When Jesus was asked by the Scribe of which the greatest commandment is, Jesus replies with an impeccable Rabbinic answer, bringing together two texts from different books of the Bible. First is Deuteronomy 6.5, recited by every faithful Jew three times a day, ‘And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, mind and strength’, as straightforward a priority as you could wish. But the exciting thing about the answer is that Jesus couples that with another text from Leviticus 19.18, ‘And you shall love your neighbour as yourself’. The command is not new, but it is only staggering that Jesus puts it on a level with the love for God. By this he clearly states the greatest commandment: love for God with our whole being and love for neighbour as we love ourselves. But this greatest commandment faces some challenges today.
Firstly, is our divided love between God and worldly things. The commandment of love demands us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. In short, to love God with our whole being. But many times we find this not happening. The love of worldly pleasures has taken a leading challenge to the greatest commandment. There is no longer regard for God in most of the things we do or say or like; the love God has shifted to the love for pleasure and trust of human wisdom. During the time of Hosea, his people lived in a time of economic anxiety and fear among the nations. They were tempted to put their security in their own possessions and in their political alliances with other nations rather than in God. The love for God was shuttered by their situations. Sometimes, even if we have decided to love God with our whole being, situations tend to force us otherwise and we are always asking and doubting the presence of God and his love upon us. This is where the challenge starts and if we are not aware of such situations, our love for God will be divided or shuttered.
Sin also takes away our love for God. Sin creates a chasm between us and our creator and this weakens or takes away completely our love for God either because of guilt or thinking that we are irredeemable and unforgivable. The good news is that when we turn to God with all our iniquities and with a humble and a contrite heart, he will welcome us back because his love for us never fades; only ours. Hosea called his people to return to God to receive pardon, healing, and restoration. He reminded them that God would "heal their faithlessness and love them freely" (Hosea 14:4). God's ways are right and his wisdom brings strength and blessing to those who obey him.
It follows therefore, that if we cannot love God wholly, we cannot be able to love our neighbour. If we try to divide our loves by our own effort, giving God only part of our heart, soul, mind and strength, then the love we have for God cannot grow and overflow in the way God wants. By nature, the love of God must flow to others through us. But with no or divided love for God, we limit our capacity for love, and we fall into selfishness and individualism. It becomes a worse challenge if we don't even know our neighbours. How can you love someone you don't know?
We tend to be very self-aware, knowing what delights us, how we like to spend our free time, and what consoles us. Do we know these things about our neighbours (understood as family members, friends, and those who live nearby)? Very few people know most or all of their neighbours (Pew Research Center). As Christians, we are called to love our neighbour, and the first step is to get to know their names. May we be builders of strong Christian communities for the glory of God.
St John in his first letter, 1 John 4:20, challenges us that how can we claim we love God, whom we can't see and hate our neighbours whom we are with, we are just liars if we do that. Therefore, we have to love one another as Jesus loved, to love our neighbours means being there for them in any situation and wishing them well always, that is, benevolence. We are encouraged, during this Lent, to deny ourselves something for the sake of those who are suffering and the needy. Alms giving is one way of showing love to our fellows, especially the poor and most abandoned, and in doing this we are doing the will of God and living in the kingdom of God for the kingdom of God is love shown through justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. How many people during this Lent have you helped as a sign of love? Mother Teresa tells us that if you cannot feed 100 people, feed one.
Let us Pray.
We love you, O our God; and we desire to love you more and more. Grant to us that we may love you as much as we desire, and as much as we ought. Give us love, sweetest of all gifts, which knows no enemy. Give us in our hearts pure love, born of your love to us, that we may love others as you love us. O most loving Father of Jesus Christ, from whom all love flows, let our hearts, frozen in sin, cold to you and cold to others, be warmed by this divine fire. So, help and bless us in your Son. Amen (Prayer of Anselm)
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