“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Jesus of Nazareth

Religion is complicated. Jesus isn’t.

Satan has an ear-to-ear smirk as he adds dose after dose of complexity to God followers. Complexity is the ingredient that takes my attention from Jesus and causes me to focus on the peripheral.

Complexity makes great religion.

Not long ago, I overheard an elderly brother telling a younger Christian about holding Bible studies. He exclaimed, “When I was younger my first Bible study was with a Baptist. He nailed me to the wall. I returned home and studied and the next time we got together, I skinned him alive.”

Wow, what a wonderful example of Christian love and respect—not!

Both the nailing and the skinning were generated by complexity.

I don’t remember one time finding in the gospels the admonition to be a debater. I lost count of the times Professor Gerald Kendrick told our class, “The Bible is not a debater’s handbook.”

Jesus never debated those with pure hearts. He never debated His followers.

I see a Jesus who encouraged Martha to relax her “it ain’t fair,” muscle that stretched out of place over her sister’s lack of help in the kitchen. Mary was getting to know the Messiah. Jesus didn’t cite one proof text to her.

What Martha needed was a reminder to love her Lord God with all of her soul and mind.

All of my life I heard the expression of “missing the forest for the trees.”  Ok, I get the point. If I concentrate only on the pine tree, I will fail to see it is a part of the greater eco system.

I can do the reverse with my Bible. I can look for ways to prove others wrong. I can read and study its 66 books—spending all of my time above the canopy and fail to realize the centrality of its message.

Matthew remembers a day when religious people were giving Jesus a bad time. Chapter 22 of his book begins with Jesus telling a confusing story of a banquet. A King invites the elite to a wedding banquet for his son.

The potential party crowd not only turns down the royal invitation, they also kill the messengers. In return, the king wipes out their city. Then he invites the rift-raft of his kingdom to enjoy the banquet. A man shows up without party clothes and is tied-up and thrown in jail.

It sounded as if Jesus directed the story at the churchgoers of Palestine.  In their discomfort, the religious people took a shot at putting Jesus in His place with a series of three trick questions.

To the third question, Jesus slices through the fog of misguided religion.

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And, the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

If my fellow Christ-followers and I would take to heart His answer, the church on earth would experience increased unity.

It seems to me like the way we now act—we are missing on earth a lot of what we will be enjoying in heaven.

Is it possible you and I could create a bit more of heaven right here on earth?

Stay tuned.

Gary J. Sorrells – Reflecting on Cross Church.

http://www.GodReflection.org