Tuesday’s Passion: Following a Reformer with a Simple Creed (Mk. 12:28-34)

Tuesday’s Passion: Following a Reformer with a Simple Creed (Mk. 12:28-34)

March 15, 2009

 

A couple of years ago, researcher David Kinnaman asked 16-to-29-year-olds what they think about Christianity.  He found that many 16-to-29-year-olds are not passionate about the Christian faith.[i]  When asked how they perceive Christianity, these young people commonly use one of four words.  Before I share these words, try to guess.  Shout out a word you think 16-to-29-year-olds use to describe Christianity….

 

Kinnaman found that young Americans use one of these four words when describing Christianity: judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned, or political.  They are not very positive words, are they?  And Kinnaman states that because of these negative perceptions, increasing numbers of young people are disinterested in Christianity. 

 

Negative perceptions of the Christian faith lead to a lack of passion for the Christian faith.  If you think Christianity is mostly about judging others, living as a hypocrite, maintaining dusty traditions, or getting the right politician elected you won’t practice Christianity passionately, if you practice it at all.

 

Our current series is called “Passion.”  Each Sunday we are exploring one day in the Passion Week, the days that run from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday.  We’ve produced a booklet to accompany the series.  It has daily readings, texts to memorize and questions to answer.  These are available at the Welcome Center.  The purpose of this series is to increase our passion for Jesus.  This morning we’ll do that by exploring our perception of Jesus.  What are Jesus and Christianity all about?  Our answer to that question has a tremendous impact on our spiritual passion.

 

Today in the Passion Week of the Gospels it is Tuesday.  On Palm Sunday Jesus entered Jerusalem as the long-awaited king.  On Monday he fought in the temple for a sacred place of prayer and a special place of belonging.  Today, Tuesday, Jesus is back at the temple.  He’s interacting with some there who are similar to the young people studied by Kinnaman.  Like them, those at the temple are disinterested in Jesus.  Jesus interacts with four of these groups or individuals.

 

Disinterested group #1 is the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders.  Here’s how Mark describes their interaction with Jesus: 27 They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28 “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”  (Mk. 11:27-28 TNIV).  They are referring to Monday when Jesus overturned over the tables in the temple.  They demand to know who gave Jesus the authority to do that.  Their religious agenda can be summarized in the word “dominance.”  When this group contemplates Jesus, they use the lens of dominance.  What’s most important to them is who gets to call the shots and who can claim divine authority.  This group believes they have dominance.  And they have no interest in following Jesus because he’s a threat to their dominance.

 

Group #2 is made of the Pharisees and Herodians: 13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”  (Mk. 12:13-15 TNIV).  The religious agenda for this group might be summarized with the word “dilemma.”  When this group contemplates Jesus, they use the lens of dilemma.  For them, religion is all about solving moral or ethical dilemmas.  Here they raise the dilemma of whether or not pious Jews should pay taxes to pagan Rome.  And they have no interest in Jesus because they don’t like how he handles these dilemma’s.

 

Group #3 is the Sadducees: Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”  (Mk. 12:18-23 TNIV)  The religious agenda for this group can be summarized in the word “doctrine.”  When this group contemplates Jesus, they use the lens of doctrine.  The doctrine explored here is the doctrine of the resurrection.  The Sadducees believed that the doctrine of resurrection was false.  Their question to Jesus is designed to demonstrate how silly resurrection is.  They want to see if Jesus agrees.  If not, they want nothing to do with him.

 

In some ways these are still lenses which people use to make judgments about Christianity.  For some, Christianity is still primarily about dominance, dilemmas, and doctrinal debates.  Some perceive that Christianity is mostly interested in getting the right people into government positions so that Christians can call the shots (dominance), or is mostly interested in presenting the right answers to moral and ethical dilemmas like abortion and homosexuality, or is mostly interested in clarifying who has the right doctrine.  And these negative perceptions lead to a great lack of passion for the Christian faith.

 

Author Michael Spencer recently wrote about this.[ii]  He predicts that within two generations, the number of people in the United States who call themselves evangelical Christians will be reduced by half.  Millions of evangelical Christians will quit their churches.  Why?  The number one reason he suggests is that evangelical churches have overemphasized the culture war and political conservatism.  In other words, evangelical Christians have come to believe that Christianity is primarily about winning the culture war of morals and winning elections.  It’s about dominance and dilemmas.  As a result, Spencer predicts, increasing numbers of people are becoming disinterested in evangelical Christianity.

