost every other week, making grief a constant companion. This experience has given me a unique vantage point on love and loss, on relationships and the invisible bonds that shape our lives.

How do I navigate this ongoing encounter with grief? For me, it involves letting go of rigid categories and embracing a Christian existentialism that we explored in our BEING 101 series. In addition, spiritual disciplines—like prayer, study, meditation—have been my life raft. These practices open me up to transformation, even amid pain.

Today’s text from Mark is one of those rare passages that offers clear direction and comfort. Jesus names the two greatest commandments, giving us an anchor and a purpose. I believe that if we truly understand these commandments, they can save our lives. And today, we’ll talk about how.

Part 1: The Trouble with Fundamentalists: Mark 12:28
²⁸ One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 

Here come the religious folk again trying to trap Jesus. They constantly try to categorize and simplify in ways that constrict rather than liberate. But Jesus doesn’t fall into that trap. Instead, He points to something far deeper: a love that invites us into fullness rather than restriction.

Illustration: When Colby Martin was here, he had a funny line. “If only someone had asked Jesus what the most important thing was to follow,” he joked. “If only in Jesus’ short ministry did we think to ask him what was the most important and write it down.” Thank God someone did and the answer of our Lord and Savior was a two-part command. Both commands start with “love.”

We exist to love. To love God. To love our neighbor as ourselves. Essentially, what was supposed to be a trap became Christ’s greatest teachings. “What’s most important, Jesus?” There are 613 laws in the Torah, so it’d be easy to say, no, it’s not #46 but 192! His answer to us, “To Love. The second is like it, Love.”

One person once stated, “Oh, you’re one of those ministers that reduces Jesus to ‘love.’” I am. Because Jesus taught me this. I took the lesson to heart.

Part 2: Love God: Mark 12:29
²⁹ Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰ 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.’ 

This commandment to love God with our whole selves is all-encompassing. It speaks of a love that reaches beyond simple acknowledgment and calls us into a transformative relationship. Loving God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength means letting God’s love reach every part of who we are. This is not the kind of love that can fit into categories, doctrines, or restrictions; it’s a love that disrupts and frees us.

Illustration: Loving God opens my world. I used to be very nervous and untrusting of the world and all the people in it. My original wounding showed that your family, your faith leaders, and even your own mind can and will betray you. Yet in loving God with everything I have, I am slowly learning to trust.

In the Netflix romantic comedy, Nobody Wanted This, has the perfect illustration. The show is about a non-Jewish person dating a rabbi. She asks the rabbi why he became a rabbi, and he explains that as a nervous little kid, he found comfort in the lessons of the Torah and Jewish ritual and tradition. “It allowed me to view the world as a much safer and more meaningful place.”

I was a nervous little kid. He’s still in there. He’s comforted by the rituals and spiritual disciplines and you, church, have gifted me with. The grounding of tradition. Learning the unforced rhythms of God’s grace have taught me how to love something other than my demanding, anxious, and fragile ego. After all these years, I’ve gotten better at seeing love in the world. Thank you. I hope you have found something similar and beautiful as well.

Part 3: Love Neighbor: Mark 12:31-33
³¹ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³² Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; ³³ and ‘to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

This love for neighbor is not merely tolerance or passive goodwill. It’s a genuine, invested love that sees others as part of ourselves. To love our neighbor as ourselves is a radical call to empathy and compassion. This love crosses property lines and all categories of race, creed, class, orientations, whatever line we can draw. It implies an understanding that our destinies are bound together.

The scribe affirms Jesus’ words, saying that this love “is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” The scribe gets it: the heart of God’s commandments is not in ritual observance or rules but in love. This love is costly and demanding, but it’s also liberating and joyful.

Illustration: During my sabbatical, it wasn’t all redwoods and Pacific Ocean. It was quiet days putzing around the house. I refinished a table with Sam that belonged to Kate’s grandparents. In doing so, I told Sam about his Grandpa Harvey and Grandma Betty. If you’ve ever watched City Slickers, Curley the cowboy is pretty much Grandpa Harvey: a gruff, no nonsense tough guy. One that has a heart for people despite his gruff exterior.

As I would work on these projects around the house, I was surprised by who joined me. Not just family members, but others like Jackie Smith, who helped launch our family feeding program. Virginia and John Jeandervin who helped fund the pergola and our parks system. Many more visited, but I don’t want to keep you here all day recounting the lives of the amazing saints who came to mind, and some even visited me. That’s all hard to explain. Some were mystical experiences, and they brought comfort and a great reminder of love. While I’m sad that these folks are gone, their light and love are still with us. I close every funeral with these words from the Rev Kate Braestrup, “Walk boldly into the house of mourning for grief is simply love come up against it’s oldest challenge. And after all these mortal years, love knows just what to do.”[1]

Part 4: Not Far at All Mark 12:34
³⁴ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

For all of us, this invitation to love brings us near the kingdom as well. By embodying the two greatest commandments, we step into the life God envisions for us—a life of connection, wholeness, and true freedom. It is this very love that can carry us through even the darkest valleys of grief, reminding us that we are not alone, that God’s presence is woven into every relationship, every act of kindness, every moment of grace.

Illustration: The kingdom isn’t far. The kingdom isn’t far at all. You’ve all been there. It’s the holiday table set where conversation flowed, and food was plenty. It was that perfect moment at the beach where perfect strangers watched in awe at the sunset and gave it a standing ovation. The kingdom isn’t far at all. It’s where you feel the most loved, the most secure, the most in awe of existence and all there is. To be there all the time is heaven. We get glimpses now; we see through a glass but dimly. But one day we’ll see fully and be known fully. No misunderstandings. No more tears. Just love.

Now this is complete theological speculation… but it’s founded on a hunch about the afterlife. When I see the place that Christ has prepared[2] and you’re all not there… it wouldn’t be heaven. A seminary classmate who had a background is quantum physics said, “If heaven is outside of space and time, then we all walk in at the same time.”

I’ve found that extremely comforting. Why hasn’t my loved one sent me a sign? Well, because we’re all together in heaven. We’re there together because it wouldn’t be heaven without our children, grandchildren, and friends there. It’s speculation but I’m open to it because of the dual command to love. I love God and want to be where God is both in this life and the next. I love my family and friends and want to be where they are in this life and the next.

Conclusion
Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this All Saints Day, we remember those who have gone before us, their love a guiding light in our lives. Their absence can be a source of profound grief, but today’s message reminds us that love transcends death. By embodying the two greatest commandments – to love God and love our neighbor – we not only honor their memory, but we step closer to the Kingdom of God ourselves.

Let us carry this love into the world, into our relationships, into our actions. Let it be the foundation for our interactions, the wellspring of our compassion, the driving force behind our kindness. That death itself cannot shake. Remember the love that has brought you this far and will bring you home. Amen.

[1] https://themoth.org/stories/the-house-of-mourning

[2] See John 14:2

Bibliography

Rachel Held Evans, A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband ‘Master. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2012.

A.J. Jacobs, A Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. Simon and Schuster, 2007.