Love is all you need?
This Beatles song summed up the philosophy of the generation that most of us grew up in. It was a hope, an aspiration for the world that we believed could be realised by turning our backs on everything that divided us, including our notions of God.
As John Lennon sang ‘Imagine there’s no heaven’. Religion for many of us represented all that was worst in human societies, bigotry, intolerance, and division, and yet at the centre of Christ’s teaching is the commandment to love God and your neighbour as yourself.
Last year the Church of England encouraged churches to study a booklet ‘Living in Love and Faith’, setting out the arguments for and against the blessing of same-sex unions in church. Opinions are sharply divided, as you will know within the Anglican church, between those who take a conservative approach and a more liberal understanding of scriptural teaching. It all depends on how you define ‘Love’
The Great Commandment
Jesus of all the great religious teachers put a priority on love above all other scriptural commandments, even the strict prohibition of working on the Sabbath. In doing so he sets a precedent for questioning all the other interpretations of scriptural teaching in the light of the commandment to love.
The challenge set by the religious lawyer was to prioritise the commandments:
“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Mark 12: 28.
This was a trap, beloved of lawyers designed to force Jesus into taking a position that would antagonise and divide. There were so many binding commandments that to prioritise one over another would lead to a heated argument.
Onr Rabbi challenged to the same test answered:
“What you hate for yourself do not do to your neighbour, that is the whole of the law, the rest is commentary” Rabbi Gamiel
Notice how Jesus’ reply differs from this:
“Hear O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Mark 12: 29
He starts with God and not the neighbour. Love, then, is to be defined not by human love but by divine love. We cannot take human love as the measure because, as Joh writes in his epistle to the Church:
‘Beloved let us love one another, for love is from God’ 1 John 4:7
Divine Love – Unity in diversity
What then is the love that defines God, the love that makes him one?
First, God’s love is a shared love, a love that embraces three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It would follow that if love is to hold us together in unity it must embrace all types and conditions of men and women.
There can be no one outside the love of God. That is why Jesus had no time for the divisions of race, culture or status. The unity in diversity of the God of love questions the basis of any discrimination either by race, gender, or sexuality.
Divine Love – Unity in Purpose
The wide embrace of God’s love is however single-minded in its purpose for it exposes the fallibility and compromises of human cultures and traditions as we see so often in the gospel accounts of Jesus' teaching and ministry.
Human love is to be defined not by the standards or laws of society but by God’s love for us. In Jesus Christ, we see God’s undivided love for us. Through his Son, he loves us with all his heart, with all his Soul, with all his mind, and with all his strength, so that he might restore a world in rebellion against its creator and at war with itself.
Divided Love?
Because Jesus defined love in this way he often came into conflict not only with the religious authorities but the Roman authorities. Mark, in this chapter, gives us three examples of the choices and challenges of loving God with the same undivided love as he loves us.
The parable of the Tenants and the Vineyard owner, speaks of rebellion against God’s love. The paying of taxes to Ceasar, speaks of loyalty to human authorities and loyalty to God. Finally, in the question about Marriage, he speaks about the difference between relationships on earth and those in heaven.
In all these situations Divine love challenges human priorities and preferences. There are times and places where we must choose between what we believe God has called us to do and the pressures of power, wealth or social acceptability.
Love your neighbour as yourself
You will notice that the second commandment is not phrased as a negative but a positive. Loving your neighbour is not about refraining from harming others, but about actively seeking their welfare, whether they be friend or foe. Whatever our differences we are to act towards our neighbour out of love.
On both sides of the argument on same-sex relationships, there is a real need to lay down personal agendas and seek the welfare of the whole Church and indeed the whole of humanity.
Love is not all you need
Love requires a definition, a direction and a distinctiveness that is Christian.
The definition of love is seen in the unity of God who is three persons embracing all in one.
The direction of love is seen in the obedience of Christ who chose to challenge the priorities, and prejudices of human societies in rebellion against God.
The distinctiveness of love requires that we love not out of selfish ambition but out of love for those who disagree with us.
The distinctive architecture of Byzantine churches illustrates these points.
They are topped by a single dome to symbolise the unity of God, Three smaller domes usually surround them to represent the diversity of the Godhead, and they are open to the sky so that the light of the Holy Spirit can shine into our hearts.
Inside there is a large communal space, without pews or chairs so that all gather together in a space shared by all.