 

And for some Christianity is still about winning doctrinal debates.  A friend of mine named Josh Ross once interviewed at a church.  The search committee’s top three questions were these: What do you believe about the role of women?  What do you believe about instrumental music?  What is your relationship to Mike Cope?  Above all, they wanted to know where Josh stood in the doctrinal debates about gender roles, instrumental music, and a preacher named Mike Cope.  There are some for whom doctrinal debates are the essence of Christianity.  And it can cause people to become dispassionate about Jesus.

 

What then is the Christian faith about?  Mark records a fourth interaction.  Here’s the first part of the interaction: 28 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?” (Mk. 12:28 TNIV).  There were 613 commands in the Old Testament.  This man puts Jesus to the test: what’s the most important one?  Will Jesus identify the right commandment?

 

Jesus identifies two commandments.  He quotes Deut. 6:4-5 and Lev. 19:18.   For Jesus, these two commandments summarize biblical faith.  They summarize everything about following him.  Jesus and Christianity are about these two commands.

 

In this summary, Jesus talks about the WHAT, the WHO, and the HOW.  Let’s look first at the WHAT of following Jesus.  One word appears in both commandments.  It’s the word “love.”  For Jesus, the WHAT of religious faith is “love.” 

 

We’ve already heard the other words some use to describe Christianity: judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned, political, dominance, dilemma, and doctrine.  How about you?  What one word do you use when you think of following Jesus? When it’s early in the morning and you’re trying to decide whether to get up and pray or sleep thirty more minutes, what one word comes to mind?  When you are considering whether or not to put money in the plate or volunteer to help in a ministry, what one word comes to mind? 

 

For Jesus, the word is “love.”  Stand with me and read these words out loud together: 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”  (Mk. 12:29-31 TNIV).

 

There are other elements to following Jesus.  But they are subordinate to this one: love.  Any other word you use to summarize Christianity is subordinate to this word: love.  This faith is all about love.

 

And there’s something compelling about that.  Love is something we want to be part of.  Johntell Franklin plays for the Madison High School basketball team in Milwaukee, WI.  A few weeks ago, his mother died of cancer.[iii]  Thus, Franklin was not going to play his team’s next game.  But surprisingly, midway through the second quarter, Franklin walked into the gym ready to play.  His name, however, had not been entered into the scorebook.  That meant if he stepped on the floor to compete, his team would be assessed a technical—two free throws for the opposing team.  The coaches of both teams asked the referee to make an exception.  But the referee would not budge.  Seeing the situation, one of the players on the opposing team volunteered to shoot the free throws.  Darius McNeal went to the line and the referee handed him the ball. But instead of shooting a normal free throw, McNeal shot the ball two feet in front of him. The referee picked the ball up and handed it back to McNeal.  McNeal shot the ball two feet in front of him.  The crowd gave him a standing ovation. Later, in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, McNeal said, “I did it for the guy who lost his mom. It was the right thing to do.”  There’s something compelling about love.  We want to be on a team where love is a priority.  Christianity is that team.  It’s a movement dedicated to love.

 

That’s the WHAT of the Christian faith.  But Jesus also points to the WHO.  For Jesus, the WHO of the Christian faith is God and Neighbor. 

 

Jesus’ faith has only two goals: loving God and loving neighbor.  And as Jesus makes clear in Lk. 10, your neighbor certainly includes the people who live close to you.  But a neighbor is also any person in need.  Jesus is building a community oriented around two goals: loving God and loving neighbor—any person in need. 

 

Consider love of God.  My young son Jacob has several people he loves to spend time with: Karagan, Mary Paige, Carter, and Tucker, to name a few.  But another favorite is Jack.  Jack goes to school with Jacob.  And here’s the question I get every Friday when I pick Jacob up from school: Can Jack come over and play?  Every Friday it’s the same question: Can Jack come over and play?  Usually, Jack can.  And he and Jacob laugh and swing and jump on the trampoline and chase our cat.  They love each other.  So imagine if I could tell Jacob that he was being invited to join a club—the club was called Club Jack.  And the club had one rule—spend as much time as you can with Jack.  Do you think Jacob would be excited?  Yes!  What about you?  Who is your favorite person?  Who do you love spending time with  What if you got to join a club where the main goal was to spend as much time as you could with that person, to grow in your love for and enjoyment of that person?  Would you be excited?  Yes!

