now you're looking for a little gace

well, look at my face

The holy Gospel according to St. Mark the 12th chapter!

As a country we’re sort of going through something of a collective hangover. Aren’t we?

We’ve all become so accustomed to equating who we are with what we accomplish and accumulate that, now that we can’t as easily, we’re all a little off our game.

We’re on edge. Easily agitated. And a little more downhearted than usual, too.

…I know this has been true for me. The closure of gyms has caused me nearly an existential crisis! Filled me with inappropriate amount of apprehension. 

Like the hoarders we’re all castigating, when I heard gyms were closing, I ran out and got pair of running shoes as quickly as I could. The first day I couldn’t go to the gym, was the day I was out there pounding the pavement. So deep is my need to equate myself with what I do.

But, right on cue, as always, I came home with a limp…

The whole reason I started going to the gym in the first place was because I’m not built for running! I always rack up a host of small but persistent injuries.

So you would think that, by now, I would know better. But, in my desperation to hold onto this version of myself as an active person, none of that mattered.

…And I can tell this story without fear of recrimination because you all have examples of your own, too. Don’t you?

We’re all in this together. None of us are exempt from the lure of justifying our existence by what we do. 

So, we all do well to remember that everyone is having a rough go of it right now. That none of us are at our best. 

And the truth is, this always the cast, not just during these days of COVID-19. Only now, it’s especially apparent as we’re all being deprived of our preferred means of proving our worth.

Which is, I suspect, what’s going on with the scribe in today’s scripture…

The original job of a scribe was to read and record official documentation. But by Jesus’ day, this job had grown beyond administrative duties. Scribes had became the sort of standard-bearers of the various life-philosophies  of their day. 

So, as you can imagine, this scribe’s question is not theoretical, “Which commandment is first of all.” The scribe really wanted to know! And in Jesus this scribe felt like they had found someone capable of answering the question once and for all. 

But, as Jesus is wont to do, he gives an unexpected reply! 

Jesus doesn’t give one commandment, but two! And, that the commandments he gives, are not commandments, per se!

“LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” And, “LOVE your neighbor as yourself,” found in Deuteronomy (6:4) and Leviticus (19:18) respectively, are non-command commandments! 

Loving the Lord your God and your neighbor are not instructions about what actions you should and should not do, they’re words about the motivators behind our actions! Love.

And the trouble with motivations is, we have little to no control over them!

Sure, you can drum up some outward action like act polite to our neighbor, but loving them? That’s another question! 

In my experience, you either love them, or you don’t. You don’t have any control of that aspect of your life.

And if you don’t believe me, just consider all the emotions you’ve experienced due to these social-distancing measures. I bet you didn’t choose to feel frustrated, anxious or discouraged. Did you? 

No, these emotions were just evoked from you! 

That how it goes with motivators like fear and love.

…Which begs the question, how do you suppose this scribe felt at Jesus’ non-command commandment?

Presumably the scribe was looking for some rule they could follow to ensure they were doing life right. Only, Jesus won’t have truck with any of that! Instead, Jesus just lifts up love. 

Love, which, as Saint Paul observes, needs no commandment. (Gal. 5:23)

Do you imagine this disappointed the scribe? Do you think their comment about offerings and sacrifices, something you could do, wasn’t so much a self-satisfied agreement as it was an unsettling admission?

After all, it’s noted that after Jesus’ deft response, “no one dared to ask him any questions.”

But, and while the details would suggest such a reading isn’t far off, I want to draw your attention to the even more shocking detail. 

What Jesus says to the scribe before everyone is cowed from asking him any more questions… 

After telling this inveterate doer that the greatest commandment isn’t anything you can do, Jesus tells them, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

Not far from the kingdom of God?!? The poor scribe has probably never felt FURTHER from God! 

As we know, being deprived of your usual method of justifying your existence is not a pleasurable experience! It doesn’t make you feel close to God, but rather, the opposite!

And yet, right at that moment, Jesus tells the scribe they’ve never been closer to the kingdom of God!

…Scribes that we are, we always think we can get closer to God by knowing and doing the right thing. But Jesus says otherwise. Jesus says God is a far-sighted God! A God who sees us best, when we feel furthest off!

The Kingdom Jesus speaks of is an upside-down kind of Kingdom! 

A kingdom whose prominent citizens are not those who could always do for themselves, but those who couldn’t help themselves! The least, little, last and lost! 

Those who, being asked to spend a few weeks a little more socially isolated than usual, put out just a little for a short amount of time, nearly have a complete breakdown!

…We spend our lives trying to figure out and do the right thing. Don’t we? Just look at all the advice out there about how to social-distancing right. 

But, Jesus comes along and says that when it comes to the Kingdom of God, rules won’t get you there! 

In fact, they’ll only hinder your way. Keep you relying on yourself, instead of Jesus and his power.

…So, you who can’t do anything but watch this video, you’ve found yourself not far from the kingdom of God in the last place you’d expect! In the presence of Jesus and his power when you’re powerless!

Because here’s the thing about Jesus and his power, it’s a strange sort of power. A power that doesn’t look powerful, but looks weak. Looks like a savior helplessly dying upon the cross!
But, in the Kingdom of God, this is ground zero!

So, when you find yourself there, when you’re most helpless, not only are you not far from the kingdom of God, you’re ready to receive the fullness of its power!

God is strongest when your weakest! God’s grace is sufficient for you! (2 Cor. 12:9

When you’re cooped up and unable get yourself to make peace with it, you’re not far from the kingdom of God! When you can’t do anything, you’re ready to do the most powerful thing the likes of us can do, simply trust Jesus to do everything! When you have to quit trying and prove you belong in the kingdom of God, you can do what Jesus taught you all along, pray for it! “Thy kingdom come!”

You are not far from the kingdom of God! And you’ve gotten there in the last way you’d expect, by doing nothing!

And I know, not being able to do all those things we’ve equated our worth with is a painful experience. It gets you to feeling far away from God. But, that means you’re right where God sees you best!

The further off you feel from God, the better God sees you!

This power is at work in you right now! Transforming the walls of your quarantine, into the gates of the Kingdom of God! Transforming your inability to do what you want and your powerlessness to have any peace with it, into the the most powerful think you can do; to call upon God!

And now, in the final, unexpected turn, something else happens, too!

What sort of emotions are you experiencing at the news that Jesus is transforming your inability to quit, into the power to call upon him? How are you feeling at the proclamation that when you call upon Jesus, he doesn’t show up wagging his finger, but delivering his kingdom?

Good, I bet. Relived, perhaps? Maybe evening swooning? Helpless to do anything other than fall in love with this sort of savior?

Jesus, by reshuffling every other commandment under the command to love, has fulfilled every commandment by his perfect love when he laid down his life for YOU! (John 15:13) But, he’s also given you the power to keep the greatest commandment. Not by doing anything, but by loving the savior who loved you first, and with an irresistible love too!

You are not far from the kingdom of God!

It’s dawning now, all around you. Transforming this moment. Making it holy. Making you holy. Revealing this moment against the backdrop of eternity. Revealing your weakness against the backdrop of God’s power. And all the while, filling you with the power of the greatest commandment fo all, the love of God!