Mark 12:32-33
You
have to be careful when people start putting words in your mouth. People can
end up believing that you said all sorts of things you didn’t say. And this
happens all the time with public or political figures. Part of what they said
gets pulled from its context and then reconstructed in a way that makes it
sound as if they said exactly the opposite of what they said. Or people simply
fabricate statements and positions out of thin air, leaving you to fend off
falsehoods. Not a good way to get your message across.
Or
maybe you are having a conversation in a group and someone quotes what you just
said, but adds a little element that shifts what you meant to say. They heard
something that you didn’t say. Or their agenda gets added to your statement as
a way to gain greater strength for their position. And those little something’s
often go unchallenged. You just let it slide.
You
would think a professional teacher would get this. In our text this teacher of
the law comes to question Jesus and hears a very straight forward answer from
Him. But when he responds to Jesus’ answer he adds a little something,
something that I think reveals his heart.
I
think that we often tell more about ourselves when we add something than we
realize. This man shows an insight into his understanding of the LORD’s intent
for our lives. His simple admission that love applied toward the LORD and
toward our neighbors is what matters tells us about his heart. The keeping of
the letter of the Law is nothing without love. Sounds like First Corinthians
thirteen, doesn’t it.
But
I don’t want to miss what he said right before this. He declares the unity and
singularity of God. This is perhaps an attack on Jesus’ previous statements
about His deity. To put in more simply, if there is only one God, then you
can’t claim you are God. You can’t be in two places at once, here on earth and
up in heaven.
Unfortunately
we don’t have all the inner workings of this man’s thinking and back story. But
he knows, at least at that moment, that the rituals of the Old Testament are
useless without love. So I guess love matters.
But
what kind of love matters? The sentimental, transient, variable, ‘what’s in it
for me’ love that is popular today is NOT what the Scriptures are talking
about. Try, instead, self-sacrificing, permanent, enduring, ‘what’s best for
you’ love. This is the kind of love that Jesus had, the kind of love that drove
Him to the Cross. He never would have gone if the love He wanted to demonstrate
was the shallow love of our current culture.
This
popular love doesn’t have enough power to really accomplish anything of value.
It can elicit an “Ahhh” every now and again, or maybe even a warm fuzzy puppy dog
smile, but someone, an innocent Someone dying to bring other’s freedom, not so
much.
So
if we are going to step in line, we need a new kind of love, a love that can
only come through a relationship with Jesus. We must respond to His love with a
similar love, same kind but more limited in scope. I think we need to get busy
loving. Our world sure needs it!