The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



Proper 17, Year A, 2008 (RCL), August 31, 2008, St. Anselm’s Church Nashville

“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection” (Rom. 12:9-10).

Long ago, in the time before paper currency, people used to test the value of their coins with a “touchstone”, a stone used to test the purity of precious metals. Gold and silver will leave scratch marks on certain kinds of dark stone, and from the scratch marks you are able to tell how much tin or lead has been mixed in to the coins. In the ancient world these less valuable substances were otherwise impossible to detect, and could be used to adulterate the precious metal. The scratches on the touchstone allowed people to distinguish what was truly authentic from what was false, making it possible for people to move beyond the appearance of what was true to the reality itself.

“Let love be genuine” says St Paul: test it, that is, to distinguish true love from false. The touchstone for testing, according to the Apostle, is each other: “love one another with mutual affection”. The acid test for love is our interaction with each other. These interactions are both within the Church and without: as Paul tells the Church in Rome, “Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers” (Rom. 12:13). “Live in harmony with one another”, the Apostle goes on to say; If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Rom. 12:18). Are we able to give for each way, even to give way for each other? That’s the way to determine if love is genuine.

It’s in our relationships with each other that we find the true touchstone, the way to tell if our love is true or false. When we rub up against each other, some deep scratches are made, but this is just the way in which love is proved. Maybe the Labor Day weekend, when we spend time with family and friends, is a good time to remember this. Are we able to forgive each other? Are we able to bless those who persecute us, to bless them instead of cursing them? Are we even able to love our enemies? Here Paul’s words echo Jesus’ own teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. Our interactions with each other, both with friends and with strangers, make an impression on us, cutting some deep grooves. Each of us bears the marks, but that’s the way it’s supposed to work. The quality of our relationship with each other is the way in which we’re able to tell if we are “walking the walk” or just “talking the talk” when it comes to Christian discipleship.

That brings us to our Gospel reading today, where Jesus invites us to join him in walking that walk. You might say that Jesus himself is also our touchstone, our example in distinguishing true love from false. “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’” (Matt. 16:24). The call to love our neighbor as our self is going to mean taking up the cross and denying ourselves; sharing in the life of Jesus Christ who offered himself as a sacrifice for others. It’s on that touchstone, Jesus Christ himself, that our love will be tested.

So we are called to a pretty high standard in the Church, to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Rom. 12:10). This is the only sort of preeminence that we’re supposed to strive for in the Church: in giving way for the others. We often fail to live up to the standard; but in spite of this, God continues to invite new people into relationship with him through the fellowship of the Church. God continues to use us to test each other, to develop within us the capacity for true love through our relationship with each other. On that touchstone our true capacity for love is revealed. And Jesus Christ himself is the touchstone, showing us the way we must walk to follow him.

- The Rt. Rev’d John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee

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