When Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment he quotes Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” He appends to that a command from Leviticus: You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. That addition seems necessary when you look at the entire quote from Deuteronomy. Moses reminds the people that in entering the promised land they are occupying a land with fine, large cities that you did not build, with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner. In other words they are stealing the land from the local population. That doesn’t sound much like loving your neighbor! Such theft has been, of course the source of wars and conflict throughout human history — not just in the Holy Land but in the displacement of the native peoples in what is now the United States and, really, in every corner of the globe. The ultimate solution is to get over the idea that this is “mine” and you can’t have it, and instead understand that all is God’s and learn how we might together honor what it means to share life on God’s good, green earth.
