The Heart of Christianity
What is at the heart of what it means to follow Jesus of Nazareth?
There seems to be so many conflicting visions of what it means to follow Jesus of Nazareth today.
For some, following Jesus is solely for the means of social advancement and wealth accumulation.
For others, Jesus of Nazareth is a champion for their racist aspirations and nationalistic agendas.
For yet another group, Jesus becomes a means of seizing power and control over others.
Trying to discern the truth in all this can feel like a wearisome task.
Is even the attempt to do so an exercise in futility?
Should we just concede that Christianity is just whatever the popular consensus is? Just a result of power dynamics?
Food for thought
If you had to use one word to summarize all of God’s commands in the Bible, what would you choose?
Would it be faith? Submission? Honor?
It is actually none of the above.
But what would it be then?
Love.
Love as the Greatest Commandment
In the Gospel account of Matthew, there is a story of a scribe, an expert in Jewish law, who asks Jesus about what he thinks is the greatest command in the Law.
One of the Pharisees, an expert in the law, tested Jesus with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus answers, citing the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy in the process,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ — Matthew 22:35–40
Now in the parallel account of this encounter in the Gospel of Mark, we then see the scribe’s response:
“Right, Teacher,” the scribe replied.
“You have stated correctly that God is One and there is no other but Him, and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” — Mark 12: 32–33
We then see Jesus give one of the few commendations he gives to a Pharisee, a zealous member of the Jewish religious elite, during his ministry on earth:
When Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely, He said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” — Mark 12:34
Jesus mentions the “Kingdom of God” here.
He uses this language to refer to the long anticipated Jewish hope for the living God to take charge of our broken and disordered world in a new way through his promised Messiah (i.e anointed one, King, Savior) that would result in blessing for Israel and for all peoples of the earth.
Jesus claims to be that promised Messiah!
Not merely another prophet, teacher, or angel.
But God in human flesh.
Now what is very significant here is how Jesus connects this scribe’s affirmation of his teaching on love as an indicator of his proximity to God’s Kingdom.
“You are NOT far from the Kingdom of God!”
To be in one accord with God’s plan and intentions for restoring humanity and the world from its current ruin involves committing ourselves to a radical love of God and neighbor that is empowered by the redeeming love of Jesus Christ.
Now if you are similar to me, you honestly need to see some things lived out before you can fully accept it. We have all probably encountered people who can wax eloquently about wonderful ideas, but fail to show us what that looks like in real life.
Not so with Jesus!
Love in High Definition: Jesus Christ
Jesus is the love of God embodied: the love of God became flesh.
Jesus not only powerfully teaches this summary of God’s law being love of God and love of neighbor.
He lives it out.
We see this confirmed in what Jesus tells the messengers that were sent by John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, to confirm if he was indeed the promised Messiah:
“Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is the one who does not stumble on account of me“ — Luke 7:22–23
He seeks out the kinds of people many looked down on in that time: the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the lepers, the blind, the paralyzed, the deaf.
He invites them to become part of this new family and new kingdom he was bringing.
He goes to the places no one wanted to go to in his time:
Jesus did not limit the reach of God’s love to just his fellow countrymen. He challenged a Pharisee on that very question! He refused to only live by the ethic of “love those who love you” and challenged us to much more, even loving our enemies.
Jesus practiced what he preached indeed, to the fullest.
He succeeded where all of us have failed.
Yet even this was not the epitome of the love of God.
For look!
God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. — Romans 5:8
What do we learn about the nature of this love?
It is a love that was not just sentiment or positive vibes.
It is a love that seeks to liberate us from the path of destruction that we are all inclined towards.
But what made this love so unique, was that even death truly could not stop it!
Jesus defeated death through his resurrection from the grave and offers his life and redeeming love to every human being in order to be made new and join his mission to of bringing everyone into this union , fellowship , and love between the Father and the Son.
Now there is a particular man I want to highlight who was transformed by this very divine love and took this message across villages, towns, cities across the Roman Empire, the dominant world-power of his day:
Saul of Tarsus.
Love Met Me That Day: The Story of Saul of Tarsus
Saul of Tarsus — the man who more commonly known as the Apostle Paul- was a persecutor-turned preacher of the faith.
You can read his own account of his conversion in Acts 26.
He thought he was showing fidelity to God — dare I say LOVE for God- through imprisoning and persecuting followers of Jesus of Nazareth as far as he could possibly go.
It was as he was traveling one day to the city of Damascus for the sake of persecuting Christians that changed everything for him.
The Risen Jesus appeared before him and took him off the dangerous path he was headed on to a whole new one.
The rest of his life became dedicated to knowing for himself the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge .
He sought to help all people everywhere encounter, be rescued by, and transformed by this divine love revealed in Jesus.
Even as he faced a multitude of sufferings: persecutions, shipwrecks, public whippings, stonings, betrayals, poverty, hunger, imprisonments, slander, false accusations, mob violence, threats from political rulers — he was compelled by the love of God!
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. — 2 Corinthians 5:14–15
Letters of Love to Corinth
We can find this same Paul trying to help early Christian communities in ancient Corinth of the 1st century live in the way of love established by Jesus. This was a Christian community that had all the “gifts of the Spirit”.
Prophetic utterances.
Speaking in different languages they had never previously known or studied.
Performing miracles.
Yet their communal life was full of quarrels, divisions, personality cults, bursts of anger, classism, disordered meetings, sexual immorality, and lawsuits.
Abundant in gifts of the Spirit but lacking in the fruit of the Spirit.
These Corinthian believers had lost the way.
Paul calls this chaotic community back to the most excellent way: Love.
He reminds them that the most powerful displays of faith, religion, and spirituality, if they are not accompanied by love, are pointless.
Listen to what he says:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. — 1 Corinthians 13:1–5
What could this mean for us in our own day?
- If we attend every church conference and midnight prayer session, but we have not love, we have lost our way.
- If our daily speech is abundant with many references to God and the Bible, but lacking love, we gain nothing.
- If our playlists are filled with Gospel music, but we have not love, we have missed the point.
- If we go on “mission trips” across the world, but love does not go with us , we are part of a problem.
So what does love look like lived out?
Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.’ — 1 Corinthians 13:4–7
The Heart of the Matter
Paul’s message to the Corinthians about the way of love that was established by Jesus Christ continues to be a relevant message for those who profess to follow Jesus more than 2000 years later.
Jesus did not come to be the champion or mascot for our existing greed, prejudice, racism, sexism, classism, or selfish ambitions. He did not come to baptize our greeds or Christianize our grasps at power.
He calls us to advance the Kingdom of God, which is about the reign of Jesus, the healing of the sick, good news being preached to the poor, forgiveness of sins, the lost finding their way home, and things of this nature.
God’s Kingdom is not like Caesar of Rome’s, which was built on the violent exploitation of the poor, with frequent and brutal flexing of power upon those who are seen as threats to the State, as seen in the Cross.
Our King didn’t come to be served (which was to be expected with the rulers and leaders we have come accustomed to), but rather to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.
The Apostle John, one of the first followers of Jesus and eye-witness of the Resurrection, also talks about what it means to encounter and respond to this divine Love:
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” — 1 John 4:10
“We love because he first loved us” — 1 John 4:19
“But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?”— 1 John 3:17
“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” — 1 John 4:16
At the heart of Christianity is the love of God displayed in Jesus Christ.
This is what we have to call ourselves back to.
To refer back to Paul one last time:
Let everything you do be done in love.
