What About Love?
The foundation of all else.
It would be really hard to overstate the importance of the fruit of the Spirit that is love. Even so, it’s very easy to misstate or misrepresent it. But it can’t be overstated. It’s no mistake that Paul lists love first. Actually, love isn’t the first in a list. It’s the overarching, foundational fruit over and undergirding the rest. Paul makes this clear here in Galatians and throughout his writings, not the least of which is 1 Corinthians 13 (…but the greatest of these is love.).
But Paul only does this because Jesus did first. The passage before us today is foundational. We only have three days to cover love as a fruit. We could - and should - spend a lifetime defining it. It is the call. And it’s not as the world knows it, at least not completely. Christ’s love is a particular one - sacrificial, giving, emptying, fulfilling, outward but not to the detriment of the self, all-encompassing, empowering - and so much more.
This conversation in Mark between a legal expert and Jesus is a bit of a unicorn, as they say. Jesus and the teacher of the law agree for once here. That is something!
But maybe it’s not, because the foundation of the law - the foundation of everything, actually - is indeed love. This is an elective basis of action toward God and all people. (Indeed, the case can be made as toward all of creation.)
Advent’s fourth Sunday concludes with the theme of love. When I was a pastor, there were years when I thought this was backwards. But I get it. Hope should indeed come first in light of the historical placement of Advent and the waiting of the Messiah in the first place. But the risk of listing love among all these other (great) things - hope, peace, joy for Advent and faithfulness, gentleness, kindness for the fruit of the Spirit - is that it seems like it stands side by side with them.
But it does not.
In the Kingdom, love is supreme.
What is joy but love rejoicing? What is peace but love settling in? What is patience but love enduring? What is goodness but a moral foundation of love? What is faithfulness but the fidelity to love? What is kindness but love expressed?
Love, then, is not merely one fruit among many, but the soil from which all the others grow. To receive love is to be reoriented at the deepest level of our being, and to live it is to allow that reorientation to shape every action, posture, and decision. This is why Jesus can say that everything hangs on it. Advent reminds us that love does not remain an idea or a command; it comes near, takes on flesh, and dwells among us. And if that love has truly taken root in us, it will not remain hidden. It will bear fruit again and again in lives shaped by the Spirit and turned outward for the sake of the world God so loves.
Blessed fourth Sunday of Advent to you.
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.
Prayer
God,
You gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.
Holy Father of all creation, we see your loving justice in Jesus of Nazareth. By your Spirit, make us more like him.
Amen.
I cheated a bit on today’s song, which dropped last night. It includes a hymn that is decidedly not perceived as an Advent or Christmas hymn. But goodness, does it fit for the fruit of love. So I paired it with a bit of a lesser-known Christmas song - Love Came Down at Christmas Time. Sometimes the title is a picture enough! The second song I’ve paired it with has long been my favorite hymn to play on the piano - My Jesus, I Love Thee. It is a beautiful and decisive testimony toward the love of Christ. I pray that comes through as you listen.