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Not Far

             One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

            “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

            “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

            When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. (Mark 10:28-34)

 

            Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (AKA The Shema) and Leviticus 19:18, combining them as “the greatest commandment.” I can’t say that this or its parallel in Matthew 22 is my favorite passage in the Bible but there’s no getting around the fact that Jesus considered it of ultimate importance. Technically, the Jews had considered The Shema to be central for centuries if not millennia. The Ten Commandments, as central as they are in some people’s thinking, are basically examples of how one goes about loving God and loving one’s neighbor properly.

          As the GI Joe social awareness moment used to say, “So now you know, and knowing is half the battle.” The teacher of the Law knowing and agreeing that these things were the greatest command meant that he was close to the kingdom of God. Had he been doing them he would have been in the kingdom. So he was close in that important sense. He was also near the kingdom of God because he was asking the King questions. Standing in front of the king is being near the kingdom. Kings are likely to influence those in their immediate proximity, whether they’re part of the kingdom or not.

          But I’ve written about these passages before. We’ve heard them too often. And too often, we seem to associate loving as these commands require in terms of some grandiose gesture. Love leading us to die dramatically for Jesus, or love requiring  us to live in a hut with no central heating, no indoor plumbing, no electricity, etc., for forty years. When I realized that this command was our universal mission statement, I also realized that they didn’t provide guidelines about how we were to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strengths, or to love our neighbors as ourselves. The details were left up to us. It doesn’t matter so much how we love, but that we love. I hate arbitrary decisions.

          Fortunately for me, I have read about personality types and love languages. I know there are lots of people who think it’s all so much nonsense, but it gives me an idea for a direction or two. God won’t strike me with lightning if I do something extroverted, emotional, intuitive or “gray.” He won’t cross my name out of the Book of Life if I give someone a gift or a hug. At the same time, there’s nothing wrong with my  being practical or helping someone as my means of loving.

            This brings me back to something that led to this current focus on the kingdom. Recently, it seemed to me that God said to me, “Don’t be afraid to serve. Don’t be afraid to give.” I went to my neighbor’s to help her with her garden a few days later, but I was out of sorts about it. I had to work later that day, and had so much I wanted to get done before I had to leave. Working in her garden cut into the time I had to do all my work. But the words returned to me, so I completed what I wanted to be done in her yard. I don’t recall if I got everything else done, but the world didn’t end.

            Gardening is service. Even when it’s my own garden, I tend to have in mind that some is for me, some is for my neighbor(s), some is for the food pantry. And as I am harvesting things, and being given harvests of things, I find myself in that same anxious mode. How am I going to get it all harvested? How am I going to preserve it all? I’m spending time I should spend on this blog stripping carrot greens from their stems because it has to be done! But the truth is, I could just let them dry in the garage. But no, other stuff is going to need that space.

            I can’t say that all the love gets driven out, but the joy shrinks because I worry my service won’t be good enough. I’m afraid I’ll fail. And it’s all because I’m on a new journey. I haven’t been over this road, so I don’t know where the stops are and how long it will take to get from point A to point B.

            So, to bring this apparent rabbit trail back to the subject of the kingdom of God involving loving God with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves, first, let’s consider the reality that loving God and our neighbors, or loving anyone or anything, can be scary. Love leads one out of one’s comfort zone. So, my minor tizzy is normal and appropriate – while at the same time being a challenge to me to trust God and to not be afraid to love, to serve, or to give.

 

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