Reflection on Matthew 22:34-46

 

Love always comes first; it is the most important thing.

I mean it, and so does Jesus.  Love always comes first; it is most important thing.

Oh, people will try to convince you otherwise.  People will try to convince you that having a good life requires that you do something first.  People will try to convince you that gaining God’s good favor requires that you do something first.  “God helps those who help themselves” is a phrase that is not in the Bible, but tons of people wish that is was.  It is a phrase that tries to convince you that effort on your part will make all the difference.  It says, “Stop being sinful and I will love you.”  “Fix yourself, and I will care.”  “Make yourself a better person, and I will consider spending time with you.”  These all sound like really rotten lines coming out of the mouths of really bad boyfriends.  “Work on yourself and maybe I will give you attention.”

But, for Jesus, love always comes first; it is the most important thing.

This reminds me of a story from the gospel of John.  It goes like this: 

While Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

(John 8:1-11).

Certainly you know this story very well.  It is a much loved story from the Bible.  But, have you ever noticed that nothing is required of the woman caught in adultery in order for Jesus to care about her and save her from a fate of rocky blows?  Jesus has not even spoken to the woman.  Yet, Jesus loves her first.  Jesus cares about and saves her first.  Loving first is the most important thing for Jesus.  Only after Jesus shows her love does he instruct the woman to not sin again.  Instruction is important, but never forget that, for Jesus, love always comes first; it is the most important thing.

In fact, when asked by lawyer what the most important commandment is out of all that Moses instructed, Jesus’ answer is love.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).

For Jesus, love always comes first; it is the most important thing.

I do not know why this is such a hard idea to get through our heads, but as you read through the gospels you will see that Jesus was constantly challenged on this idea.  Earlier in Matthew’s gospel we learn that Jesus 

…entered [a] synagogue; a man was there with a withered hand, and [some Pharisees] asked him, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?” so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other. 

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

(Matthew 12:9-14)

For Jesus, love always comes first.  Just as you would love an animal and save it from a pit no matter if it is the Sabbath day or not, so too is it right to show love on the Sabbath to someone who needs healing.  Love always comes first.  The rules always come second and they never get to overshadow or overtake the importance of love first.

There is another story in the scriptures.  It is a story about some guys who really loved their friend who could not walk.  These friends heard about Jesus.  Trusting that Jesus would be able to do something for their friend, they brought the paralyzed man laying on a bed.  We pick up the story as given by the Bible: 

When Jesus saw [the friend’s] faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he then said to the paralytic—’stand up, take your bed and go to your home.” And he stood up and went to his home. When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.

(Matthew 9:2-8)

There is a lot going on in this story, but what I want you to notice is that the paralyzed man did nothing to earn the attention of Jesus.  He did not walk there, obviously.  He did not ask to be healed.  He did not ask that his sins be forgiven.  He had done nothing to earn any sort of favor from Jesus.  But, he did not have to.  For Jesus, love always comes first; it is the most important thing.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Jesus states that these are the most important instructions given by God.

Do you know what I love about the story of that paralyzed man?  I love the fact that the paralyzed man’s friends were doing the very thing that Jesus teaches.  They loved their friend.  They showed love to their neighbor, who needed healing.  They were literally carrying him to Jesus.  Wow.  If only we could be carried to Jesus whenever we were unable to get up and go.  If only we had such love-filled friends, who would have faith and carry us whenever we just cannot make it happen ourselves.

As you might have already noticed, in the Bible, love is more than just a good, warm feeling that we get, making us feel all toasty inside.  Love is always an action.  Love is these men carrying someone in desperate need to Jesus for healing. 

Their love is the same as God’s love which also does something.  God’s love creates good out of chaos in the beginning of creation; it frees people from bondage in Egypt; it heals the blind; and it forgives those who are not worthy of being forgiven.  Jesus’ love climbs up onto a cross so that the world might be saved and be brought to new life through his love.  Love is an action, and love always comes first.  It is the most important thing.

And, so we hold it up as the most important thing.  We put our trust in the Lord who has made loving us his top priority.  And, because we are his top priority, he is our top priority. 

Being grasped by the love of Jesus changes you.  It really does.  It makes us look at the world with eyes of love rather than eyes of expectation.  It makes us look with eyes that love the Lord our God with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and eyes that love our neighbors.  It makes us a people with the heart, hands, and feet of love.

And there is nothing wrong with that because, for Jesus, love always comes first; it is the most important thing.