It is easy to get the impression
from the New Testament that Jesus was some sort of radical, out to overthrow
“the system.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus is the author of
“the system.” He has come to complete it. As such, he will affirm the truth
of the Old Testament consistently. In today’s passage we see the supreme
example of Jesus being orthodox.
(Mark 12:28-34 NIV) One
of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had
given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is
the most important?" {29} "The most
important one," answered Jesus, "is
this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. {30} Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' {31} The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There
is no commandment greater than these." {32} "Well said,
teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one
and there is no other but him. {33} To love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your
neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and
sacrifices." {34} When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he
said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of
God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
God is one
In most of the discussions of
this text the opening statement is skipped. Indeed, in Matthew’s parallel
account
he omits this opening statement. It is, however, found in the original from
the Old Testament.
It is also extremely important in the mind of the Jews, for it calls up the
oneness of God.
Integrity
We often use the word “integrity”
to mean uprightness, and that is perfectly correct. Its original meaning (from
the same root as “integer”) is “oneness.” It means that the person who
possesses integrity is not double minded; not this way one day and that way
the next. Integrity, in the sense of being one, is a key attribute of God.
Like all the attributes of God, it flows out from his character. We are told
that the native and the alien are to be treated alike.
Why? Because God is one. He cannot be a different God to the alien and the
native.
The concept becomes important
when we consider the nature of sin and evil. God is righteous; indeed, God is
righteousness itself. He cannot tolerate sin and evil. But God is love;
therefore He must love the sinner (which means me). In our lack of integrity
we “put up with” the conflict. In his integrity Christ comes to seek and save
the lost.
God is his attributes
The philosopher of the New
Testament is the Apostle John. More than any other writer he grasps the inner
nature of God. This is not surprising; he was Jesus’ closest friend on
earth. In his writings he makes three interesting statements:
·
God is light.
·
God is Spirit.
·
God is love.
The phrasing seems unique to
John, but it has influenced the church for centuries. Thomas Aquinas later
crystallized our thinking on it: God is his attributes. God is love;
he is also righteousness. We might in our day say that he is “pure”
righteousness. He is light, there is no darkness in him. So in dealing with
God there is no possibility of mixture or compromise. His integrity, his
“oneness,” prohibits it.
No “accidents” with God
Aquinas, in his classic work Summa
Theologica, states this last in the idea that there are no “accidents” with
God. The word means something different to him; it means those things which
are not essential to the character. God is not petty. He has no “small
parts.” With God, things truly are black and white – and there is no black
(meaning sin). There is no lukewarmness about God, for to be lukewarm is to be
a mixture of hot and cold. He is not a mixture of anything. He is pure.
This was important to the ancient
Israelite. All other peoples had a system of gods. You could bargain with
them, in effect. Needed rain? Go see the rain god. But don’t forget to
placate the sun god. And the fertility goddess could be bought off in that
little matter of your girlfriend on the side. But to the Hebrew all these
requests must go to the one God – and he cares about all of you.
Is there a point to all this?
Indeed, there is. If we are to love Him, we must know Him. And if we love
Him, then we will want to be like Him. I love my earthly father; his example
is one I have followed all my adult life. If I love my heavenly Father, should
I not also follow his example – integrity?
Love the Lord your God…
This is the thought that Moses
and Jesus are expressing. To do this they use a set of metaphors which are
still with us today. Bear in mind that we cannot separate these things out.
The intention is that we are to love God with everything we have and everything
we are or will be. By dissecting the words I do not wish to imply any limits
on our love for God, nor any area of our lives from which it is excluded. But
it is worth the time to examine the words – and ask the question, “am I living
up to it?”
All your heart
The Greek word is kardia
(from whence cardiology); to the Greeks it meant not only the physical heart but
also the thoughts and feelings. The Hebrew word which is being translated here
is lebab, which also means the physical organ but carries with it the
idea of courage. We still tell people to “take heart.” It is frequently used
in the New Testament as a metaphor, most commonly for
·
The idea of the will, the conscious conduct of man. The old King
James would use the expression, “he purposed in his heart…” where we might
say, “he made up his mind.”
·
The idea of the feelings of a man, the emotions. We still use
the heart as a metaphor for the deepest feelings we have.
·
The idea of the conscience. We still speak of people being
troubled in their hearts about something they’ve done; we often call it a
heartache.
So the question: are you
training your will, your feelings and your conscience to the love of God?
·
When you “make up your mind,” do you do it with God in mind?
·
Do you train your feelings to follow after God? How do you react
to song in worship, for example?
·
Do you keep a pure conscience, or do you let things slide? (Do
you grieve the Holy Spirit?)
All your soul
Interestingly, the word has
changed meaning quite a bit. The word in the Greek is psuche, from
which we get our word “psychology.” It means breath and is usually taken as a
metaphor for sentient life, life which is aware of itself. The Hebrew
equivalent is nephesh, which means breath also; the root word for it is
“throat.” It means physical life, but mostly in the sense that you are a
unique person. It would be used personally. It is not “life in general” but my
life that is spoken of as my soul. Whatever it is that is essentially me, that
is my soul, in this sense.
So the question is, do you love
God with this? Do you devote what is essentially you in this life to God?
