“And one of the scribes came, and having heard them
reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him,
Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all
the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than
these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth:
for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all
the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all
the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all
whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered
discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” Mark
12:28-34
It is in the area of what God expects of us that there
has been one of the greatest areas of differences of opinion between various
religious perspectives down through time. Before Judaism became prominent, most
religions in the ancient world did not proclaim that the gods had moral
expectations of people. The main expectation was that people would pay them
homage with sacrifices.
In the case of the Greek gods many of them behaved in
ways that were far from moral themselves, even having sexual affairs with
mortals. They also were often engaged in acts of deception against each other.
Egyptian gods showed similar characteristics. The Canaanite fertility goddesses
were worshipped by going in to cult prostitutes and having sex with them. It
was in this context that Judaism proclaimed a God who demanded sexual fidelity,
honesty and integrity. This was radical thinking for the time!
TODAY’S DIFFERENT VIEWS
This difference persists today. Some New Age thinking
would return us to these primitive perspectives where God is seen as demanding
little of people ethically. Many of the Islamic faith believe that God expects
his followers to be involved in “holy wars,” while there are some in the
Christian church that say that God expects us to be pacifists. Certainly, even
within the Christian church itself there have been a variety of perspectives on
what God expects of us in the areas of personal care (smoking, drinking, social
issues {abortion, war, death penalty}).
GOD HAS REVEALED HIMSELF
God has revealed himself to us in the Bible both to
show what He is like and to let us know what He expects of us. In the Old
Testament, there was a greater emphasis on proclaiming what God expects through
long lists of rules and regulations, things to do and actions to avoid. Over
time these lists got longer and more complicated, through the interpretations
of various rabbis. Because of that, concise summary statements of what God
expects had great appeal. Such statements can be found in both the Old and New
testaments (Micah 6:6-8; James 1:27). In this passage, Jesus gives the
most important summary of what He expects of us. By looking at this passage we
can better evaluate what others say about God’s expectations of us.
One of the most consistent links made in the New
Testament is the link between loving God and loving people around us. Here
Jesus tells us that to love God and to love our neighbors are the two greatest
commandments. In a story in Matthew’s gospel that is similar to this one, Jesus
further says, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.” (Matt.22:40). Then in Matthew 25, He teaches
what could be thought of as a result of this teaching, that showing love to
“one of the least” of the people in need around us is the same as showing love
to Him (Matt. 25:31-46). John tells us in I John 4:20, “If
a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
James tells us that it is inconsistent for the same mouth to bless God and
curse the people around us who were made in His image (James 3:9). What
all of this says is that the cold-hearted religious person, with Bible in hand
and scowl on face, looking for people to judge and condemn, is clearly counter
to what God expects of us.
Jesus’ response begins with the “Shema,” (v.29)
which essentially declares that the Lord is one. While this statement may look
like a theological statement with little to say about what God expects of us,
it nevertheless has implications. In the time before Israel’s mono-theism
gained a foothold, it was thought that each nation had its own separate god. A
nation’s god or gods would care for the people of that nation against people of
other nations, and if there was a conflict, the strongest god or gods would
win. This poly-theism was hence part of the division between people. But to
declare that God is truly one is to also declare that God is the Lord of us
all. That means we need to treat each other as children of the same God, as
family.
Jesus then goes on to give what He considered to be
the greatest commandment: That we must love God with all our heart,
soul, mind and strength. That means, with all we are! This is a love that
goes far beyond lip service. When all the attractions that the world has to
offer are fighting for first place in our heart, we need to make it clear that
that place goes to God alone. When people try to use intellectual arguments
to create doubt and turn us into skeptics, we need to love God with all our
mind. When we have been running here, there and everywhere until we are
exhausted, but then we become convinced that God is calling us to do one more
thing, we need to love God with all our strength.
The command to love God in this way is inclusive of several
Old Testament commands. The person who loves God will not put anything or
anyone else above Him (Ex. 20:4-6); nor will they refer to God in a
disrespectful way (Ex. 20:7), Loving God also means setting aside time
each week to worship and praise Him (Ex. 20:8-11).
Jesus’ second most important command was that we love
our neighbor as ourself. Here it is significant to point out that this command
assumes that a person will love himself. That is not always the case, however.
Some people were brought up by parents or guardians who never had anything good
to say about them, and in the process they developed a very negative view of
themselves. Such people have a very difficult time loving others as well. As an
example of this, many psychotic killers who are caught want to die. The lack of
value they place on the lives of others has come out of their lack of valuing
their own life. What God calls us to do is to value each life, God
has created, as precious beyond compare, whether that life is our
own or someone else’s. This respect for life is based on the first commandment,
the commandment to love God. We are God’s creations, God’s works of art. We
love God by treasuring His works of art.
The idea that we must love ourselves goes back to
early Christian theology. Early Christian theology stated that there are four
stages of Christian maturity. The first is “love of self for self’s sake.” This
is the stage where most people are, where they are at the center of their
lives, and their concern does not reach far beyond themselves. The second stage
is “the love of God for self’s sake.” This is a stage where many remain, where
they love God because they believe it will benefit them. It will get them into
heaven and help them avoid hell. This isn’t a bad stage. Its where many of us
begin our Christian life. Still, it isn’t the highest stage, either. The third
stage is “love of God for God’s sake.” This is where we love God, not just for
what He can do for us, but because God above all else is worthy of love. And yet,
as high as this stage is, there is a stage beyond this one. This last stage is
“love of self for God’s sake.” This stage is finding a new love for ourselves
because we were made by God as God’s greatest creation. Once we love ourselves,
then we must have an equal love for those around us, treasuring them also as
God’s works of art.
Even as the command to love God is inclusive of
several commandments, so the command to love our neighbor as ourself summarizes
and includes a variety of commandments as well. People who truly love their
neighbor will honor their family and especially the parents who nurtured
them (Ex. 20:12). They will not murder or do acts of violence (Ex.
20:13), or violate their sexual commitment to their spouse (Ex. 20:14), or
take what belongs to their neighbor (Ex. 20:15), or lie to their
neighbor (Ex. 20:16), or sit around resenting their neighbor’s blessings
(Ex. 20:17). People will do these things, not because they have been meticulously
following a list of do’s and don’ts, but because it is the nature of love.
If we say that God expects us to love Him and our
neighbor, what happens when we fail to do so? What happens to those days when
it seems everything is going wrong and we’re in a grouchy mood and before we
even think about it we are speaking harsh, unloving words to the people we are
supposed to be loving? Will God then reject us for our failure? To think that,
overlooks one very important factor in our situation, that God is Himself the
essence of love (I John 4:8). If we don’t think it’s very loving to jump
all over someone for their every failure, why would God, who is the
essence of love, do so? Rather, He has provided for our failure by loving us
and dying for us to pay the penalty for our moral failures.
Learning to love means learning some concrete things
we can do to express that love, both to God and to the people around us. It is
not enough to just love in the abstract. You must show your love for your
neighbors not only with words but with actions.
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