Dear Friends,
This week Jesus is again being set up by the Pharisees to see how they can get rid of him and he is asked about which law is the greatest? The Jews at this time, and even today, endlessly debate and discuss 613 specific commandments of the Law so to ask which one was greatest suggests a simplification that was never considered before. Jesus answers brilliantly again, without hesitation: “You shall love the Lord, your God, will all your heart, will all your soul, and with all your mind…and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Your heart, soul and mind are entirely you. Anything done of lasting value in this world is rooted in and grows out of the heart, soul and mind.
The lawyer who asked the question was expecting an obscure answer and Jesus responds very personally, with a custom made response: You shall love! Jesus did not say: do not put me to the test, do not deceive or plot or destroy. He said: you shall love. He uses the second person singular, not the formal you (Usted in Spanish) but the familiar. He is inviting this lawyer to a massive change of heart. Jesus says ‘you’ or ‘your’ five times in two sentences; he is incredibly personal.
Jesus gives a second twist, one the lawyer does not expect. He adds a passage from Deuteronomy: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The original text said you shall love your countrymen, but Jesus broadens it. He says love your neighbor and who is your neighbor? The one in need, not necessarily the one you like and find attractive. Love him/her as you love yourself, not the same way you love God.
Christian love is always a triangle. If not it becomes an idol when you love the other without reference to God. When you love God first, then you can love the other correctly. It is how we are made, in the image of the Trinity. When we love romantically, without God, it does not last.
I am the Lord you God says Yahweh in the original text. God is saying I know that you cannot love your neighbor, but with me you can. With me you no longer have to be the center; you will be able to think about what is good for the other. This triangular love is the love of the Trinity as can be seen in a Christian family. It is a love so strong that it generates new life. Christian love is always diffusive, it spreads. You and I were made to love in this way!