Jesus responds to a question from the scribes in
today’s Gospel. Almost always, a question from them is a
test to try to trap him as a blasphemer against the Jews or a
revolutionary against the Romans. Today’s question seems
refreshingly sincere. While priority with the Law of
Moses is always given to the Ten Commandments, the Jews
developed a list of 613 commandments from the Torah. It
was easy to get bogged down in trying to be faithful to all of
them and, so, it was common to focus on the most important
ones. Consequently, the scribes ask Jesus, which
is the first of all the commandments?
Jesus responds with clarity, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord
our God is Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God withal
your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with
all your strength. The second . . . You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.” Let’s explore the love of God.
First of all, our love for God begins with the love that God
has for us. God created us in his image and
likeness. That is, he granted us the remarkable capacity
to know, love and make free choices, a blessing that sets us
apart from the rest of creation. Our creator holds us in
the palm of his hand and sustains our life at absolutely every
moment of our existence. He has given us the earth to
cultivate, enjoy and marvel at.
Sadly, in our weakness and ingratitude, we choose to slap God
in the face and disobey him. So, sin enters this world,
totally disrupting his loving plan for us. God continues
to love us with unexplainable patience and generosity.
The Father sends his only begotten Son into this world to
suffer and die for us to repair our relationship with God and
make eternal life available to us once again.
Furthermore, God lovingly and personally approaches each of us
and calls us to be his disciple and help him to build his
kingdom on this earth. Additionally, he sends loving,
faith-filled people into our lives to help us see his face and
to encourage us to draw ever closer to him as we journey
through life.
So, love begins with God. “In this is love: not that we have
loved God, but that he has loved us and sent his Son as
expiation for our sins.” (1 Jn. 4:10)
Consequently, our feeble efforts to love God are principally a
response to his immeasurable love. The love of God demands
proportionate response. The most valid response to God’s
love is a burning desire deep with our hearts to love Him in
return – with all our heart, soul, and strength; - that is,
with every element of our being. This kind of love is
beautiful and transformative for the one who offers it.
Our love for God gradually becomes sacrificial. It
involves surrendering our time to be with him in prayer and
with our neighbor in service; our personal preference to
please the beloved; our pride in order to seek his will above
our own, and our perspective on justice because God’s ways are
noy our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts.
A genuine love for God leads to a joy that flows from being
close to God who loves us more than we can possibly
imagine. It fills us with peace because we have been
reconciled to him and learned to place our trust in him.
The love of God empowers us to weather storms, knowing that
Christ is our boat. The love of God drives us to remove
sin from our lives and even the desire for sin. The love
of God drives us to remove win from our lives and even the
desire for sin. The love of God leads us to reverently
worship him as the One, True God.
Finally, according to Christ, the love of God spills over into
love of our neighbor. We love those around us because
God loves them and because we want to share with them the love
God has given to us. This dimension of the love of God
is fundamental to our new life in Christ. The saints do
a spectacular job of manifesting this great truth. St.
Theresa of Kolkata’s lifelong zeal for humbly serving the poor
and those near death is one shining example. St. John
Bosco’s undying passion for bringing disadvantaged youth to
Christ is another. St. Maria Goretti’s commitment to
chastity and her courage before the man who murdered her
shines a light on the reality that young people can grasp the
love of God and respond beautifully to it.
“The Lord Our God is Lord alone. You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your mind, and with all your strength.”