This is one of my pet peeves: waiting endlessly, if you will, on the phone for a live person to talk to.

And so recently, I had this gift card that I couldn’t get to work and I dialed the number for help and it’s ‘press one if you want your balance,’ ‘press two if the card was lost or stolen,’ ‘and press this for that and so and so forth…’ and eventually buried under one of those options you get to talk to a live person who might help you.

So today, I ask you to think about how so many of our modern conveniences are meant to make life easier and simpler, but they actually have the opposite effect. Think of all the consumer options that we have today; our phones, TVs, computers, streaming services, our cars, even healthcare. Then, there’s all the passwords that you have to plug into and try to remember. So I find it to be a bit maddening.

More and more I like things when they’re kept simple. And we see that so beautifully today in the gospel when Jesus answers the question, ‘Teacher, which of the commandments is the greatest?’

His answer, so simple: ‘Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.’

Now it sounds simple and maybe it is, but simple we know does not mean easy. And it’s not. Think about all the people who challenge us at love, think of all the situations that challenge that commandment. It takes courage and patience and perseverance and trust. All those qualities and virtues that seem so easy to live out, but they’re not.

It’s not easy, but today’s brief gospel reminds us it can be simple enough when it comes to what motivates all of our actions… Love.

One simple motive. Love.

And so, friends today I’d ask you to think about that in your own life and in your own relationships.

When it comes to following Jesus it’s simple enough, but remember if we aren’t motivated by love we’re not really following Jesus.