 

Now, picture your favorite image or description of God.  For me, it’s the image in the parable of the prodigal son in Lk. 15.  Rembrandt painted this scene.  He captures the moment when the wayward son has returned home and the Father has welcomed him.  Rembrandt pictures the young boy kneeling before his father and the father pulling the son close to his chest.  The boy’s head is turned.  His left ear is up against his father’s chest.  And what do you think that boy hears?  He hears his father’s heart beating with love.  That’s my favorite image of God.  Do you have one?  Now imagine if someone invited you to join a club.  The primary goal of that club was this: spend as much time with the God of that image as you can.  Grow in your love for and enjoyment of the God of that image.  Would you be excited?  Yes!  For Jesus the Christian faith comes down to that very thing.  It’s just about loving God.

 

But it’s also about loving neighbor—loving any person in need.  Brian Hoover is a Highland member.  For the past few weeks he’s been befriending one of the security guards who patrols our parking lots.  Brian’s been spending time with him.  On Super Bowl Sunday Brian had the security guard to his house to watch the game and eat together.

 

Mike Howell is another Highland member.  Last summer he announced to his Sunday School class that a customer of his was very sick.  The customer’s name was Tim.  Tim and his wife Linda had no family here.  So Mike’s Sunday School class took food over to Tim and Linda.  They loved on them.  And Tim and Linda were so grateful.

 

Donnie and Bethany Stover are Highland members—Donnie is one of our youth ministers.  He and Bethany have reached out to and befriended their neighbors.  Several times Bethany has volunteered to baby sit for the couple just to help them out. 

 

Aren’t those wonderful examples?  What if you had the opportunity to belong to an organization whose primary purpose was doing those kinds of things?  Would you be excited?  Yes!  For Jesus, the Christian faith comes down that very thing.  It’s all about loving neighbor.

 

That’s the WHAT and the WHO of following Jesus.  But there is one more element: the HOW.  If the WHAT is love, and the WHO is God and neighbor, then the HOW is one word: completely.  Jesus says that God’s interested in a movement of people who will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  And, God’s interested in a movement of people who will love their neighbor as yourself.  Both descriptions mean the same thing: love completely.

 

I went to school with Glenn and Leah from Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade.  And for about half of those years, Glenn was in love with Leah.  But for many reasons, for the longest time they didn’t date.  Leah was popular and the object of many boys’ attention.  I think Glenn just didn’t think he could compete.  But finally for our senior prom, Glenn asked Leah and she accepted.  It was the fulfillment of years of waiting.  And Glenn went all out for that date.  He rented one of the best tuxes.  He purchased one of the most beautiful corsages.  And he treated Leah like a queen.  He threw himself into that date.  And that’s what Christianity is all about.  It’s about finally finding that love we’ve waited for all our loves.  It’s about throwing everything we have into that relationship—heart, soul, mind, and strength.

 

And, it’s about throwing everything we have into loving our neighbor.  Henri Nowen illustrates:[iv] One of the most vivid memories from my youth is connected with a little goat given to me by my father to care for during the last year of the Second World War. The goat’s name was Walter. I was thirteen years old then, and we lived in a part of Holland that was isolated by the great rivers from the D-Day armies. People were dying of hunger.  I loved my little goat. I spent hours collecting acorns for him, taking him on long walks, and playfully fighting with him, pushing him where his two horns were growing. I carried him in my arms, built a pen for him in the garage, and gave him a little wooden wagon to pull. As soon as I woke up in the morning, I fed him, and as soon as I returned from school I fed him again, cleaned his pen, and talked to him about all sorts of things. Indeed, my goat Walter and I were the best of friends.  One day, early in the morning when I entered the garage, I found the pen empty. Walter had been stolen. I don’t remember ever having cried so vehemently and so long. I sobbed and screamed from grief. My father and mother hardly knew how to console me. It was the first time that I learned about love and loss.  Years later, when the war was over and we had enough food again, my father told me that our gardener had taken Walter and fed him to his family who had nothing left to eat. My father knew it was the gardener, but he never confronted him—even though he saw my grief. I now realize that both Walter and my father taught me something about compassion.  That’s the kind of complete and painful love of others which Christianity is all about. 

 

My purpose this morning is simple.  Often negative perceptions about the Christian faith lead us to be less than passionate about following Jesus.  But Christianity is not simply about being judgmental, hypocritical, old-fashioned or political.  It’s not simply about dominance, dilemmas or doctrinal debates.  What is it about?  It’s about love.  Simply love.  Who is it about?  It’s about God and neighbor—any person in need.  And how does it express itself?  We love God and neighbor completely.  That’s what it means to follow Jesus.  Let’s put down all of our other ways of looking at this thing called Christianity.  And let’s just spend this week loving God and loving neighbor.  I think you’ll find it an exciting way to live.