Reflections on Dissections: S5E13 — “LOVE.”
Why loving others is the only way to live
In our last post, we discussed the track “LUST.” where we witnessed how Kung Fu Kenny’s pursuit of sex, money and murder deprived him of living water and left him at risk of dying of thirst. By the end of the track, Kenny woke up to the realization that lust was depriving him of receiving God’s Spirit and leading him to act in opposition to God. This realization leaves Kenny with a very clear choice.
Damn, love or lust
Damn, all of us
The track “LOVE.” begins with yet another opening dichotomy. Recall that “BLOOD.”, the album’s opening track began by introducing the wickedness/weakness dichotomy and the track “PRIDE.” began with the love/lust dichotomy. The love/lust dichotomy seems to function as an extension of the previous two dichotomies. In particular, this new dichotomy focuses on whether Kenny — along with all of us — will seek to merely satisfy his own desires or seek to satisfy the needs of others.
It is also worth noting that unlike wickedness vs. weakness and love vs. pride, love vs. lust, appears to be a very straightforward choice. Most of us could easily identify love as the choice that we are supposed to make. However, as Kenny begins to sing the track’s refrain, it becomes clear that choosing love may cost him more than we expected.
If I didn’t ride blade on curb, would you still love me?
If I minimized my net-worth, would you still love me?
In these lines, Kenny asks his girl whether she will remain loyal to him if he gives most of his money away in an attempt to minimize his net worth. The fact that Kenny is even entertaining the thought of giving away large amounts of wealth stands in contrast to the perspective that we heard on “ELEMENT.” On that track, Kenny rapped:
We ain’t goin’ back to broke, family sellin’ dope
That’s why you maney-ass rap niggas better know
If I gotta slap a pussy-ass nigga, I’ma make it look sexy- from “ELEMENT.”
Those lines from “ELEMENT.” revealed that the threat of losing wealth and slipping back into poverty was Kenny’s central justification for using violence against his rivals. Similarly, on the previous track, “LUST.” Kenny referenced James chapter four — a chapter that begins with James asking his Church community:
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is it not from your desire for pleasures which wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
- James 4:1–3
This passage from James chapter 4 suggests that the reason that people fight and murder is that they lust after material pleasures that they currently do not have. Those who are overcome by this lust will thus do anything to spend money on things that bring them pleasure.
After ending “LUST.” with a realization that a daily program of getting up every morning thinking about money will make him an enemy of God, Kenny here begins “LOVE.” with the thought of giving money away. In fact, Kenny seems to be considering whether he should go so far as to minimize his net worth.
We may then wonder what would inspire Kenny to take such a seemingly drastic step. One explanation could be that Kenny has been inspired by Jesus’s teachings on the Kingdom of God, particularly a conversation that Jesus had with a rich man who tried to follow Jesus.
“As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, ‘ Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.”
- Mark 10:17–20
In this passage, a rich man came up to Jesus and asked Jesus how he could “inherit eternal life.” Jesus responded by telling the rich man to follow the commandments that were given by Moses. Jesus then went on to list roughly half of the Ten Commandments.
Here we should note that the Ten Commandments are naturally divided into two parts. The first part contains commandments which instructed the Israelites on how they were meant to relate to God. This included commandments that forbid worshipping any god other than Yahweh, making idols, using the name Yahweh for empty purposes, and working on the Sabbath day. Meanwhile, the second part of the Ten Commandments contains commandments which instructed the Israelites on how they were meant to relate to their fellow humans. This included the commandments which forbade, murder, adultery, stealing, dishonoring parents, and giving false testimonies in court.
If we pay close attention we should notice that the commandments that Jesus quoted were all from the second part of the Ten Commandments, the part that deals with relating to other humans. Thus, even at this point in the narrative, Jesus is drawing attention to the idea that one receives eternal life with God to the extent that one seeks the well being of humans. However, the rich man seems to have failed to recognize Jesus's underlying point about seeking the well being of others. Rather than recognize that his great wealth meant that he was in the habit of routinely treating himself better than others, the rich man claimed to have followed all of the commandments since his youth. The rich man’s obliviousness to his own shortcomings thus led Jesus to give a loving yet challenging response.
