The Jewish “shema” is the most sacred commandment God gives to God’s people through the Torah (the Holy Scriptures). It is their confession of faith:

Hear O Israel, The Lord is our God. The Lord is One. Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. And it shall be that these words that I command you today shall be in your heart. And you shall teach them diligently to your children and you shall speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be for a remembrance between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deuteronomy).

This is followed by another important precept found in Leviticus, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (19:18).

The whole of the quote from Leviticus 19:17-18 goes like this:

You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall reprove your kinsman, and not incur guilt because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor like yourself; I am YHWH.

The Jewish prayer created from the shema is recited both morning and evening, as it stands at the central most important precept in Judaism. At first, one could take this passage to mean that one should love those in their immediate community. However, Leviticus goes to say this:

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress him. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native born among you; you shall love the alien like yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am YHWH your God (19:33).

In Judaism, these commandments are not just a matter of theology. They are meant to be practiced. All people are to be treated as beloved people of God.[1]

Great rabbis from the time of Rabbi Hillel in the first century BCE to Rabbi Akiva in the second century CE have stated that this transcendent precept encompasses all other commandments:
“Love God. Love neighbor as yourself.”

This would also be quoted as the most important precept by another rabbi even more dear to us: Rabbi Jesus.

In the scriptures, Jesus stands among other teachers of the law, and they are discussing the Torah, as rabbis frequently do. They seem to also be testing Jesus. In response to their question about what the most important commandment might be, Jesus quotes the shema, including both Deuteronomy and Leviticus: Love God. Love neighbor as yourself.[2]

But Jesus’ quote is a slight bit different. Listen to what Jesus says:

….and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

Jesus adds to the shema, including the mind. So, Jesus says, speaking directly to the teachers of the “Jewish law or legal system,” you must love not only with your emotions, your soul, and with all your strength, but you must also love with your mind: everything you do, every law you instill upon people, every judgment you make, every time you look upon another, you must first love.

Now that’s a powerful statement!

Jesus’ interpretation of the shema and what it would mean not only for our loyalty to God but to our actions would set the foundation for all of Christianity. For Christians are to be lovers not judgers, people of mercy and forgiveness not bestowers of banishment and punishment, servants of all not wielders of power and judgments.

Jesus’ entire ministry, his parables, his healings, his disputes, and his death would all demonstrate this precept: that love rules over everything. For in love he even gave his life for every person, both friend and enemy.

This emphasis on our loving relationship with God, and with each other, that kind of sacrificial, loyal, bonding, and self-effacing kind of love was meant to be the defining stamp of what it mean to be Christian.

The disciples knew it. Paul knew it. The early church knew it. And the reformers rediscovered it!

Today, in our church calendar, we celebrate the time of the Reformation, a time just as the Medieval period was ending, in which many great movers and shakers of the church, most notably Martin Luther, began re-examining the scriptures, Jesus, and the Church, and began waving a flat of protest against the “new legalisms” of a corrupt bureaucratic Christian church structure which had forgotten that main precept, that its job was not to wield power over God’s people, but to serve them, to love God first, and to love neighbor as self.

Luther struggled relentlessly with himself, his sin, what he understood about God, and what he learned as a boy about doing good. He struggled to reach unattainable goals, to follow the commandments without fail, and at last, he realized, this was an impossible task. His frustration sent him back to the scriptures, to the source of Jesus’ identity and teaching, only to realize that our “goodness,” our ability to love comes not of our own devices, but directly from our relationship with God. When we love God, it then helps us to learn to love neighbor as ourselves. Jesus’ sacrifice was a gift to us, a gift of grace, which allows us to gain entrance to God’s kingdom not by our own means, but by the means of Jesus’ salvation. We do good not because we are capable, but because God is capable.

Christianity is not a religion of individual attainment, but a religion of relationship, in which we can do good, because God is good. When we love God first, we then become capable of loving our neighbor.[3]

What God desires from us are not empty physical, ritualistic deeds but our love, our relationship, our intimacy, our loyalty. That’s why our relationship with Jesus throughout scripture is compared to a marriage. It is our relationship with Jesus, our intimate, sacrificial, loyal, vulnerable, committed relationship with Jesus, which defines us as Christians. And through that relationship, we learn to think, act, and be different.

A Christian’s primary job is not to learn rules, to memorize passages, to attend worship, or sing hymns, although these all are important and express our desire to learn about Jesus.

But a Christian’s primary job is simply to love.  Love God. Love Jesus. Love each other. Love all people. And God knows, we need help to do that!

The Reformation in its simplest sense, reminded us what was most important: to be directly an personally in relationship with God whether through scripture, prayer, or knowledge.

Today, we again need a “re-formation” of our hearts and especially of our minds. We need once again to remember who we are as Christians-–not those who judge others and determine who is right and who is wrong. Not those who separate ourselves from others in our communities and world and think somehow we are better than they. Not those who ritualistically go through the motions of faith while forgetting God throughout the week. Not those who claim to love in spirit but do nothing to how it in life. But those who love…passionately and actively. Sacrificially and relentlessly.

Today, we celebrate love. We re-form ourselves back into the loving image of God to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to not just feel love but to act lovingly to each other and those outside of our immediate circles. To give others what we would love for ourselves. To gift others what we would love to receive. To give others not our waste but our best. To love others in ways we yearn to be loved.

This is the kind of love Jesus advocated. This is the kind of love Jesus knew would change the world.

Today, go out in love. Do love. Be love.