·
How about those physical possessions which are most dear? Maybe
it’s the golf clubs, maybe it’s model trains, maybe it’s cars, but do they come
ahead of God?
·
The same question can be asked of your physical relationships.
My wife is my soul mate; does our relationship to God come ahead of our love
life?
·
Whatever it is that defines you as a human being, have you given
it to God?
All your mind
The Greek word here is dianoia,
which means the imagination, the mind, the understanding. Literally, it means
“deep thought.” Interestingly, the word does not appear in the Hebrew text
which Jesus is quoting. He is translating from Hebrew into Greek, and he finds
it necessary to add this phrase to convey the original meaning. This is not
surprising. The Hebrews were not the philosophers the Greeks were, and the
languages show it. There is no unique Hebrew word to translate this concept.
We understand this in the sense
of being an intellectual Christian (it is not sinful to be an intellectual
Christian, only unusual). There is the sense in which we think things through
in the light of God’s revelation and then determine what to do. Most commonly,
we see this in the idea of ethics. Ethics is (or should be) the application of
God’s mind to the problems we encounter on a day to day basis. It is the
discipline of the mind.
So I ask the question: do you
love God with your mind? Do you discipline that mind in what you read, see and
hear? More to the point, do you think through your decisions, consciously
taking into account what God has commanded you to do?
All your strength
The Greek here is ischus,
meaning force, power or strength. It is the closest Greek word to the original
Hebrew meod, which is a most unusual word. It is rarely used as a noun,
and when it is it can be translated “vehemence.” It’s usually used as an
adjective or adverb, and we might translate it therefore as “vehemently” or
“vigorously.” The concept is not one of doing pushups in church, but rather of
doing everything for God with all the force of character you have – vigorously,
vehemently.
So I ask the question: are you
lukewarm? Do you give God a polite, half-hearted effort, or do you throw
yourself into everything you do for Him with everything you have?
And your neighbor as yourself
John the Apostle points out that
the test of loving God is how you love your neighbor.
The struggle from the earliest days of this commandment has been against
turning it into a set of rules. You know, “a neighbor shall consist of any
person living not more than ….” The idea, of course, is to evade the intent
while keeping the letter, for the intent is damaging to my pride.
How do I love myself?
C. S. Lewis provided us with an
interesting concept here. Despite all the things I have done in my life (and
some of them are pretty dreadful) I have no real difficulty in loving myself.
In fact, I think that I’m really a wonderful person, great to be around, fun to
be with, life of the party and intellectual highlight of the day. God – of all
persons – could be thought to object to such drivel. But (in grace) he
doesn’t. He does, however, insist that I apply the same standard to everyone
else. So if I see my neighbor doing some of those same awful things, I am to
apply the same standard. This most of us find hard to do. Me included.
The standard you carry around
with you.
The convenient thing about the concept
is this: you carry it around with you. You don’t need to consult some
involved commentary to determine the right thing to do; you just ask “what
would I want someone to do if I were in that circumstance?” Then why is the
world such an unloving place, even among Christians who say they do this?
·
Because of our lack of integrity, our oneness. This method
requires that we look at ourselves and ask the question, “what grace would I
like to receive?” Instead, we look at others and ask, “what do they deserve?”
Integrity is required if love is to prevail!
·
Because we will not love with all of our selves. We want to do
part of the job, not all of it. We are lukewarm. God is not, and we should
imitate him.
The Good Samaritan
Jesus was asked this question in
another context, and gave in reply the story of the Good Samaritan.
Consider how the Samaritan reacted:
·
He loved with all his heart; for he reacted without fear of the
bandits who had beaten the traveler. (Perfect love casts out fear)
·
He gave, without stinting, from his time, money and effort – with
all his soul.
·
He did so with his mind, for he overcame the barriers of
prejudice of his day.
·
And when he told the innkeeper that he would pay whatever it
costs, he did it with all his strength.
The question is, would we do
likewise?
Whose son is he?
Jesus now finishes the question.
All these words would be nothing but those of a passing rabbi without
authority, and authority has run through all these debates. So Jesus now puts
the question to them:
(Mark 12:35-37 NIV)
While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the
Christ is the son of David? {36} David
himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: "'The Lord said to my
Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your
feet."' {37} David himself calls him
'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" The large crowd listened to
him with delight.
There is a certain delight to the
question, but we must understand their culture to get the point. In their
eyes, unlike ours today, a father was always considered greater than a son.
The father had the right to rule over the son. Solomon would call David lord,
but not the other way around, even though Solomon was the wisest of kings. How
then, could David call one of his descendants “Lord?”
What Christ is trying to get them
to see is that the Messiah (which is to say, the Christ, the Anointed One)
cannot be merely a physical descendant of David (though he must be that). He
must somehow be superior to David. This can only be true if the Messiah is
more than just a man. The dilemma is resolved only in the person of Jesus,
both God and Man. God is one in essence and substance but three in persons.
This being so, then, the command given
here carries with it the force of God. It was so in the time of Moses; it was
repeated in the time of Christ; it needs to be repeated to the Christian
today. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with
all your mind and all your strength – and your neighbor as yourself.
Hear, O Church, the Lord your God
is One.