When Christians think of the Great Commandment they think “love of God and neighbor.” Looking at the response Jesus made to the question about the Great Commandment provides a slightly different perspective. “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The actual imperative, command word, is “hear.” We are only capable of loving God and neighbor once we have heard of God’s love for us, heard that we are forgiven, heard that we are beloved children. We need to hear that God is for us in order to respond in love. We need to hear God call every single person a child of God in order to love them. God is the one who makes our loving possible.
