Is it possible to love on command?
When Moses repeatedly shares the commandments and statutes of God with the people of Israel in the Book of Deuteronomy, he
clearly stresses that obedience to the law is within their power: For
this command that I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for
you… Indeed, he goes on to state, it
is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you
have only to carry it out. Like the
psalmist in Psalm 19, Moses knows the law
of the Lord is perfect, more precious
than gold… if only we have the sense
to embrace its core, which is love. To keep love in our mouths is to give it voice unceasingly; to recognize it in our hearts allows us to act so as to
reveal God’s love constantly to others.
Moses intends for the people of Israel to be a people of love first and
foremost.
It is not surprising that in Luke’s Gospel, when challenged
to state the most effective path to eternal
life, Jesus echoes the Shema or
daily declaration of faith of the Jewish people: You
shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with
all your strength, and with all your
mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
Privileging love over legalism, Jesus stresses that the path to life is
through generous acts of kindness and compassion, overt demonstrations, in
other words, of care and concern for others.
This is not necessarily the way ordinary people act, as illustrated by
the parable of the Good Samaritan – the priest and Levite both pass by on the opposite side, remember –
but it is the way God acts, it is the way Jesus acts, and it is our
call as well.
For, as Paul reminds the Colossians, in Jesus, all fullness—all love—was pleased to dwell and Jesus was thus
able to reconcile humankind to God, making
peace by the blood of his cross. Through his death, Jesus became the
ultimate manifestation of God’s love for all of us; it was his command act, so to
speak, a radical act of redemption so that we might live. Do this
– love! – and you will live,
Jesus tells the scholar of the law. It
is our command as well, to act constantly for other, giving out of the very depths
of our being, allowing the commandments of God to be Spirit and life in us, so that we might be life-giving in our turn.
This post is based on OLMC's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
Image source: Wordle
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