“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31).
A lawyer approached Jesus and asked him a question: “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” In essence, the lawyer was asking Jesus, “If you could summarize all of the scriptures into one statement, what would that be?”
Jesus answers this question in typical fashion: Jesus quotes Scripture.
“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” This is a direct citation of Deuteronomy 6:4-5. The Jews called it the
“shema.” Shema is the Hebrew word for “listen.” This prayer was quoted by Jews everyday to remember who they were as children of God and what their purpose for life was.
But Jesus continues. He adds, “The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” This is a direct citation of Leviticus 19:18.
Jesus does something fascinating by putting these two citations together. Jesus shows us how a person is to “Love the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their mind and with all their strength.” They love God by loving their neighbor as they love themselves. In fact it is impossible to love God without loving people. Simply impossible.
The writer of 1 John tells us, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen” (1 John 4:20).
As you know the Greeks had at least four words that are translated as love in the English. Guess which Greek word our passages use regarding love? Yup. You guessed it. Agape.
Love is not a feeling. Love is not an emotion we passively feel. Love is a willful and deliberate decision to desire the best for the other. That is unconditional love.
Love God? You love God’s people.
Praxis: Faith in Action 