The Shema and the Commandment of LOVE

11-03-2024Weekly ReflectionFr. Bing Colasito

A scribe asked Jesus which is the first of all the commandments. Jesus answers by citing the famous Shema: Hear, O Israel! 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.

He then added the love of neighbor and oneself as an extension. When the scribe acknowledges the precedence of these two commandments, Jesus says: You are not far from the Kingdom of God. For Jesus, LOVE is the most fundamental commandment. How? By loving God, neighbor, and oneself in that order. Jesus teaches us that the commandment to love must start with a love of God first, love of neighbor second, and love of self last. Are we keeping these three commandments in our lives?

The Shema reminds the Jews of the promise they made. There are two famous translations of the first part of the Shema. The first translation (Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone.) means that Yahweh is God alone, a sharp contrast to Baal and the many Canaanite deities. The second translation (Yahweh, our God, is one Yahweh) confesses the oneness of Yahweh as opposed to the many different Pagan traditions and sanctuaries of gods. The Shema is also the creed of monotheism every Jew recites them twice daily (morning and evening). Every male Jew writes the Shema on a piece of paper or strips of parchment, enclosed in a leather container wrapped around the left arms or forehead (called phylacteries). They also engrave the Shema on the doorposts and gates of their houses. (Dt. 6:69).

God chooses to reveal Himself to His people through Moses and the prophets, giving them the commandment to establish unity, order, and peace. He is a father who wants His children to grow and become healthy in mind, body, heart, and spirit. In the same way, parents must offer unconditional love to their children in the pattern of the love of God for His people. The key to a healthy relationship between parents and children is love. Without this love, a divine relationship is impossible. But with God’s love, it is possible to extend divine love to all God’s children.

The second reading explains how divine love is made available through the ministry of Jesus Christ, the High Priest. While the Levitical ministry of the priesthood ended when they died, the priesthood of Jesus Christ does not come to an end, for He lives forever. His priesthood does not pass away. The resurrection of Jesus shows He conquers death and lives forever. And through His sacrifice, the ultimate and perfect sacrifice of love, we are empowered to fulfill His commandments of love. There is no limit to His love, and He asks us to have no limit to our love, just as well.

Loving involves sacrifice and sometimes suffering. When we decide to love, we choose the good of the other, putting ourselves in third place only, after God and neighbor. One can say that it is like the experience of dying in a sense, we are dying to the cravings and invitations of the flesh. But when we love the way God wants us to love, we experience the rising or resurrection. Because the commandment to love unites us with God in His dying and rising and calls us to love with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength God, neighbor, and self, and in that order.

Love even when it is difficult, love by choosing the good of the other, and love without limit.