Reader Question- Why All the Love?

I've noticed that your messages about scripture usually end with you saying that we should love each other over and over again, but that is hardly the only message in Scripture. Why don't you talk about the others? -Anonymous
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This isn't the first Anonymous to make this kind of comment to me... and there have been those who ask me something to that effect face to face as well. And they have a point, I AM kind of a broken record when it comes to the message of the scriptures, often to the annoyance of other Biblical scholars (both religious and none, funnily enough) who insist that there are other messages in the Scriptures and want me to wrestle with them.

So WHY do I harp over and over about loving people instead of engaging the other stuff? Is it because I am too afraid of alienating my audience to be "hard on sin" (one accusation I've received) or is it because I am being an apologist for an "outdated and harmful document" (another one?)

Neither, in point of fact. I boil down the entirety of the scriptures to Love because that was what Jesus said was the appropriate way to do scriptural exegesis.

It happens in Matthew 22. A number of different teachers are asking Jesus questions to test him, and the Pharisees, being the great scripture geeks of the time, challenge him to name the "Greatest Commandment." This was a trap. There are hundreds of commandments in scripture, and by picking one, Jesus would mire himself in an endless debate.

Instead, Jesus responds by saying that the greatest Commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and also to love your neighbor as yourself. So, fair enough. But then he raises the stakes by saying that these commandments are the basis for all other scripture, the law, the prophets, you name it.

Fast forward to now, and this is the bit of scripture that pins so much of current church behavior to the wall. The claim is simple... love of God and love of neighbor are not just commandments... they are the basis on which all other scripture is built. So if the way you are reading scripture leads to behavior that is NOT loving God and Neighbor, then you are reading the scriptures incorrectly.

Got a great indictment of homosexual sex? Well, if the way you read that scripture means you're treating your neighbor (a fellow human being) as less than human, then yeah, you read that scripture wrong. Biblical basis for racism? The same. Biblical Basis to glorify wealth acquisition instead of caring for those in need?

YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG.

What this means is that if you read a text and DON'T keep coming up with "Whelp, looks like it's my job to love people," then you are reading that text incorrectly. And it's not me saying it. It's Jesus.

Ultimately,  not everyone will agree with my interpretation of this. You just need to look up a few internet articles with the word "Christian" in the headline to see that. But for those for whom faithful scriptural exegesis is important, and perhaps worry that I am ignoring certain aspects of the scripture to present a sunshine and roses view of the Bible to the world, the important thing to remember, I think, is that the one we are worshiping in all of this made a similar claim.

It isn't an easy claim. Finding the love in some of the text is difficult. But in a book as wildly diverse in tone as the scriptures, it helps to have a guiding star when navigating. And given the life Jesus lived, I don't think "Assume we're talking about love" is a bad way to go.