A Whole-Life Love
Lent 4 – Narrative Lectionary 2
March 6, 2016
Grace, Mankato, MN
Mark 12.28-44
A few months ago I submitted to having a routine medical procedure, one that is pretty intrusive and involves nasty preparation. Nothing serious was found, just enough to ensure I’ll have the pleasure of doing it all again in another five years. Even so, we don’t like a doctor probing the darkest recesses of our bodies, looking for something we hope she doesn’t find and really don’t want to think about. It seems that Lent can take on the character of a spiritual medical procedure as it looks into dark corners of our soul. We’re sure we don’t want God going there and we’re pretty sure we won’t like what God finds.
In our reading today, Jesus has this amazing exchange with a scribe, a religious leader and teacher of the law, similar to a seminary professor of our day. The exchange is actually quite cordial and pretty typical, really, for the time. Jesus’ answer to this ongoing debate about Jewish legal priorities resonates with the scribe. So, Jesus commends the legal beagle, telling him that he is not far from the kingdom of God. With these words, we start to feel the cold probe in our own hearts, wondering how far we are from the kingdom. Then, when he berates other scribes for devouring the widows’ houses and points out the all-in widow, we break out in a spiritual sweat.
Today we see again the benefit of the Narrative Lectionary, which takes not only takes us through the Jesus story as it is told, but also puts texts together that we often treat separately. Such is the case today. The context is important. Jesus is in Jerusalem, teaching in the temple and as the tension is rising, he is clearly on his way to betrayal, beating, crucifixion and death. Until this week, I had never thought about the relationship between the greatest commandments and the story of the widow who gives everything. As I did so, I was led to think about both the pervasiveness and the intrusiveness of God’s love.
My sense of spiritual dis-ease was heightened when I saw a quote from Miroslav Volf show up on my Facebook feed: “If you don’t believe that God ought to be loved above all things, what you believe in isn’t God.” That quote and conversation with some colleagues, helped me realize something both wonderful and disturbing about God’s love: there is no place in our lives that God’s love doesn’t matter. And there is no place in our lives where our love of God doesn’t matter. God’s love touches everything.
That means that every part of who I am is touched by God and God’s love: heart, mind, soul, and hands. And it means that everything I do should somehow reflect my love of God as well. As I underwent this spiritual probing, I had to admit it wasn’t pretty: I remembered those times when I felt like the widow. However, I had to admit that most of those times I was giving out of my poverty wasn’t done out of love of God; it was out of grudging obligation. And I have to admit that even now as I give cheerfully, many times it is because of God’s abundance rather than love of God. To make today’s lesson even more relevant, I am also reminded that Pope Francis is close to the kingdom when he says that anyone building walls is not living out God’s love.
Now, I don’t think Jesus is telling us to give everything as the widow did. It may be true for some of us, but I don’t think Jesus requires it from all of us. In fact, I’m even wondering if Jesus is praising her or lamenting that her livelihood is being devoured by those who have spiritual cancer. Either way, I think that, like a good doctor, Jesus is inviting us into this kind of spiritual examination. This is not to beat us up but rather, invite us to a way of life that involves the kind of deep love engulfing our whole life.
The good news is that God’s love is poured out in, with and through us in a way that brings new life. As you continue this journey with Jesus to the cross, where all of your ugliness is crucified, may you know the overpowering, overwhelming love of God that makes this whole-life loving possible. Amen.
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