FROM
THE HEART # 1
Mark
12: 28-34
Have you ever played the “good-news/bad-news
game? Tried to see both sides of the same situation at the same time? It’s a
way to get in touch with your internal optimistic or pessimistic sides, if you
will.
Many jokes exist that cover the “good
news-bad news” topic:
Doctor: “I have good news and bad news
for you!” The good news is that the
Medical Association has just named a new disease after you.
A large passenger train
was crossing the country. After they had gone some distance, one of the two
engines broke down. “No problem,” the engineer thought and carried on at half
power. Farther on down the line, the other engine broke down and the train came
to a standstill.
The
engineer decided he should inform the passengers about why the train had
stopped, and made the following announcement, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have
some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that both engines have
failed, and we will be stuck here for some time. The good news is that you’re
not in an airplane.”
Our scripture lesson for today is the
good news of the “good news-bad news teaching arc” of the Gospel of Mark’s 12
chapter, verses 28 to 44. Next week we’ll look at verses 38-44 and why it’s
going to be difficult to be a perfect Christian.
In today’s message Jesus puts both the
Jewish religion and the coming Christian faith in sync when He affirms the
common core central to both. Love of God and love of neighbor must be become
second nature to all who desire to follow God.
There is much debate about what
constitutes being a “good” Christian, what’s the definition of “evangelical,”
and even what it means to be “saved,” but there is no doubt about what Jesus
considered to be the two greatest commandments given to the human race.
I think it has something to do with
our being created in the image of God and the resulting respect and power that
gives us as His people. It’s why all life is precious in our world and how each
life, from the smallest bacteria to the largest animal has a place and function
in God’s order.
In fact, we can consider Jesus’
teaching on these two issues so strong that they become almost natural laws
that each of us must internalize and live up to automatically in our everyday
endeavors. If we don’t Jesus reminds us
of the price we’ll pay for failure – hardness of our hearts and loss of our
eternal life. They are said in love, not in obligation, said as things to do
and not as forbiddens.
Listen
to (Mark 12) verses 28 to 34:
One
of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing
that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first
of all?"
Jesus
answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is
one; 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.' The second is this,
'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment
greater than these."
Then
the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that
'he is one, and besides him there is no other'; and 'to love him with all the
heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,' and 'to love
one's neighbor as oneself,'--this is much more important than all whole burnt
offerings and sacrifices."
When
Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from
the kingdom of God." After that no one dared to ask him any question.
What commandments do you hold to in
your everyday life? What drives you?
He who dies with the most toys wins?
There’s a sucker born every minute? I’m out to get any and everything I can. Me
too! Let me go first. It wasn’t me! Not in my backyard or neighborhood. I’ve
got mine, you get yours. Well, they’re just not our type of people. It won’t
matter just this one time. I’m not like you. The biggest dog makes the rules.
And my personal favorite: Don’t worry, nobody’s watching.
Do humans make their own rules?
Whatever it takes to get ahead? If you think we evolved from pond scum then
that’s what you should be thinking.
But if you recognize a creator and
All-powerful Being in charge of the universe then you should have both fear and
respect for His rules, His identity, and His Will.
Humanity has wavered between these two
concepts since our creation. Most of the time we have lived somewhat within the
constraints of Godliness and applied these two commandments to our daily
living.
The United States was the first
country to use them to truly build, govern, and live within a set of God given,
inalienable rights for its citizens. We’ve also tried to show others how and
why it works. Truly for about its first 200 years we can say America loved its
neighbors and its God.
These values were instilled in its
children and manifested in duty and sacrifice.
But when the daily call to a higher
purpose and the abandonment of God’s commandments began to be questioned,
starting in 1962 or so, and then dropped, we suffered the loss of our blessings
as communities and as a country under God.
Now don’t misunderstand me, America
has never been perfect, there have always been things we’ve been working on –
but Christians know perfection is an ideal that may never be reached, but we
were trying.
Since the Bible and the Ten
Commandments have been taken out of our schools as the teachable standard in 1962
almost every element of society has started to crumble, beginning with
families, our marriages, our manufacturing base, our military, our first responders,
our education system, our churches, and our mental and emotional health.
No one really knows what to believe
anymore and that’s why most of its being made up from human desire and
experience, all gained from a sinful perspective.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, writing in
The Brothers Karamazov said, “The world says: "You have needs -- satisfy
them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to
satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is
the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The
result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and
murder.”
God gave us commandments for a reason:
They are about healthy relationships.
They remind us to slow down and think
beyond ourselves.
They help us to communicate and
understand each other.
They remind us of the power of words
to express our values.
They encourage us to respect and
protect personal property.
They establish the importance and
value of human life.
They teach us to balance community and
individuality.
They establish healthy social norms
that help us live together in harmony.
They present a coherent (common sense)
set of ground rules for life.
They give us truths and absolutes to
respect, obey, and live by.
If we didn’t have them we’d be living
in a truly evolving world of tooth and claw and quick death.
Instead God has shown us His Love by
giving us the way to live in harmony and peace with others, wherever possible.
That’s Good News! Amen.
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