Quote from Forum Archives on August 16, 2005, 8:59 am

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

GO WILD ABOUT GOD #4/5
LOVE GOD
August 14, 2005
Text: John 19:38-42

Near the end of The Passion of the Christ movie, I noticed something that
struck me as quite ironic. After their brutal treatment of Jesus - after
the beatings and the mocking - one or two soldiers are shown helping
remove Jesus’ body from the cross. I don’t know if that is factual or
not, but the movie portrayed them as taking care to treat the dead body
carefully and with respect. In his portrayal of the events, Jesus was
treated better dead than when he was alive.

I think that this image from the movie sticks with me because of my own
experience with and observation of military life. In my many travels for
military service, there are a few times when I would arrive at an airport
to discover that no one from the command was there to meet me, and I had
to find out how to get to my destination on my own. That was a real trick
when I arrived in Okinawa late at night. Sometimes I would even report in
to the command I was ordered to, only to find out that they were not
expecting me. I sometimes wonder if I could have snuck in a vacation
instead of reporting for duty!

On the other hand, if I had died in the service, the command I was
attached to would know the whereabouts of my body every step of the way
up to the burial. A command escort would be provided, and that escort
better not lose track of dead old me. It crossed my mind many a time that
the military would have taken better care of me if I were dead than
alive.

Of course, I am being a bit facetious. I was taken care of as a living
member of the military, and I hope that the jobs I did helped take care
of others, too. Still, reading these verses from John 19 reminded me of
that scene from the movie, my own facetious reflections, and last week’s
Sunday school lesson. The lesson taught about the purpose of memorial
services and our expression of grief. One of the reflection statements
from the lesson reads, “I’ve thought it was silly to speak up at a
memorial service. You should tell the person when they’re alive how much
they meant to you. If you didn’t, don’t bother now!” (Christine Dallman,
“Good Grief,” David C. Cook Bible-In-Life Comprehensive Bible Study, vol.
121 no. 4, p. 68) The statement does make a point: why wait until it’s
too late to let a person know how much he or she means to you.

In the last five verses of chapter 19, John describes the burial of
Jesus. As was customary both then and now, Jesus’ body was cared for with
honor and respect. Sadly, though, while alive Jesus was rejected and
ridiculed, tortured and killed. At least he was treated this way by some.
Even though Jesus was treated nicely after his death, this isn’t really
the message that God is teaching us. What He really wants to get across
to us is Jesus’ response to one of the teachers of the law, “Of all the
commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus’ reply from Mark
12:29-31 is this: “’The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and
with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as
yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’”

Through His Son, God lets us know that we should love God. Above anything
else, we should love God. We should love God now, not later. We are able
to love because God has made it possible. Turn to 1 John 4:10. “This is
love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an
atoning sacrifice for our sins.” For all that God has done for us by
giving us life now and forevermore, our response to Him should be love
and thanksgiving. This is the great theme of Scripture.

After he was dead, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus expressed their love
for Jesus in the preparations for his burial. Others had expressed their
love to Jesus while he was yet alive. Mary of Magdala was one of those.
In life and in death, she loved Jesus. She was one of the women who went
to the tomb on the first day of the week. She was also the first person
given the ability to recognize the risen Jesus. The narrative in John
20:15-16 tells us, “‘Woman,’ he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you
are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you
have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get
him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward him and cried out in
Aramaic, Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher).” Then in verse 17, a strange
episode occurs. “Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet
returned to my Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am
returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

This verse has puzzled scholars for centuries. There are many
explanations about the verse, but no single explanation seems to
adequately offer a complete understanding. One body of interpretation
tells us that the translation from Aramaic, which Jesus would have
spoken, to Greek, which John wrote, was not completely accurate. What
Jesus was getting across to Mary was that she could not hog all of the
time with her new-found discovery that Jesus had arisen from the tomb.
She now had a message to share, so Jesus told her to go tell his brothers
(William Barclay, “Sharing the Good News,“ The Daily Study Bible Series,
Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, CD-ROM version) Because of
the wide array of interpretations of this verse, I do not hold this up to
you as the answer, but it does have applications.

When confronted with the “greatest commandment” to love God, what does
that mean? What does it mean to love God? Certainly it means to believe.
The salvation message is embodied in verses like Acts 16:30-31 when,
after the earthquake that released Paul and Silas, the frightened jailer
came to them. “He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus - you and your
household.’” Without belief in Jesus, there is no salvation. That is the
start of love for God.

To love God also means that the second commandment follows: “Love your
neighbor as yourself.” It is with this second commandment in mind that
Jesus directs Mary to return to the disciples. They need to know that
Jesus is alive! They need to be given the opportunity to believe. John
20:18 tells us that “Mary of Magdala went to the disciples with the news:
‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things
to her.”

The reason that the Gospel writers devote so much of their work to the
“final days” of Jesus - betrayal, trial, persecution, crucifixion,
burial, and resurrection - is because this embodies the fullest measure
of God’s sacrificial love. It defines the nature of the covenant between
God and His people. Theologian Gustaf Aulé n writes, “The essential
element in the fellowship created by the events of Christ is that here
God seeks sinful man and enters into communion with him. This is the most
important characteristic of the Christian fellowship between God and
man.” (Gustaf Aulé n, The Faith of the Christian Church, Philadelphia:
Fortress Press, 1960, p. 111) The Christian perspective of God is not a
vague and undefined conception. God is revealed specifically in this
display of sacrificial love.

Because of this, we can love God. Loving God is both a command from God
and a compelling, thankful attitude prompted by our response to God’s
sacrifice. This was, in large part, the motivational drive that led Mel
Gibson to produce his re-enactment of the sacrifice in The Passion of the
Christ. I know that we can love God much more simply than by producing a
movie, but the goal was to demonstrate why we love God. This is what we
derive from the careful attention that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John gave
to this part of Jesus’ life. Recognizing the cost to procure our
salvation and celebrating the victory over sin and death inevitably lead
to a thankful, loving devotion to God for all but the hardest of hearts.
Without God’s intimate involvement in His creation, where would we be? As
a result of Peter Heck’s series One Nation Under Christ, I have reflected
a lot more about the role of the Christian faith in the founding of this
nation. In the course of corresponding with those who support secularism
about America’s Christian heritage, I have encouraged them to look to the
French Revolution to see the results of a nation established on the
philosophies of secularism. Without any of the moral and ethical
boundaries of Christianity, regardless of how poorly we sometimes embody
them ourselves, love and forgiveness are replaced by all forms of evil.
Instead of establishing a nation honoring the God-given rights of
citizens, the French Revolution, based on secularism and human
rationalism, broke down into a hedonistic and murderous “reign of
terror.” “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and
sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Those who reject God
reject love.

Praise God it does not have to be this way. God designed a better way at
creation. His creation was “very good,” to use God’s words. Accepting
God’s love resulted in divine protection and a world harmony that is
otherwise impossible. Rejecting God’s love through disobedience resulted
in quite the opposite. And this is a tension that exists right up to our
day and continue to exist until all is made right by God once more.

Until then, we are to love God. Because of the self-sacrifice of the Son,
Jesus, we can know God and love Him. We love Jesus not because he is a
dead body that we are to treat with honor and respect, but because, to
put it as simply as the Bible, he lives. Don’t let another day go by
without making that life-giving confession. The only way that we can
begin to love God is through belief in Jesus.

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN