When we think of the Greatest Commandment of Christianity, often we think of ‘Love the Lord your God with everything you’ve got, and love your neighbor as yourself.’ However, I think we miss out an important aspect of Christ’s teaching. If we go back and look, it doesn’t start with the command to Love God. Jesus instead starts with what the Jews would have known as the Great Shema: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.’
I can understand if some of you are thinking that this seems a bit technical, but hang with me. When the Jews originally received this command in Deuteronomy 6, they were coming out of a period of time where they had seen God’s great provision. They had most notably seen his provision when God led them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, while the Egyptians who pursued them were wiped out. It was then that God showed them that ‘the Lord is one’ by proving his strength over the inferior Egyptian gods who were truly just manmade idols.
What does this mean to us? Jesus was showing us that we love God in response to who he is and what he has done for us. We are not trying to earn God’s love. He has already given it to us. Just as the Jews were to love God in response to his great saving work that he did for them in Egypt, we are to love God in response to his great saving work that he did for us at the cross. We love God because he first loved us.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment