Context: Jesus has been moving toward Jerusalem for a long while. In this passage he has already made his triumphal entry along the palm-lined street and he has "cleansed" the temple. As a result, the atmosphere is charged and his life is threatened just as he predicted. Yet he goes right back to the temple again and again. He is approached by religious officials, temple guardians and several other groups as he is teaching in the temple: the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees who challenge him and try to trap him with confrontational questions. We finally hear what seems to be an honest question coming from a scribe. In the New Testament a scribe was a teacher of the law and sometimes described as a lawyer. Most of the scribes were Pharisees. Many sources equate the role of a scribe with that of a rabbi. However, it may be that one role simply enhanced the other. It was their job to interpret the law, to develop understanding, and to apply the principles of the law to current circumstances. This is the way oral law developed alongside the written law. When Jesus is asked what the most important commandment is by one of these learned men who, no doubt, had been witness to many of the debates Jesus was engaged in, Jesus grounds his response in traditional Jewish thought as he begins with the Shema ...
(SHMA) Shema is the Hebrew word for HEAR. It means to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience) and is often translated "listen" in English Bibles. The Shema is an affirmation of Judaism and a declaration of faith in one God. It is recited in both morning and evening Jewish prayer services. In this passage, Jesus uses the first two lines of the Shema, found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 as the "most" important commandment and Leviticus 19:18b as the "second."
Going Deeper: If we "listen" to Jesus teach us about the greatest commandment we will find the instruction to LOVE ... God, self, and neighbor. Yet we should remember that in the Christian tradition the love that God has for us precedes the love we express. We are called to express agape, or unconditional, love. This love has been made manifest first to Israel and then to us through Christ. When we are able to internalize the depth of God's love for us, we then are enabled to express that love to God, to the self, and to the other. Although certain theologians in Christian history associate self-love with selfish pride that is not the sense of this passage. There is a holistic sense of the balanced nature of the agape love we are called to make the cornerstone of our Christian journey. We find that it is in coming to know ourselves and learning to love ourselves in spite of our flaws that we learn to properly love our neighbors within the boundaries that must be maintained.
Pondering: Most of us are out of balance with expression of our love. Can you think of a time when you knew you were out of balance with your loving? How were you able to make it back to a more balance place? Is that really the point ... to find balance? Or is there a sense of inherent imbalance in this admonition to Love God, Love Self, Love Others. Someone recently asked "Who in your life have you found easy to love? Who have you found that made it hard to love? What is it that makes it easy or hard for you to love someone? Is there someone in your life right now that you are finding it difficult to love? Is that person your self? God? some other? Is there anything in this passage that might help you overcome your difficulties in agape love?
Praying: Close your eyes and invite Jesus into your prayer ... Ask Jesus to show you who you need to love more deeply ... Listen! Sit in the stillness ... What do you hear?
No comments:
Post a Comment