The law of love: Jesus chose one, not the other (Part 3 of 3)
To conclude this three-part series, Jesus makes three things clear: a.) there are laws, b.) there is love, and c.) laws and love are not the same.
As the religious elite, the Pharisees embodied the law as The Big Deal. Their priority was to uphold the laws established so long ago by Moses.
Let me give a modern example of a law and love from Dr. Lawrence Peers, one of my seminary professors this semester. To forcibly enter a home unwelcomed is against the law. Something about breaking and entering, right?
But here’s love. What if you knew someone was in a house you cannot forcibly enter and that house is on fire? Are you going to stand still and say the law won’t let you enter? Or will your love for life override the law?
Yes, laws are in place for good, sound reasons. However, when it comes to the Mosaic laws on relationships, which is what the Pharisees were asking Jesus about, Jesus says, “let love win.”
When speaking with the Pharisees in Mark 10:11-12, scripture we’ve been covering over the past three weeks, Jesus called those who had divorced and then remarried adulterers. I believe He wasn’t speaking against divorce as much as He was speaking for marriage. Jesus was inviting the culture then—as He is inviting us today—to see love as a higher order, a blessed pursuit, and a spiritual practice. That’s right. Marriage is a spiritual practice, or should be considered as one.
Hold on. Breathe for a second.
We never get spiritual practices right all the time. That’s not the point. The essence of a spiritual practice is not to ‘get it right,’ but to keep at it day by day. When we treat marriage (and all intimate relationships) as a spiritual practice, then we are loving with intentionality, not self-gain. In love, we are not seeking a reward, badge, or medal. Instead, we are living, at least in part, as Jesus did. The Son of God was all about giving, especially when it came to love. It’s a bit of a cheesy line, but the following is true: it’s not about being right; it’s about being in a relationship.
So yeah, think about marriage as a spiritual practice. Too hard? Yes! It is far, far too challenging when you think of it as something you alone have to do. But you are not alone. You have Jesus.
When you think of what Jesus has done for you, how His love never leaves you even when you are a little less than wonderful, and He proves His love for you by His death for you on the cross, then yeah, you start to see why Jesus is ALL about marriage. He is all about marriage because it calls you (you singular AND you as a twosome) to a higher task, a higher response, and a higher call.
As I’ve said earlier in this blog series, some marriages need to end. But when we consider love over the law, most of them don’t.
As an officiating pastor at a wedding or a vowel renewal (which are totally cool, by the way), I don’t think marriages should be blessed by God; I think marriages need to be blessed by God. Why? Because we cannot do the work of marriage or significant relationships alone. We have a God to look to and lean on not now and again, but each day.
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