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That Wasn't My Intention
Joe Killian • Oct 27, 2017
Have you ever found yourself answering a simple question with a rambling tangent that totally misses the mark? I have done that more times than I can count. The look on the face of the person asking me the question usually lets me know I'm confusing them. While that is never my intention I often feel like I need to provide background and support for my eventual answer. I would have loved to see the faces of the Pharisees when Jesus answered their question in this week's Gospel:
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." Matthew 22:34-40
The leaders of Jesus' day continue to ask Him questions that are intended to trap Him. Jesus, always aware of their motivations, answers their questions in a number of ways. In this exchange, Jesus' directly answers the question about the greatest commandment but he doesn't stop there. He answers a second question of His own asking. In doing so Jesus points to love of neighbor as a way to love God. Then Jesus pulls everything together with His final statement. "The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." In this statement Jesus puts an end to the discussion.
In essence, the answer to every question is always, love God! Simple, right? Not so fast. Even though the Pharisees, as lovers of the law, would have agreed with Jesus' first answer they would have stumbled on the second. Imagine their faces. "Dang, He did it again!" They might have said. "We do love God, but our neighbors? And wait a minute we were trying to trip you up."
Isn't it interesting and wonderful how everything truly does come back to these two commandments?!? If we honestly look to our intentions we will almost always find that the deeper we look the more likely we are to find our true motivation. Is it our love of God and neighbor or are we seeking our own selfish desires? I can answer that one simply.
Love God first and neighbors second! End of discussion!
The story continues...I'm still working on the pondless waterfall in our front yard. I shared this project with you two weeks ago in Playin' In the Dirt. Since then I've had to rework sections of the stream three different times because we were losing too much water. I am now an expert on evaporation rates and excessive splash, two causes of water loss. This morning I tore the whole thing apart and I'm starting over.
Have you ever watched DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda? I stumbled across it recently and thoroughly enjoyed Jack Black's performance as a bumbling, noodle selling, kung fu enthusiast, giant panda named P o. Set in ancient China, it is more than a humorous slapstick comedy. The core message of the story jumped out at me as I have been focusing recently on the concept of being. Po is shockingly identified as the Dragon Warrior and he reluctantly enters training. The goal of the training is to receive the Dragon Scroll, which is believed to hold the secret to limitless power. Now I don't want to spoil the big reveal but I will say that what Po realizes is the same as what I speak to in the concept of being and authentic identity. So, where do we find the secret to our "power?" I praise You, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works! My very self You know. Psalm 139:14 God knows it; and we must seek Him with all of our hearts in order to find it. As it was in the movie, the answer is stunningly simple. Our authentic identity is already within us. The challenge for Po in the movie was in seeing himself accurately and not the way others saw him. Even his teacher scoffed at the idea that Po was anything more than an underachieving dreamer who overate when he was anxious. Po's problems are rooted in the fact that he believes the lie of his false identity much more than he does his authentic one. Is it possible that you do the same? Who could have imagined that beneath all of Po's girth lived the Dragon Warrior? What's hidden from view in you? Seek God for understanding as to who He created you to be. Spoiler Alert: the secret of your limitless power is already in you. God placed it there and He wants you to be who He authentically created you to be.
Maria and I have been playing in the dirt a lot recently. First we replaced our French drain and then we embarked on a creative project intended to change the entire look of our front yard. My brother Jeffrey and I installed a new front step.
