Jesus preached a Kingdom of God centred on love in its widest sense. Arguably it was a programme of social transformation to be achieved by personal transformation. When asked which was the most important commandment he was clear, saying ‘Love the Lord your God’ AND ‘Love your neighbour’. When THEN asked who my neighbour was he told the parable of the hated outsider (a Samaritan) who helps the man attacked by robbers and left for dead. The parable of the Good Samaritan and the body of preaching we know as the ‘Sermon On The Mount’ tell you everything you need to know of the Christian commitment to love without limits. It also tells you what the God we see in Jesus wants, hopes, dreams for his/her/its Creation.
Stepping back, the most basic lessons we can observe FROM Jesus’ life, death & resurrection are simple:
- There is a God, so life has meaning.
- In Jesus we see the nature of God and that nature is love
- Love is, therefore, the critical factor in Creation.
- There is a life after death in some form.
How then, since we went ‘mainstream’ 1700 years ago have Christian people and Christian authorities so managed to ignore the Love of God in favour of issues Jesus shows no interest in – sin, sex, homosexuality, abortion etc etc? Strip it back to his words & actions and we’d have a clearer example to live by and a better message to take to the world.