Thursday, March 19, 2015
Today’s Scripture: Mark 12:28-34
Jesus answered, ‘The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 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.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."… When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." (Mark 12:29-31, 34)
Religion makes a big mistake when its primary public posture is to protect itself and its own interests. It’s even worse when religion tries to use politics to enforce its own codes and beliefs or to use the force of law to control the behavior of others. Religion does much better when it leads - when it actually cares about the needs of everybody, not just its own community, and when it makes the best inspirational and commonsense case, in a pluralistic democracy, for public policies that express the core values of faith in regard to how we should all treat our neighbors.
There’s a deep hunger, especially among the new generation of young people, for a new ethic of loving our neighbors, in our neighborhoods and around the world, but who will offer leadership toward a new (and old) neighbor ethic for the common good? If the faith community does that, people will actually be drawn back to faith; but if we don’t, our losses will continue. - Jim Wallis, “On God’s Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn’t Learned about Serving the Common Good”, Brazon Press, 2013, p. 6-7.
A scribe from among the established religious authorities of Jesus’ time asks him what is the greatest commandment, and Jesus responds by citing the Shema - "Hear, O Israel ... you shall love the Lord your God" and adding "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:29-31). When the questioner affirms Jesus' response, Jesus says, "You are not far from the kingdom." (v. 34)
For Jesus the foundation and distinctive mark of the kingdom of God, an ethic that would transform the world into “your kingdom come,” was love of God, neighbor and self. Jesus in this reminder from the Old Testament given to the Israelites from many centuries before is at the heart of the kingdom and there is much for us to reflect upon, but today I want to concentrate on the love of neighbor or others.
In the book, The Road Less Traveled, Dr. M. Scott Peck shares many interesting ideas about love, what it is not, what it is. He points out that love is a mystery and so cannot easily be defined. He then attempts to give a definition of love; “the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.” It is a definition that starts from the purpose of love, one's own or another's spiritual growth. Love is looking out for the overall spiritual or long-term welfare of the other. God’s love toward us is for our growth and long-term welfare as human beings.
Sadly, over the years I have discovered in working with families dealing with addiction, much of their so called love is not directed to the good of the other family members at all. Family members may be motivated by their own security, saving face to making an impression rather than seeking the real good of the person. For example, a typical story might be about a child being offered a promising opportunity in another state and the mother or father responding. “You know my health is not good, my heart is bad, so if you go and I die, you will be responsible.” This ends the possibility of a loving relationship. The parent can only see their own need and has now created a situation in which their child is angry if they stay and guilty if they go. Unfortunately, this story plays out daily often in families that claim to be loving. We cannot be loving as Jesus calls us to be by taking a position of authority and power over others.
Jesus portrays love as the prime mark of the kingdom of God. In delineating this truth, he breaks it down based on the traditional expectations of his audience. According to Jesus, the greatest commandment is the Shema Israel (which means "Hear, O Israel.") It is a universal demand within the nation of Israel.
Then Jesus adds to it, the command from Leviticus 19:18, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Love of a neighbor flows out of a living and a loving relationship we have with God. When we love God, that love takes the love of self out of the mix. Loving God leaves nothing behind. Therefore, when we give our all to God without keeping anything for ourselves, the fullness of God's love dwells in the depth of our soul. By then, loving our neighbor as our self becomes a reality. After all, it's no more I that lives but, rather, it's Christ who lives in me. Our identity as a disciple of Christ makes others our duty by the virtue of the love God has toward and our love of God. Christ lived in this world to give away everything within him. Jesus held nothing back by giving his very life to show his love toward us. If our care and concern for our neighbor lives in us to shape, mold, and characterize our life, loving a neighbor as ourselves becomes a normal practice and pattern of our life.
The kingdom of God is built and maintained by love. Power, authority, control, and enforcing our will upon others based on our own view and belief to use the force of law to control others is not bringing the kingdom near to us. The practice of love is the only hope and remedy for the sick soul and for the infected conscience of humanity as a whole. In our going out and coming in, if we are Christians, this message of love should ring very loudly and audibly for us to remember and practice. In history, great empires come and go. Great leaders rise and fall. Wealth, power and fame and might are proven to be transient in nature. There is no permanency in their nature. The only power that is proven to be permanent is the power of love. 1 Corinthians 13 declares this clearly, stating, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (v. 7-8)
Henri Nouwen reminds us of the temptation of power over love, when he writes, “What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life. Jesus asks, "Do you love me?" We ask, "Can we sit at your right hand and your left hand in your kingdom?" (Matthew 20:21). ... We have been tempted to replace love with power. - Henri Nouwen, in Mornings With Henri J.M. Nouwen, quoted in Christianity Today, February 8, 1999, 72.
Today’s Lectionary Readings
Morning: Psalms 27; 147:12–20
Evening: Psalms 126; 102
Jeremiah 22:13–23
Romans 8:12–27
John 6:41–51
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