Loving God, Neighbor, Self

 

On this second full week of 2022, I want to invite you to lean in and listen to one of my favorite passages of Scripture from Mark 12:28-31

 

²⁸ One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰ 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.’ ³¹ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

 

Part of what I love about this passage is that the scribe asks for one commandment; the scribe wants to know what is at number one on the greatest of all time Hebrew laws.  Remember, there were over six hundred laws in the Hebrew Scriptures, so knowing number one is a good question.  The scribe asks a simple, straightforward question.  Jesus decides essentially why select only one, when two are better, and three are even better-er.  You did catch that Jesus gives three answers, right?

Love God with your full self.  Love your neighbor.  And, love yourself.

Love God from the top of your head to your pinkie toe.  Love the other as a brother and the person in-front of you as if you were encountering God.  Love your beautiful and sometimes broken self. 

Love the Divine who forms and fashions you.  Love God incarnate in those you interact with today.  Love God found here on earth in your words, actions, and unique self.

In the coming weeks, I want to explore each of these invitations deeply.  For right now, I want to encourage you to make this practical and for this to be the reader participation part of the morning meditation.  I invite you to create a chart.  My right-brain brothers and sisters are saying, “Amen!”  The chart should have seven columns – one for each day of the week.  The chart should have three rows – one for each of the above invitations to love.  Then, I want you to write a specific way you will embrace and embody love of God, other, and self on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this week.

You didn’t realize this year’s morning meditations were going to assign homework!  I understand if you are thinking, I didn’t sign up for the advanced level of morning meditations, Wes.  Remember, I am not asking to check your homework, although I would love to talk to you more about this.  But one of the ways we make the words of Scripture come to life is by letting the words find life in us each day.  How will you love God on Wednesday?  How might you show God’s love at that meeting on Friday?  With whom will you interact on Tuesday where you might carry God’s love?  And how, through the whole week, can you let God’s love take hold of your heart? 

May this invitation speak to your heart and awaken your life as we explore one of the most central passages of Scripture for our lives in these early days of 2022.  Amen.