How Franklin moves forward, together: the Law of Love, Romans 13:10

Franklin PA from above, the 13th St. bridge to the right, and the 8th St. to the left.

It was a tumultuous week here in Franklin, things got real nuts online on Tuesday, it rose to a crescendo on Wednesday and then started to calm down, thankfully with things being peaceful on Saturday.  For those of you who missed it, a social media post by St. Patrick Parish regarding yesterday's downtown business fundraiser, the "Witch Walk", set off a furor of liking/hating, sharing, and increasingly nasty comments online.  That was Tuesday.  On Wednesday afternoon I posted this: What the furor over the Witch Walk in Franklin can teach us about Christian cultural engagement, it was well received (thank you all for the civility and kind words), and I followed it up on Friday with this: An observation about social media comment sections in light of the Witch Walk furor, and this: Light vs Darkness and the reason why Christians should be perpetual optimists.

This morning, Sunday, I just finished doing what I always do which is review my sermon one last time and make any necessary corrections or changes (typically they involve fixing my horrible penmanship so at least I can read my scratches).  I thought I'd share with you what I wrote about Romans 13:10, words that feel providentially appropriate to our community moving forward (for those who prefer the video version, the whole sermon on Romans 13:8b-10 will be available on this blog and YouTube on Tuesday):

10 Love does no harm to a neighbor.  Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Here is where the Apostle Paul gives a glimpse, "behind the curtain" if you will, at the principle upon which God built the Law of Moses and all prior and subsequent expressions of his will to mankind, such as this letter from Paul.  That principle is of course love.  Love for God, love for family, neighbors, and as Jesus expanded the idea, even love for our enemies, is the beating heart of the commands we've received from God.

This tells us a few things, among them: (1) God's commands are not arbitrary, purposeless, or pointless.  They have a rhyme and a reason, and it is love.

(2) Therefore, when God's commands are portrayed by his people in ways that are not love-based, or carried out by his people in ways that are not love-infused, we do a grave dis-service to God.

(3) When we come to an issue or topic about which God has made no law, or where our information from God seems to be difficult to apply to the present circumstances, our path forward is to say, "What does love have to say on the subject?"

(4) Which is why some efforts of God's people, individually or collectively, are doomed to fail because they're not built upon love.  Whatever the other motivations and methods used might be, they won't connect to the heart of God if they are not build upon love, and they, of course, will actively oppose the will of God if those motives and methods consist of hate.

Now, some will say, "That's fine on paper, but this is the real world, we need to fight fire with fire!"  No, no, no, a thousand times no.  As cool as Batman may be, we don't need a Dark Knight to advance the cause of Christ.  While it is absolutely true that methods that utilize anger, greed, lust, or pride may make a bigger splash, get more clicks, have higher ratings, draw bigger crowds, or achieve more sales, they will never have lasting impact for good because they cannot.  Why?  Because they go against the nature of God himself!  God is love, the only way to truly advance the Kingdom of God is through love.  It is far better to "lose" in this life through love, than to "win" in this life through anything else.

Thor: Love and Thunder - A scathing and accurate dismissal of Paganism's anthropomorphic gods

 

* This is a spoiler free commentary *

The villain of the newest Marvel movie, Thor: Love and Thunder is Gorr the God Butcher, a mortal played by Christian Bale.  Through events that the movie makes crystal clear, Gorr has grievances with one particular god that he then is intent upon generalizing as he begins the process that earns him his nickname.

The indictment of Gorr against his particular god, and then all such similar gods, is thoroughly believable and just.  It is, in fact, the exact complaint that could have been levied in the Ancient World against any of the gods of Paganism whether they be Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, or any other besides that of the Jews.  Why?  For a very simple and very powerful reason: All such gods with the exception of Yahweh who revealed himself to Abraham, were anthropomorphic.

An anthropomorphic god is made in the image of humanity, that's a problem.

The gods of Ancient Paganism were immortal and powerful, but beyond these qualities they were just like you and me.  They experienced greed, lust, rage, petty jealousy, pride, and a the whole range of human sinfulness.  They were just like us, but bigger (often with bigger, more spectacular, sins too).  They could be grossly evil when it suited them.

Which leads to a problem we can see from a mile away: Immortal powerful beings like us are NOT worthy of worship or devotion.  In fact, such a being would be a menace to be feared, not a Father to be loved.  Imagine the harm that any human being would do with immortality and god-like power.

The actions taken by Gorr in response are their own moral question, but his anger and disappointment are not only justified, but inevitable because his god is just like he is.

The God of Abraham made us in his image, not the other way around

In contrast, the God that you meet when reading the Bible deviates significantly and consistently from human nature.  We change, he does not.  We are tempted toward selfishness, he is not.  We would make use of evil if we thought it would benefit us (or our causes), he would not.  As the Scriptures unfold, the God who will reveal himself as Father and eventually send his Son to save the world and his Spirit to guide his people, persists in love, compassion, mercy, and justice.

God calls us to be like him, to discard our fallen human nature with its vices, and by faith embrace his nature and actually be transformed to be more like him (aiming at ultimate full Christ-likeness).

Does God answer every prayer, are his people always happy with him and his decisions?  No, and the Bible doesn't shy away from these hard truths, offering us the book of Job to contemplate and Ecclesiastes to ponder, but the nature of God: pure and holy, right and just, loving and merciful is what endures through the ages.  

The Jews had a God unlike any of their neighbors.  When the Apostle Paul and his generation of Jesus' disciples brought that God to peoples who had only known petty and cruel gods, their enthusiastic willingness to abandon their gods made in their image, and embrace the God who made us in his, makes a whole lot of sense.