Matthew 22:34-40
“But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.””
It appears Jesus was always in defense of his ministry. Someone was always out to get him. They wanted him to say, or do something where they could indict him for erroneous teaching. The hope of the religious elite of his day was to get Jesus to slip up and support something so controversial that it would tarnish and derail his ministry. But that opportunity never came. Ultimately, Jesus was murdered for no good reason at all. There was nothing indictable that he was charged with committing. Definitely nothing that warranted the death penalty. Jesus was sent to the cross for not being “politically correct”. I hate to say it, but there are elements of those same sentiments swirling in the atmosphere today.
When asked what he considered the greatest commandment of God to humankind, Jesus gave the answer that every believer in history has come to accept and cherish. Love your God with all your hear, soul and mind. There has never been an argument or problem preaching that message. You can make a career out of simply restating and reiterating that theme over and over. And if you embellish it a bit, put some shine on it, and make it feel real good, you can become popular, prosperous and powerful. Everybody wants to be assured they are pleasing to God. Everyone wants to hear God is happy with their giving, living and performance. Preach that and you can go really far.
Jesus did well. But he didn’t leave well enough alone! He went on to remind the religious leaders that there’s an addendum to this message of hope. In so much as love demands selfless demonstration, and God has no needs, God instructs us to defer all our love, caring, concern and compassion to our neighbors. And to do it with the same vigor we attend to ourselves. In our current narcissistic culture and society, that presents a big, big problem. Loving you at the same level that I love me has almost become a contradictory concept. How is that even possible? It is just me or is somebody thinking the same thing?
Let’s review this carefully. In our attempt to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, we’ve created a process. We have a place. This place is adorned with all the vestiges of Christendom and trapping of holiness. We keep it pristine and dedicate it to God as proof positive that we love Him with all our heart, soul and mind. Mission complete.
Additionally, we’ve created a process to care for ourselves. We have a place. Come to my house and what you will find are all the creature comforts that I can afford to make my life easier. I’ve invested in supplies for my hygiene, mental and emotional health, entertainment and education. I have every waking moment accounted for, and a backup plan in case something happens out of the ordinary. Im good.
But what I don’t have is a solid plan to address the needs, desires, troubles, trials and tribulations of my neighbors. I lack a place. I haven’t dedicated enough investment in neighbor care to adequately support anyone else’s concerns. And that’s where things must change.
Dear people of God, there’s an awesome challenge before us. The Church of Jesus Christ cannot profess to love God and not love people. Theology aside, there’s no way to demonstrate our love for God and not include a demonstration of love to our neighbors. Of course we probably will debate on the definition of neighbor” (and that’s alright), but what is not debatable is the fact that we must create processes to include, bless, and love those beyond the scope of our own selves. That second commandment really is a problem. But through Christ, we hav3 the power to address it.
God bless
