Matthew 22:34-46 The Greatest Commandments

Christians only need two commandments. If we’d work on following these two – love God and love neighbor – we, too, could fulfill the Law. There would be far less fighting in the church. And more people would be running to the church, as if to – imagine this – Jesus. There would be no one left hungry, no one homeless, no one cast out or forgotten.

Martin Luther said the purpose of the law is show us we cannot keep it, to reveal our sin and our need for a savior. That’s a good theological explanation for why the law was given to Moses. I think it was also given as practical evidence of God’s wisdom and love for humanity, created in God’s image. The law is a blessing that guides people in living together in harmony and peace, as well as protects them from the consequences of actions done without love or regard for the wellbeing of others.

When people don’t act in accordance with love, bad things happen. Not because God is mad and punishes them but because there are negative consequences when we don’t act in love. The law is given to serve love, like Jesus said about the Sabbath – it was given for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Here’s a quote from Luther than will turn some socks inside out: “The works of the law are not commanded merely for the purpose of performing them, God would not want us to keep them to the injury and destruction of love. If any commandment opposes the love of neighbor, [God] wants us to renounce and annul them.” (Vol. 5, 169-195)

We’ve renounced many laws already that have proven they don’t serve the good of our neighbor. Women can wear men’s style clothing, men can have long hair, women can serve in leadership/preaching positions in the church, we can eat pork and shrimp, divorced persons can remarry and serve their Lord. Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37-38).

All the Law and Prophets hang on the laws of loving God and our neighbor. Every law must pass through the filter of love. If it does not pass the test of bringing good will to our neighbor, then, like Jesus stepping over the Sabbath law to heal a man’s withered hand, that law doesn’t fit for that circumstance. I don’t go a far as Luther to say we should throw out a particular law if it doesn't meet an isolated case that goes against love. Jesus didn't throw out the Sabbath law. Why throw out a blessing from God? We follow the law when it blesses us or our neighbor. Yet in Christ, we can set it aside when it does not serve the welfare of ourselves or our neighbor.

I like to compare the biblical instructions to lines on a parking lot. They guide and bring order to many people coexisting in a confined area. Yet, uniform parking spaces don’t fit every kind of vehicle. Drive an 18-wheeler into a parking lot and it’s not going to fit between the lines. Some adjustments and flexibility must be present if that vehicle is to coexist with all the others. You can welcome the 18-wheeler into the community with all it has to offer, or you can try to force it to fit between the lines. As impossible as that is, religious legalists insist it is God’s will that everyone fit between the lines. They place the law above love. But God’s will is love, not law.

May we learn to filter all our interpretations of law through the lens of Love.

Peace and Love - PWM

Updating - changing - reinventing

As I look at previous posts, I have one thing to say --- BORING. Too intellectual. Too impersonal. A change is coming.