Yes, the title is correct. Just because you think you can doesn’t mean you actually can. In fact, you can make things quite a bit worse.
Matthew 22:34-46; 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8; Psalm 1; Leviticus 19:1-2,15-18
I’ve said a number of times that I’m not a fan of the translation of the Psalms that are in our hymnal. In aiming them to be used congregationally, the translators lost a good deal of the meaning behind the text. Let me read it to you from the NIV:
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Note the major difference. The hymnal’s version begins: “Happy are they who…” I know of no ‘they’ who fit the description presented in Psalm 1, but I know of one man who does. It’s a rather impossible way of living for us, to never walk in the way of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers, and we definitely don’t meditate on God’s law all the time, but Jesus did. It’s a pretty high standard for us to live up to, which is why I prefer the NIV’s translation to the hymnal’s. If ‘they’ are blessed who do these things, I’m doomed; if ‘the man’ is blessed who does these things, I know I’m saved in him.
Jesus gives us another nigh-impossible task in the gospel. After reminding us that just as Caesar’s image should be given to Caesar and God’s image should be given to God, and then shutting down the Sadducees attempt to trap him in a discussion about the resurrection, a Pharisee approaches Jesus asking what the most important commandment is. This was a hotly debated topic among the Pharisees, as they tried to determine a ranking of laws — which were more sinful than others — not simply deducing a summary of the whole law. So Jesus answers simply: “Love the Lord your God with everything that you are, and love your neighbor like you love yourself.”
Ok that’s hard too. Let’s ignore the second half for just a minute. Can any of us honestly say that we love God will all our emotion, life, thought, and strength? We don’t do that, just like we don’t meditate on God’s teaching all the time. It’s part of that whole sin business, that we want to be in charge of our own life — we love ourselves more than we love God.
That’s actually a good portion of why the second half of this commandment is so cleverly phrased: love your neighbor like you love yourself. He knows we love ourselves, so we’re called to love those around us in the same way. Leviticus gives us a few examples of this, but that’s the simple form.
It’s so simple, yet we always seem to have a really hard time with this commandment. Maybe it’s the simplicity of it that makes it difficult. As humans we’re always looking for something to do. Look at the other religions of the world: they all have some manner of “do stuff and you’re in.” Christianity says, “if you think you can do stuff to get in, then you’re out.”
Martin Luther writes in his Heidelberg Disputation, “A man who thinks that he wants to attain righteousness [a right relationship with God] by doing what is in him is adding sin to sin, so that he becomes doubly guilty. To say this does not mean to give cause for despair but rather for humility.” Later, he continues, “The law says: ‘Do this!’, and it is never done. Grace says: ‘Believe in this one!’, and forthwith everything is done.”
We have an impossibly high standard to live up to: not to walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers; to meditate on God’s teachings day and night; to love God with all we are; to love our neighbor as ourselves. We can’t pull it off — but it’s ok because Jesus already did. Jesus did not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. He meditated on God’s teachings all the time. He loved God with all that he is and loved his neighbors as himself.
He earned us a place with God forever. Because of this, we follow him. Not to earn our place, because he already did that, nor to win favor — but because He loves us. We love him, because he loves us. We love others, because he loves us. It’s not about what we do, but about what He has done.