Looking at [the rich man], Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But at these words the man was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.
- Mark 10:21–22
In response to the man’s assertion that he had kept all of the commandments, Jesus told the man that he should sell all of his possessions and become one of the followers who traveled with Jesus. However, the man proved to be unwilling to relinquish his wealth. As much as he claimed to want the riches of eternal life, his heart was set on the riches from his earthly life. As a result, the man rejected Jesus’s offer of discipleship, turned around and walked away from Jesus. The man’s choice thus revealed that though he may have obeyed the literal interpretation of the commandments, he was actually opposed to the spirit of the commandments. He was not willing to love others the way he loved himself because that would entail sharing his wealth with others. Indeed, the remainder of the passage shows that Jesus provided a similar diagnosis of the man’s problem.
And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
They were even more astonished and said to Him, “Then who can be saved?” Looking at them, Jesus said, “With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.”
- Mark 10:23–27
After the rich man walked away, Jesus pointed to the man as proof that it is very difficult — and seemingly impossible — for wealthy people to enter into the kingdom of God. This statement came as a shock to Jesus’s disciples who may have been raised to think that material wealth was a sign of divine favor. However, Jesus seemed to think that material wealth the greatest potential hindrance to experiencing divine favor in the kingdom of God. This assessment also seems to follow naturally from Jesus’s teachings about who is blessed in the kingdom of God, particularly his statement that “blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of God.”
Given that the pursuit of money and economic security was one of the main reasons that Kenny chose to follow his own intuition, choosing to minimize his net worth might be the way that Kenny turns back toward the kingdom of God.
I’m on the way
We ain’t got no time to waste
Poppin’ your gum on the way
Am I in the way?
I don’t wan’ pressure you none
I want your blessing today (love me)
Oh, by the way, open the door by the way
Told you that I’m on the way
I’m on the way, I know connection is vague
Pick up the phone for me, babe
…
Told you that I’m on the way
I’m like a exit away, yep
The idea that Kendrick is now headed toward a blessed life seems to be the central focus of the track’s second verse. His focus is highlighted by the fact that Kenny says “the way” eight times throughout the verse. On the most basic level, “the way” seems to be referring to Kenny’s journey in a car while going to meet up with his girl. However, on a deeper level “the way” also seems to be referring to Kenny’s spiritual journey towards the kingdom of God.
This subtle reference to a spiritual journey is further supported by the fact that in the decades after Jesus’s death and resurrection before the term “Christian” came into popular usage, those who were devoted to Jesus referred to themselves as followers of “The Way.” For example in Acts 9:2, a man named Saul who was trying to eradicate belief in Jesus asked permission from the high priest to arrest “any belonging to the Way.” This early name for the movement that Jesus started seems to have been inspired by Jesus’s own description of himself during his final dialogue with his disciples where he said:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life”
- John 14:6
By describing himself as “the way”, Jesus seemed to be asserting that he is the embodiment of the way in which humans are meant to live in order to receive God’s blessings. Hence, in addition to the pursuit of his girl’s blessings, Kenny’s assertion that he is “on the way” suggests that he has chosen to follow Jesus toward the blessings of God’s kingdom. At the same time, we should note that by saying he is “on the way” Kenny is also acknowledged that he has not fully arrived at his destination. In fact, if we pay attention to the end of verse two we will notice that it ends with Kenny still “an exit away.”
The fact that “LOVE.” ends with Kenny still on the way, suggests that even though Kenny has turned his life around since the end of “LUST.”, he has yet to fully transform into the likeness of Jesus. We are thus left with a cliffhanger of sorts. Will Kenny continue to follow the way or will he get sidetracked by his feelings. This is the question that we should be asking ourselves as DAMN transitions into the next track, “XXX.”
Resources:
- “How to Read the Bible: Biblical Story” by The Bible Project
