From the Pulpit: The most important thing of all
People chaff under the restrictions imposed by the government to control the coronavirus. Most Americans do not like others telling them what they must do. The regulations imposed upon the ordinary person in Jesus’ day touched every area of life. Binding rules went well beyond the requirements Moses handed down from Mount Sinai. They were a burden most could not carry. That is one of the reasons Jesus frequently found himself in conflict with religious leaders.
The Pharisees counted 248 positive commandments and 365 negatives ones. That is a total of 613 rules and regulations, all of which had to be kept meticulously to please God, they said. It was a hopeless task.
One day a leader asked Jesus, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” It was a genuine question, so Jesus answered accordingly. The man was not asking which of the more than 600 rules could be avoided. He wanted to know if there was a simple way to do what God asked. How can a person escape the burden of 613 “do’s and don’ts?” Jesus answer is recorded in the 12th chapter of Mark’s Gospel. “The most important (commandment),” Our Lord said, “is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And 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.” (Mar 12:29-31
There is no more pervasive human instinct than the one that says we must try harder. If I do enough good things, people believe, then God will overlook the wrong things I have done. Jesus suggests there is a better way. The key to pleasing God is not doing more. It is loving more. Specifically, it is loving God with all of one’s with heart, soul, mind, and strength. There is to be nothing that exceeds our devotion for God himself. Deed flows from devotion. Our thoughts, emotions, bodies; our whole self is to be given to loving God.
Yet, it is impossible to love God wholly without first comprehending the love God has for us. In 1 John 4:19, the apostle writes, “We love because he first loved us.” The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans saying, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8) So, loving God begins with a confession of personal unworthiness. It begins with trust in the One who gave Himself as a sacrifice for our sin. The love God has for us is demonstrated through Jesus death. His love for us makes our love for Him possible. The Bible calls that sort of love agape. It is self-giving love that originates in the heart of God. It changes everyone who experiences it and it makes it possible to fulfill the second greatest commandment as well: to love your neighbor as yourself.
The riots and unrest in America’s cities may eventually run out of steam. It is doubtful that the hatred and enmity between people it has engendered will end as easily. Certainly, the unrestrained vitriol posted on Facebook and Twitter is unlikely to bring us together. There is only one thing that can do so. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. The place to start is by entrusting your self to the one who not only talked about such love, but who also gave himself to express it.