What We Want to Do
1-16-22 Sermon Notes “What We Want to Do”
Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me…it is the parts that I do understand.” I feel pretty much the same way. If I could just do what I already understand I’m supposed to do, I wouldn’t have time to worry about what I don’t understand. Still, I sometimes want God to just tell me. “Tell me, God…what should I do?” Maybe I’m trying to test God - like the Pharisees when they confronted Jesus with the question, “What commandment is the greatest?”
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22: 34-40 NRSV)
Was there a question behind their question? Probably. The Pharisees were always trying to work some “angle” when they talked to Jesus. Maybe they were wanting to know how they could get the most “bang for the buck” when it came to Torah law. Jesus replied from the Torah alright, but it wasn’t just a law. It was THE law of love. Have you ever thought about how the “law of love” is an oxymoron? Leonard Sweet writes,
The “law of love” was one of Jesus’ greatest oxymorons, right up there with “suffering savior” and “crucified Christ.” Love can never be a law. It can only ever be love, the greatest, most powerful and most accessible divine force in the universe.
Love is the one piece of divinity that every human being is invited to participate in.
Every human being is invited to participate in this one piece of divinity! Join us this Sunday as we continue our series on Integrity of the Heart.
See you Sunday,
Pastor Sam