Imagine . . . What if we did practice what we preached? What would that look like knowing that the running thread through our sacred text is love . . . Love God with all our heart, with all our strength, with all our being and love our neighbor as ourselves.
November 10, 2024
Love… It Might Just Be Crazy Enough to Change the World
“What if We Practiced What We Preached?”
Mark 12: 28-34
Rev. Dr. Heather W. McColl
Mark 12: 28-34
One of the legal experts heard their dispute and saw how well Jesus answered them. He came over and asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus replied, “The most important one is Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord,and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You will love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.”
The legal expert said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have truthfully said that God is one and there is no other besides him. And to love God with all of the heart, a full understanding, and all of one’s strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more important than all kinds of entirely burned offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered with wisdom, he said to him, “You aren’t far from God’s kingdom.” After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
What if We Practiced What We Preached? Mark 12: 28-34
Technically this was the lectionary Scripture reading for last Sunday. But I switched things around due to our All Saints Day celebration. Many have argued that this was the perfect text for us as people of faith for the Sunday before the election. For again, we see that we are a nation that is deeply divided. For again, we see that our communities, our states, our nation, our world, refuses to see beyond labels and continues to make assumptions about the other. For again, we see that the battle lines have been drawn with almost no hope of healing or wholeness. I would argue that this text which forces us to ask, “what if we practiced what we preached” is the perfect text for the Sunday after a bitter election regardless of what side we may be on. I would argue that this text is actually the perfect text for us as people of faith after the election because it forces us to face the now what questions we are all asking. After all, this text gets to the heart of the Gospel message. It gets to the heart of what we are called to do as ones who have embraced Jesus as our Lord and Savior. It implicates us and holds us all accountable. This text shows us, it reminds us that we as ones who know the Prince of Peace, we as followers of Jesus Christ, are called to love God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our being, with all our strength AND to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus tells us that there is no commandment greater than these. In other words, as Jesus’ followers, we are to practice what we preach. In other words, if we are talking about God’s transforming love and grace on Sunday morning then we need to live out God’s transforming love and grace in all things, and through all things as people of God. No ifs, ands or buts. No exceptions.
That being said, I think we can all agree that this is easier said than done. Just look at our history as the wider Church…for two thousand years, this understanding of loving God with all our heart, with all our being, with all our mind, with all our strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves has been at our core as the Body of Christ and yet…and yet we still are not getting it right. There are too many stories of people leaving the church all together because of the hurt they experienced within that space. Because of the hate expressed by the very people who proclaim God is love. Some have even said that if they needed to find a follower of Jesus Christ, the last place they would expect to find one would be in a sanctuary.
The harsh reality is that in some ways…okay in a lot of ways, we as the wider Church have done this to ourselves. We have used the word of God to belittle, to separate, to divide, to hurt, and yes to justify our fights. Ever heard of the Crusades? The Inquisition? Jim Crowe? Gender gaps? These are just to name a few incidents, wars, and divisions which we as the wider Church have done which has created generational trauma, which has set up an us vs them reality. These are just a few incidents, wars and fears which we as the Body of Christ have created, which have started, which have empowered the world’s narrative that fear is greater than love. And all these incidents, wars, and fights have shown is that we as people of faith have more trust in the structures of humanity rather than the healing work of our God.
But what if… hear me out… What if we as people of faith really did practice what we preached as people of faith? What would that look like? How would that even work? Would we even be able to put down our swords and spears and transform them into pruning hooks and plow shares, into instruments of healing and wholeness? I don’t know. And I don’t know if I am qualified to answer that question. Partly because my cynical side doesn’t think it can or will ever happen…Like I said, two thousand years we as people of faith have been preaching love and peace and we still aren’t doing it. But there is a part of me that cannot or won’t let me not answer this question, the part which for lack of a better word is my faith. The part that calls me to place my trust in God, the part which tells me, shows me, which holds me accountable to the hope that this world does not have the last world.
So I stand before you in spite of my cynical side which is often very loud, which often overwhelms and drowns out the still small voice, the part which cannot or won’t let me not dream or vision, or hope for that day when it truly does become reality, the day when we as people of faith really do practice what we preach, the day when death will be no more, when tears will be wiped away, when we embrace everyone and I do mean everyone as Beloved Children of God, that day when the Beloved Community comes to fruition here on Earth just as it is in heaven.
And for me, that is the part I am actively choosing to listen to in a time such as this. That’s the part I am choosing to cling to in a time such as this. That’s the part that I am choosing to ground myself in because it is in that part, the part which reflects hope, the part which invites me to dream, the part which holds me accountable the vision of God’s Peaceable Kingdom coming to fruition here on Earth, it is this part which gives me strength. It is this part which gives me courage, which reminds me time and time again that love and light will have the last world because ultimately it is this vision, this dream, this hope which reminds me time and time again that God is in the process, that God is at work in this world bringing healing and wholeness, that in the words of a colleague…remind us the resurrection is a literal uprising against the powers and principalities of this world, that instead of power and might, God chose the way of love to transform this world.
And because of this dream, this vision, this hope “I have decided to stick with love, because hate is too great a burden to bear”.
So now and always, I pray for strength and courage to practice what I preach. And it is my hope for all of us as well. May it be so. Amen.
See also: Theology Tuesday for November 10, 2024 – What if We Practiced What We Preached? Mark 12: 28-34.
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