Jesus
was once asked which was the greatest commandment (Mark 12:28-33). He responded with “Love the Lord your God out
of all your heart, out of all your soul, out of all your understanding, out of
all your strength – and love your neighbor as yourself.”
When
I teach the Ten Commandments to my confirmation students, I tell them that the
first few commandments are about loving God, and the rest are about loving the
neighbor. One flows out of the
other. I love the way Martin Luther
explains each of the commandments in his Small Catechism: “We are to fear and love God, so that…” and
then explains what we are not to do according to the commandment, but also what
we so instead to show love.
Each
of the commandments flows out of the first commandment: Love God. Love for self comes from knowing you are a
beloved child of God – and love for others flows from loving God in response to
God’s love and mercy in your life.
What
would it look like if we loved God with all our heart and mind and soul and
strength? And loved our neighbors as
ourselves, remembering Jesus redefined neighbors to include pretty much
everyone. Including our enemies, who we
are to love and pray for.
What if we loved ourselves for that
matter -not narcissistic, inward-focused love, but truly loved ourselves as
beloved children of God, created in the image of God? This is a self-love that is not selfish, but
flows from God’s love for us and bubbles up, overflowing into the world.
If
you pay attention to the news, or follow Facebook, you’ll see there’s a whole
lot stuff out there that is exactly the opposite of loving God and loving the
neighbor. There’s a lot of fear, anger
and hatred being spouted. That’s evil
rearing its ugly head. That’s sin inviting us to turn away from God and back in
on ourselves.
Now
you may be afraid – it is truly a frightening world these days! And you may be angry – there’s a lot to be
angry about. But the faithful response
is never hatred. Jesus is pretty clear –
love God, love neighbor. Trust God. Pray for the enemies. Pray for the world. Trust God.
And put that trust and love for God in action by loving in the face of
fear, forgiving in the face of anger. Let love of God and others guide your
choices and actions.
And
when this seems just too impossible, ask God for help. For everything is possible with God.
I don’t
ask my confirmation students to memorize the 10 Commandments any more. Memorization is not a high priority in school
these days, and they don’t see the point in memorizing stuff they can look up
on line. What I do ask is for them to
memorize just this: Love God with all
your heart and soul and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as your self –
and your neighbor is everyone. I do this because Jesus taught that if you
remember just them much, you have all the Law and the Prophets.
I do this
because if you can just remember to act out of love, you’ve got it right.
