Radical

Matthew 22:33 - And when the crowd heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

Many of us who grew up in church have become so familiar with Jesus' teachings we take them for granted. We forget how radical they were for his time. Heck, some of them are still radical. He wasn't some meek and mild teacher who unquestionably obeyed the rules and asks us to do the same. No. Jesus was radical. It is so easy to forget that. Many of us would like to tame God, to think we know him and there is nothing more to learn. God wants to astonish us with his creativity, her love, their joy.

Jesus continually calls us to question what we've been taught or told. He continually told parables with deeper, hidden meanings that he wanted his audience and us to discover for ourselves. Jesus was Jewish, a subject of Israel, which means one who struggles with God. Or, in this case, God's teaching. Jesus wrestled with his scriptures and asks us to do the same. We’re not to be robots blindly obeying commands. We’re to wrestle with God’s word with love, compassion, justice, and mercy in the back of our minds. Our focus in reading and wrestling with scripture should always be on the flourishing of people rather than the strict letter of the law.

The flourishing of people over the strict letter of the law. Was this what astonished the crowds? Was it that he included love ourselves? Or was it that he placed loving others over the law of God? Is it his empathy that astonished them? A good example of this is the story of the woman caught in adultery. It is easy for us to accuse others of behavior we are not prone to. It is harder to recognize the circumstances behind the behavior of others. This is where loving our neighbor as ourselves becomes important. When we are always looking for sinful behavior in others, we will see it where it doesn’t exist. Empathy keeps communities intact, strict policing of behavior eventually breaks up the community.

Love God, love your neighbor, love yourself. It’s just as radical and astonishing today in this era of unbridled capitalism as it was when Jesus said it. Love is radical. I hope to be as radical in love as Jesus was.