Mark 12:28-34
What is love? We as the church tend to talk about love, sing about love, pray about love, and read about love a lot. But what is it, really? What does love look like? What does it feel like? What does it smell like, taste like, sound like? If love is so central to our life and work as Christians and as human beings, if love is the first commandment and the second, as Jesus tells us, then what is it? What exactly are we being commanded to do?
The exchange we hear this morning from the Gospel of Mark is a rare instance of agreement, a moment when someone asks Jesus a question, Jesus answers it, and the petitioner likes that answer. So very often, Jesus is met with consternation, disagreement, grief, shock, even horror from those who set out to interrogate him. We might recall our friend, the man of many possessions, who went away shocked and grieving when Jesus answered his deepest questions, or the religious officials who disagree with his Sabbath practices. But this time, the scribe approaches Jesus with a question that might have been no more than a litmus test. Which commandment is first of all? Elsewhere in the Gospels he asks Jesus which commandment is greatest of all. It’s a good question, especially a good question to ask a preacher. Which of God’s commandments that have been handed down and preserved by God’s people is primary? Which do you think is the most important rule to follow? Much as we might ask a politician their stance on an issue that speaks to our core values, or as we might research an organization’s history before choosing whether to make a donation, this person is feeling Jesus out. It might be a test, but maybe it’s an honest one.
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. Love your neighbor as yourself. The greatest commandment, according to the living Word of God, is to love God entirely, and to love one another as we love ourselves. But what does that really mean? What does it mean to love?
Well, let’s ask Jesus. Let’s look to the one who gives us this commandment for answers, as the wise scribe does. What does Jesus have to tell us about love?
The love of Jesus is an emotion, because Jesus was human like us and felt emotions as we do. We know that Jesus wept, and felt affection, and got frustrated with his friends, and worried about his mother. We know that he looked at people and he loved them, as we might look at a child or a sibling or a parent or a partner and be overcome by the knowledge that we love them. And the love of Jesus, the love of God, goes beyond a fleeting feeling in our hearts or butterflies in our stomach. The love that Jesus models, the love that God commands, is an action, a rule of life and a mode of being.
When Jesus loves, people are healed of the obstacles that separate them from their communities. When Jesus loves, people are challenged to change their lives, to leave behind what hinders them and cast off their burdens.
When Jesus loves, there is such a depth of trust that even the most outrageous questions can be asked and answered, and the most secret needs met.
When Jesus loves, a body is created and restored, a vast family tree of infinite branches rooted in our shared image of God and nourished by God himself.
When Jesus loves, there is always enough room at the table and enough food to go around.
When Jesus loves, there is rest and there is transfiguration.
When Jesus loves, death is undone.
The scribe agrees with Jesus’s interpretation of the law, and is encouraged with the words “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And everyone else falls silent, not daring to question him further, at least for now. Those gathered around him are struck dumb by the challenge to love with heart and mind and soul and strength. It is shocking in its simplicity, this invitation to the kingdom of God. Love. It’s all we have to do.
That silence at the end of this passage speaks volumes, if we pause to let it resound. How often do we allow ourselves to be overcome, to be struck by the full weight of what Jesus is asking us to do? How often do we let ourselves be utterly changed by love?
Because that is at the heart of what has become known as the great commandment. New creation, utterly changed by the act of loving and being beloved. Changed in heart, changed in mind, changed in soul, changed in strength, changed in self by reorienting every aspect of our existence toward the Lord our God.
We love our God and our neighbor with the way we prioritize our time.
We love our God and our neighbor with the relationships we build and the hard conversations we have. We love with the way we handle conflict and with the way we reconcile.
We love with the way we spend our money, and the way we do our jobs, and the way we vote, and how we choose when to speak and when to be silent.
We love with the meals we drop on doorsteps and the money we slip into hands as we clasp them fondly. We love by showing up, and by staying home. We love by burying our dead and by making plans on behalf of those who will bury us. We love by serving food at funerals and in food pantry lines. We love when we live carefully, thoughtfully, with the Gospel at the center of our lives.
When we love like Jesus, healing happens.
When we love like Jesus, joy abounds.
When we love like Jesus, no one is left behind or alone.
When we love like Jesus, resurrection comes.
And when we do this, when we follow the commandment to love, even partially and imperfectly from day to day, we come a little closer to the kingdom of God. On our very best days, we aren’t far off. There is not a single aspect of our lives, no cell of our bodies, no shred of our being that is excused from the challenge of love. With all your heart. With all your soul. With all your mind. With all your strength. Walk in love, as Christ loved us.
Mother A Writes 