Perspective: Priority One

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Priority One

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NRSV)

When it's all said and done

No one remembers

How far we have run

The only thing that matters

Is how we have loved

From "Blink" by Revive

One day, a religious scholar asks Jesus, "Which commandment is the first of all?"  Scholars like him have counted 613 commandments in the Torah, the books of the Jewish Law, and he wants to know which commandment Jesus thinks is most important.  Jesus answers, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'"¹

Jesus then says, "The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'²  There is no other commandment greater than these."

What strikes me about this story is the fact that, though the scholar only asks Jesus for the most important commandment in the Law, Jesus responds with the most important commandment and the second most important commandment.  Why doesn't Jesus simply give the scholar the information he requested?

I think that maybe Jesus responds with two commandments instead of one because He has to respond with two.  In fact, I'm not so certain that these commandments are necessarily two distinct commandments.  Maybe these two commandments are inextricably linked: maybe a person cannot obey the most important commandment without obeying the second.  In a letter to the early Church, St. John writes, "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.  The commandment we have from Him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also."³

The religious scholar likes Jesus' answer.  He says that obeying these two commandments is "much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  In Jesus' day and time, people worshiped God by sacrificing livestock at the temple in Jerusalem.  Jesus replies, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."⁴

I recently read part of The Last Week by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan.  In this book, the authors make a very interesting statement: "God has repeatedly said, 'I reject your worship because of your lack of justice,' but never, ever, ever, 'I reject your justice because of your lack of worship.'"⁵  In this case, justice does not mean ensuring that criminals get what they deserve but rather ensuring that all people are treated as God wants them to be treated.  Borg and Crossan offer a number of examples from the Jewish prophets.

Consider this example:

I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.⁶

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "When you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift."⁷  Jesus put a higher priority on reconciliation between people who are estranged from each other than on acts of worship.

Nowadays, Christians don't typically worship God by sacrificing livestock; instead, we go to church weekly, pray, study the Bible, and give a portion of our income to the church or to charity.  These actions might be called works of piety.  Such works are important, but if they don't cause us to become more loving toward our neighbors - those who live next door and those who live on the other side of the world - those we like and those we dislike - then maybe our works of piety are all completely worthless.

St. Augustine once posed the question, "What then do I love when I love my God?"  The Bible tells us that humanity was created "in the image of God."⁸  Though we are not able to see God, we are able to see the seven billion people in this world who bear God's image.  When we love God, we love those who are created in the image of God, be they friends or foes.  Brian Zahnd explains it thusly: "The biblical test case for love of God... is love of neighbor...  But the biblical test case for love of neighbor is love of enemy."⁹

One cannot love God without loving other people.  If a person doesn't love, then it doesn't matter how religious, spiritual, pious, or devoted he or she is.  Religion that does not help people to become more loving is utterly worthless.  St. Paul said that, at the end of the day, it all comes down to faith, hope, and love but that the most important of these is love.

Love is our priority one.


Notes:

1. Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5.
2. Jesus is quoting Leviticus 19:18.
3. 1 John 4:20-21 (NRSV)
4. This exchange between the religious scholar and Jesus can be found at Mark 12:28-34 (NRSV).  Alternate versions of the story can be found at Matthew 22:34-40 and Luke 10:25-37.
5. Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan.  The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem.  2006, HarperOne.  p. 44
6. Amos 5:21-24 (NRSV).  Borg and Crossan's other examples are Hosea 6:6, Micah 6:6-8, Isaiah 1:11-17.  pp. 44-45
7. Matthew 5:23-24 (NRSV)
8. Genesis 1:26-27
9. Brian Zahnd.  "Going with the Grain of Love."  Word of Life Church Podcast, 03/28/2014.

The photograph featured in this perspective was taken by Willy Horsch and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.