In St. Mark’s gospel when Jesus is asked about the great commandment he quotes from the traditional Jewish prayer, the Shema Yisrael. If you ask Christians what constitutes the great commandment they would doubtless answer “love God and love neighbor.” What strikes me, however, is that the first command in the shema is to hear. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is Lord alone.” The command to love only comes after the command to hear. This makes sense since you really can’t make someone love you, despite what Diana Ross and the Temptations sang. So the first command is to hear so that we will be able to love God and neighbor. We have to hear of God’s love for us. We must hear that God is for us and won’t stop loving us. We need to hear that we are the beloved children of God and God is well pleased with us. Only when we have heard that message and taken it to heart can we respond in love to God and neighbor.
MARCH42016
By Church Staff
