Love Love
For Meditation
In today's passage, we will see Jesus respond to a curious scribe who asks him to name the one command that supersedes and trumps all the rest. At first his answer was expected: the "Shema" from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, the command that good Jews recited every morning and evening and which formed the core of their lives. But instead of leaving it at that, Jesus added a second command: Love your neighbor as yourself. Together, he said, these two commands form the North Star of the life of the believer.
Jesus's response was quite radical, you see. He was saying that to love God with the totality that the Shema prescribes must include loving and serving those people whom God has put in your life with the same concern that you give yourself. One is not complete without the other.
This week, we'll shift focus to our life for the world (OUT) and consider Jesus's command to "Love Your Neighbor." We'll consider what Jesus meant by combining these two commands, and how our lives might look if they were guided by this North Star.
In preparation, consider the people who God has put in your life. Make a list of the 5 people (outside of your household) who you see most regularly on any given day, whether that's walking around your block, in the carpool line, on a Zoom call or in the break room. Ask God to show you how He is calling you to show them love.
Mark 12:28-34
28 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?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.