Drawn to Love?

Drawn to love?

Matthew 23:36-8 
 
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” This is the first and greatest commandment.”
 
In his answer Jesus concentrated all the questions about what true obedience to God might look like. Love God with everything you have, and all that you are. Worship, adoration, praise and thanksgiving are the first response of our hearts to God’s gracious love and faithful mercy. To love God is to give God that space in our lives where we grow and are transformed by the Spirit who pours God’s love into our hearts. We love because God first loved us —the initiative always comes from God. Our response is loving gratitude and faithful obedience to that love. 
 
Matthew 23:39-40 
 
“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
 
Jesus links love for God and love for neighbor. And don’t bother trying to define neighbor to make it manageable and convenient. The Good Samaritan story put an end to all that moral squirming. To love God, we must love those made in God’s image, and in whom we meet those Jesus called sisters and brothers. For as much as you love the poor, hungry, hurting, lonely, scared, struggling person you come across on each day’s journey, to that extent you love Jesus, and show your love for God to be genuine, because costly, generous because a sign of the grace that has helped us.
 
John 13:34-35 
 
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 
 
The commandment is new because it has a new point of reference; “As I have loved you.” Jesus is the exemplar of what Christian love looks like, how it speaks and acts. Jesus had just washed the feet of each disciple. This wasn’t an act of passive humility; this was Jesus’ answering all the earlier arguments about who was the greatest. The one who serves, who takes care of others’ needs, they are the greatest. That kind of servant love is the logo of the Christian community. Wear it— with humility!
 
Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation