MacGyver and the Great Commandment

"Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question: ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” “(Matthew 22:34-40)
So in case you were wondering, there you go. In this passage, Jesus defines for us what the greatest commandment is and that’s to love God with all you’ve got. And the second is similar to it and that’s to love your neighbor as yourself. This one is sometimes referred to as the “Great Commandment”, so hence the title. Though I’d like to think that MacGyver truly loved God with his all, I can’t presume to say if he’s a Christian- but I can point out a lot of his Christ-like qualities, one of which I would definitely say is loving his neighbor as himself. For me, there’s one main episode that immediately comes to mind that showcases this quality.
"Runners" is a MacGyver episode that's somewhat slim on MacGyverisms (though I love the Swiss Army Knife window lock pick trick), but very big on driving storyline and heart. Funny that this should be the episode of discussion on the MacGyver Online forum a while ago, because believe it or not, on about the same day, this is one episode I was thinking of in relation to something I was thinking about at church. We really see MacGyver's care and compassion for all people in need in this episode. This is a Christ-like trait that I think MacGyver had which is great- and that's simply that he was always loving others- and not selective of who. He invested his life into whoever needed his help- the kids involved in drugs, kids caught up in drinking and being neglected by parents, the homeless, and the teenage runaway prostitutes in this case. MacGyver took her into his home and helped her reform and find a much better living situation for her.
Like Jesus, MacGyver reached out to society’s untouchables- and I don’t mean Elliot Ness ;-) These people were around just as much in Jesus’ day- but they were known as the lepers, tax collectors, harlots, and sinners in general. Women and people of other races tended to fall into that category too, for the Jewish man at least. Today we have the diseased (physically and mentally), swindlers, prostitutes, homeless, drunks, and drug addicts and whoever else falls into the category. Too many times we’re just like the priest and the Levite Jesus told about in a story once. We want to walk on by them and ignore them like they’re not there. Maybe if we ignore them long enough, they’ll go away.
Hurting and needy people are all around us and they are not going away- unless they die from our neglect. As Christians, we have a very clear calling to reach out to these and love all people. Just look at Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. (See Luke 10:25-37) The priest and the Levite just walked by the Jew who had been beaten up by robbers and left for dead. But a Samaritan stopped to help him. To understand this story fully, one must understand the cultural context. Samaritans were the sworn enemy of Jews. They hated each other and went out of their way to avoid each other. This good Samaritan stopped and helped his sworn enemy- a Jew. He was the one who was a real neighbor to this man because he showed him mercy. Jesus tells us to go and do the same!
The Bible gives many examples of Jesus reaching out to the ones that His society had ignored and forgotten. There’s a perfect example in Luke 18:35-43 where Jesus heals a blind beggar. The crowd that’s walking with Jesus tells the man to shut up but the guy keeps shouting all the louder, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” When Jesus heard him- He stopped everything! He ordered the man brought to him and then asked what he wanted. The man asked for his sight back and Jesus granted his request. Despite the uncaring crowd that tried to push past the blind beggar, Jesus stopped everything to reach out to him and heal him. There’s a similar example in “Runners” when MacGyver stops everything he’s doing to reach out to Jennifer. And as the beggar instantly got his sight back and started following Jesus and praising God, MacGyver helps set Jennifer free from her bondage and she takes off on the right path.
And in the process, we learn something about Jennifer as well as MacGyver- as MacGyver unfolds his own painful memories of the deaths of his father and grandmother and his mom. What an appropriate name for the episode. MacGyver and Jennifer are both runners- one running from a physically bad situation and one running from painful memories and guilt. And in the end, you have to stop running and deal with things. As Pete said in “The Widowmaker”, “You know the funny thing about running is that you always take yourself with you.”
Of course, I could name further examples. Jesus gives us a great example by washing His disciples’ feet in John 13:12-17. He lowered Himself to a position of servant and said that we should do likewise- and that is the path of blessing. Loving our neighbor as ourselves means being humble and willing to lower ourselves some, but if we truly love Jesus we’ll do just that. John 15:9-17 tells us very clearly that if we love Jesus, we’ll obey Him. And Jesus commanded us to love each other in the same way that He loves us. As a great song says, He loved me with a cross! That’s the level of love Jesus expects from us. John 15:13 says, “Greater love hath no man than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.” Of course, Jesus did so much more than that. He laid down His life for His enemies! And rose again from the dead on the third day, proving that true love conquers all!
And that’s the love we are required to have for everyone. What good does it do you if you’re only nice to those who already love you? Even the heathens do that much! Jesus tells us to go further and love our enemies too! And always remember the example of Jesus’ parable of The Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25:31-46. The goats did all the right religious things of going to church, even reading the Bible and saying pious prayers- but they never fed the hungry, gave the thirsty a drink, showed hospitality to a stranger, clothed the naked, or visited the sick and imprisoned! Jesus cast them into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons! But the sheep- the righteous- did feed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, showed hospitality to strangers, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and imprisoned! And Jesus took them into eternal life with Him! And Jesus told them- “Whatever you did to the least of My brethren, you did it to Me.” Conversely, whatever the goats did not to do the least of Jesus’ brethren, they did not do it to Him! Now, note this passage is not saying that good works will get you into Heaven. But I think it is saying that if you claim to follow Christ, these good works should be flowing out of you, because it is Jesus’ nature to be doing them and He commands us to!
Of course, there’re other examples of MacGyver reaching out to the unreachables, though “Runners” is a prominent one. MacGyver stuck by Lisa Woodman and helped her with a drinking problem in “Twenty Questions” rather than just casting her aside as broken. MacGyver reached out to the homeless community in “There But For the Grace”. MacGyver reached out to the gangs and underprivileged kids that came to the Challengers Club in many episodes, like “Final Approach”, “The Challenge”, “The Madonna”, “The Gun” and “Gunz ‘N’ Boyz” to name a few. And I think what I love about it is that MacGyver invested his life into others just as Jesus invested His life in others. There’s no financial gain and certainly no climbing of the social ladder. But there’s a much deeper gain- favor in the eyes of God. (Of course, to gain His full favor, we must know His Son Jesus Christ fully as Lord and Savior.) And that has to be the driving reason for Christians to help those in need- simply because we love Jesus and through Him we love others too.
“My grandfather used to say, ‘A fellow’s life isn’t worth much if he hadn’t shared it with anyone.’ ”- “Friends” episode of MacGyver “Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles and refuse to let the world corrupt us.” (James 1:27)
We’ve got to think of others as better than ourselves and remember that for even a cup of cold water given in Jesus’ name, we will not lose our reward. (see Mark 9:41) So as Mr. Rogers so wonderfully put it, “I’ve always wanted to have a neighbor just like you. I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.” I think he would say that of MacGyver- and I know He asked for more than that of Jesus. He made Jesus the landlord of his heart! So as MacGyver answered the call for people around him in need, and Jesus answers it for anyone who asks, do the neighborly thing and “won’t you be, won’t you please, please won’t you be my neighbor?”

Well, think about that and more importantly, act on it! ;-) If you want to send me any comments about it, use the Feedback page.