It is “common sense” to be moderate. No one wants to be compared with people who fly planes into buildings.
Common sense is a way of thinking that most people assume to be true. Common sense is what “everyone knows.” We don’t often question it because sometimes it is good. (“Good people don’t hurt other people.”)
We live in a world of destructive extremes. We see unhinged people doing unhinged things in the name of their political philosophy, their “cause”, or their religion. We only need to watch the news to see over-zealous people using violence, and destruction, and political manipulation in order to further their “extremist” views.
It seems as if common sense tells us to stay moderate and fit in so that we will not be considered “extreme.” Just fit in. Be nice. You can be a Christian (if that works for you), but don’t go too deep into what you believe. If you actually take Jesus’ seriously then you might go off the deep end, be unhinged.
Jesus challenged the common sense of his day and he challenges the common sense of ours.
Jesus’ kind of love is never meant to be moderate. Neither is love for Jesus. Is it possible that common sense is wrong? Maybe what the world needs is people who dive deeper into the deep end of the pool, not people who safely stay dry.
There is nothing moderate about Jesus’ love for people. If he showed the moderation that we often admire or aspire to, then he would have lived his life tucked away quietly in Nazareth, never challenging the “common sense” of the day or risking his safety in order to speak the truth in love.
A moderate love stays safe from a cross, but also stays safe from the joy of being immersed in the mission of the Father. It was not zealotry or unhingedness, or extremism that lead Jesus to his sacrificial death- it was the unreserved fullness of his love. It was his loved lived out for his Father and for people.
Love is never moderate. Wise, yes. Smart, yes. Never moderate. Always lavish. Always abundant and never fearfully reserved.
Why do I write this? Because it relates to the passage we will talk about tomorrow night, but there is something more than that. My heart’s desire is that we would live a life of unreserved love, unhindered by the (selfish) moderation this world expects of us and free to find the deepest joy we can ever have this side of Eternity.
Jesus invites out of extremism and moderation. He invites us into his kind of love.