Mark 12:28-34 - And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall 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: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Soon after Tori and I got engaged, she began planning the big day, and I of course began planning the honeymoon. I was going to find the perfect place - we got married in January - so it was going to be somewhere warm and tropical. I probably spent way too much time researching all over the internet for the perfect spot. I knew with all that effort, I’d find something incredible.

We still hadn’t decided and Tori was visiting me in D.C. for a weekend. She was casually scrolling through instagram and came across a travel blog, highlighting this beautiful eco-lodge in Costa Rica, and she immediately got excited about it - and began her sales pitch to me. I was frustrated because in just over 2 min, she had found ‘perfect place’ while I tried searching for it for weeks. Later that day, we booked it - because I had to keep my fiancé happy!

Fast forward to our honeymoon. I’m still bitter about the choice, it was pretty and all, but I was skeptical. Tori was thrilled, and I was supposed to just be supportive. However, I was grumpy, I mean our whole first day, I was asking questions about the food, our room, the location, and wondering if it was all that great. She of course, was upset with this response and was quite impatient.

By the end of the honeymoon, it was safe to say that a week in Costa Rica was amazing. The place was incredible and the company even better. That’s just a small glimpse into marriage, so far. I have failed in loving Tori more times than I can count. This was just one. It’s fair to say that I suck at love.

Last week, I shared the main idea of the Christian story - redemption. Also, I said that Jesus was the main character in the story. Then, perhaps the theme, subject, or motif of the christian story is that of love. I shared that God begins with love as our text highlighted. He created the world in love, sought the world in love through His promises and covenants even when people turned on Him, then in his great love he sent his son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for us. Believing in Jesus would rescue us from sin and death. That brought us to the next part of the story, eternal life. I shared that eternal life could be found here and now. That God has saved us, not from this world but for this world. All of this can be summed up in Jesus' invitation to the Kingdom of God.

I mentioned that this semester we’re going to discover what the Kingdom of God means for you, me and the University of Richmond.

In our hope, the very first word I read was partake. Shuffled around, meaning ‘take part’. My question for you all this evening is, how do we take part in God’s Kingdom? If Jesus is inviting us, how do we partake? Maybe you’re immediately like, Tee - you gotta read scripture, evangelize, pray, start a ministry, change the world etc.

That’s not what I’m asking. Let me reframe it. How are we going to even be able to partake in God’s Kingdom? That’s got to begin with love. The theme, subject, motif of the christian story. Which brings us to our text tonight.

Let’s summarize what happens first. Jesus is approached by a scribe or religious leader, who asks, what the greatest commandment of all the Jewish law was. Not just a good one, the best one.

Quick story! - my grandmother has 16 grandchildren. She really does not like when we ask her who her favorite is. She usually says, you all are! Then in my head, because I’m the oldest, think, well then I’ve been her favorite the longest!

Anyway, the scribe is putting the same pressure on Jesus. AND there aren’t just 16 laws to choose from. There are 613! In response, Jesus goes on to share two ‘love laws’. He purposely puts loving God first and then includes loving our neighbor. This is what many of know as the ‘greatest commandment’ passage or the ‘summary of the law’. The scribe answers, ‘you’re right!’

Like Jesus needed to be told he was right…

But, instead of chiding him for his pretentious response, Jesus says to the scribe, ‘you’re not far from the kingdom of God’...

What does this mean? In order to even be able to partake in God’s Kingdom, we have to begin with love. We’ll learn that from this passage in three points. First, we have a limited capacity to love. Second, in Jesus, we gain the capacity to love. Third, in response, we’ll love God and love our neighbor.

First, we have a limited capacity to love. Here’s the harsh reality - you and I - we suck at love. In our sin and our brokenness, we are limited in our capacity to love. Like I shared in my story, I suck at loving Tori. We learned this week on campus that humans can suck at love. In fact, sometimes we can suck at love so much that it delves into hate. Our track record with love goes way back. In the christian story, we chose to love ourselves, instead of loving God and others, over and over again. That’s why these ‘love laws’ were written in the first place. Man was limited in his ability to love, so God offered some instruction. He offered the law which gave directions on how to love. Yet we know, instructions are not enough. We can all think of plenty of examples of how we are limited in love. Just ask a friend, a family member to be brutally honest with you or just look around you.

We do suck at love, but we can find hope because…

Second, in Jesus, we gain the capacity to love. 1 John 4:10 - shares with us - “this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us”. Once we’ve recognized our limited capacity to love, we can come to our saviour Jesus and gain the capacity to love. This is good news. In John 15, Jesus tells us that ‘apart from him you can do nothing’ Or in this context, ‘ we cannot love without Christ’. We need to abide in him in order to love.

Third, in response, we’ll love God and love our neighbor. Not only will we respond by loving God and loving our neighbor. He commands us to. But now that we have the capacity. The law can be upheld! I think the most difficult part of this is the how. What does this look like? When we’re given the capacity to love God and others, what do we do with it?

First, loving God. It says to love Him with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, ALL your mind, ALL your strength. This must be an action of full surrender to God. That’s what loving God looks like. This is kind of weird, but in Anglicanism, when you become ordained, or become a priest, you lay prostrate on the ground, symbolizing an ancient Jewish practice of complete and surrendered worship to God. This commandment is signifying that our love of God is done with our whole self. Not just our mind and being a perfect theologian and not just our heart and being a great, compassionate Christian. It’s our heart, soul, mind and strength. So pursue a richer knowledge of scripture, tender your heart & grow in compassion, and go for a run! These are all embodying the love of God.

Second, loving others. Or the golden rule stated. Love your neighbor as yourself. Loving others does not mean saving the world by starting a non-profit or giving all your money away. At least not always. It’s as simple as admiring the basic necessities in front of you enough to give some away too! You enjoy having friends, be a friend to someone else too! You took yourself out for coffee, buy a cup for the guy behind you!

Our response, when Christ has given us the capacity to love is this - to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.

Now, you might be thinking Tee, I loved this last point about loving God and others. Awesome stuff. However, I don’t see the first two points you mentioned. The part about sucking at love or needing Jesus for that. Why don’t we move forward with doing it on our own. Just tell me how I can love God and others better. This is a very very deceptive temptation. Here’s the lie - if we can love better, if we can love more, then we’ll be all good. We’ll be right with God and with others. We just love them better. The word for that is legalism.

You and I can’t do this, we have a limited capacity to love. Friends, dear brothers and sisters. There’s hope. In receiving Christ’s salvation we gain the capacity to love! Though we may be tempted to love in our own power, we can take our incapacity, our weakness to Jesus, where we’ll find the love we need. Then and only then, will we respond in love for God and neighbor. So, what happens then? We’re able to partake (!) in the Kingdom of God. When our love of God and neighbor spreads everywhere. In our dorms, our classrooms, our fraternity, our workplace, our homes, our WHOLE lives - then and only then will creation begin to renew. Then, ultimately, when Jesus returns - we will fully and beautifully experience the riches of eternal life here on this earth.

Let’s pray.

*Open your hands* - “Lord we are empty, we are weak and have a limited capacity to love you and others. So Father, we come as your children, asking boldly, will you fill us with your love? That we may obey your great commandment, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.