Mk 12:28-34 Missing Link!

Mk 12:28-34  Missing Link!

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One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”  Jesus replied, “The first is this:  Hear, O Israel!  The Lord our God is Lord alone!  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  The second is this:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no other commandment greater than these.”

There are some who deny original sin because they deny free will.  They deny it so that they can deny their sins.  They say, “This is who man is.” or “This is what men do.”  But then they go on to say that we’ve made so much progress over the centuries.  Look at what we have become!  But if we’ve made ‘progress’, doesn’t that imply we started from ground zero or better yet, from a negative?  And how would anyone know it was “progress”? Instead of progressing, maybe we’ve been regressing?  

Without a Standard, it would be impossible to know if we are actually going up or falling down.  Without the Sun, it wouldn’t make much sense to talk about night and day.  

I think the doctrine of the Fall of Man is obvious, very obvious.  It is made obvious by the way we speak about one another.  I have never heard someone complain at Sea World that a whale was not “whaley” enough.  I have never seen a bird that did not act like a bird.  But I have often heard others say, “This man is not ‘manly’ enough.”  Why?  What’s missing?  I think it’s pretty clear.  There’s a link that is missing between God and man and man with man.

You shall love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself.  We will always be at war with one another until we find peace with God.  We will always be “too manly” or not “manly enough” until we find ourselves united to the Son of Man.  There will always be saints and sinners; saints that have found the right stuff and sinners that come close but that are either “too manly” or not “manly enough”. 

Teach me your ways, O Lord (Ps. 25:4). Christ is The Missing Link that connects God to Man and Man to his brother and sister.  He sets everything right after we made everything wrong.  He gave us the standard:  Love God above all things, and love your neighbor as yourself.  He taught us the way:  Make yourself last and you shall be first.  Imitate me.

A few days ago I received an e-mail from a friend of mine who has four young boys.  I know his boys.  I know his family.  He and his wife will be saints one day!  This is what he wrote.

“Two weeks ago I lost a Mont Blanc pen, and last week my Bluetooth earpiece.  We have been searching for days without luck.  I offered a reward of $40 for the pair.  Tonight at dinner one of my boys suggested praying to St. Anthony, which I did.  Within two hours, both items were found in the course of normal activity!  Even better, when I offered him the $40 for his help, he took $5, and suggested I put the rest in the offering plate on Sunday!  Knock me over with a feather!”

To search for the pen, find it and take the money and run would have been the “too manly” thing to do.  To give up without searching would have been the “not so manly” thing to do.  To pray and search would have been the manly thing to do.  But to pray, seek and find the missing pen and lose the money was the greatest thing anyone could do.  It is the “God-man” thing to do.

Meghan Vogel had just won the race of her life.  She was the 1600 meter state champion, the first girl from West Liberty Salem to win a track title in more than 20 years.  But Meghan Vogel will not be remembered for the race she won; instead, she will be remembered for the race she finished in last place. 

Immediately after her stunning victory, Meghan had to race again.  Exhausted, she was just trying to finish the race.  As she was coming around the turn, with 100 meters left, she saw another runner, about 50 meters in front of her, fall to the ground.  Her opponent was done, finished, toast.  But what Meghan did next surprised the hell out of everyone.  To have ignored the girl on the ground and just run past her would have been the obvious thing to do; the “too manly” thing to do [Survival of the fittest, remember?].  To pick her up would have been the “not so manly” thing to do [It’s a race not a dance].  But to pick her up and let her cross the finish line before you, well…that can only be one thing:  the “God-man” thing to do.  And that’s exactly what she did. 

The local newspaper got it right: “Runner victorious by finishing last.”

Christ is our missing link.  He came to connect himself to us; the first with the last, so that the last could be first.  Have you accepted Him?  You don’t need to go out and search for Him.  He is not lost.  We are lost without Him!  It is not we who found Christ; it is Christ who found us. He picked us up while we dragged Him.  He carried us while we crucified Him.  He saved us when we killed Him.  His Cross forever connects Heaven to Earth and God to man.  He nailed himself to us.  He is at the center of our lives.  And this relationship will endure until the end of the world; until there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1).  

To love someone means to link yourself to them.  The way Christ loves us is the same way we love another:  by holding them in our arms.