Crumbs 131 the Key
Scripture Mark 12 28-£348 One of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: 30 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.’Deuteronomy 6:4-5 This is the first commandment. 31 The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’Leviticus 19:18 There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The scribe said to him, “Truly, teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he, 33 and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from God’s Kingdom.” No one dared ask him any question after that.
There is no more greatly misused word in English than the word “ love”.The Christian looks to the death of Christ for definition. I suspect the scribe is seeking to get behind the law, to discover its founding principle. Christ ties our love of God in with our love of our neighbour. The law is meant to lead to harmony within community.
In the past love of God has been measured in different ways; the erection of cathedrals, attendance at meetings, the affliction of self harm. These can lead to self aggrandisement The scribe realised that there were three arenas in which we may express our love for God. Whatever our intellectual ability it should be used in our expression of devotion to God. Whatever emotional range we have we should use it in our worship of the Almighty. Sometimes our expression of love to God will involve rolling up our sleeves. Our sweat should be an offering to God. Let’s worship our Lord with body, mind and strength.
The word love has acquired an unhelpful patina of false sentimentally. Let’s not kid ourselves that of all the virtues, love is the toughest, the most challenging. No wonder they did not want to ask Him any more questions. To discover love is to discover the will of God, His kingdom.
Questions .
What is love?
What makes love so tough to have ?.
3. In what ways should we express our love for God in everyday life?
No comments:
Post a Comment