34When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”37He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42“What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 44‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’?45If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
Oh my gosh, I love that restaurant’s dessert menu! Have you tried the new drink at Starbucks? I love how pumpkiny it is! Has anyone read that new book – it’s so moving, I love it!
I love it, I love it, I love it!
Ok, guilty. I love the word love, and I love to overuse it. It’s quicker than saying “this particular thing engages my emotions in such a positive way that I have nice, warm feelings toward it.” But, generally, that’s actually what I mean - when I (over)use the word “love,” I’m referring to something that creates some type of nice emotional response inside of me.
It’s how we are conditioned to think about love, isn’t it? As a feeling, or as a flood of emotions When we fall in love with someone, it’s the feelings that connect us. We get caught up in what love feels like.
But what if love isn’t about feelings? Or is at least not primarily about feelings?
When Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, he’s not commanding us to go foster warm, sweet emotions toward every person we meet. That’s not possible. He’s calling us to do something else: to act.
The love that Jesus is referring to is about behavior, not emotion. Jesus is calling us to act as God has acted toward us – with mercy, kindness, compassion, and goodness. Loving our neighbor is not about feeling love toward them, but about acting on their behalf and treating them with profound God-like love. It’s a new way of looking at love.
Questions:
1. Think of a story about someone who has shown love to you by their actions. What does this tell you about who God is?
2. Who is someone you find hard to feel love toward? How might you be love to them instead?
3. What does this mean on a global scale? How do we be love to our brothers and sisters around the world? What does this mean for our discipleship and our ethics?
This week’s Bible Blog is written by Pastor Mindy Roll, the ELCA Lutheran Campus Pastor at Texas A&M and Blinn. For more information on the ELCA ministry here, see www.treehouseministries.com.
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