What is the greatest or first commandment?

Jesus always gave the same answer to the question, "What is the greatest or first commandment?" and it began with words from the Shema: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."(Deut 6:4-5) These words would have been "kept in his heart" (Deut 6:6) because Jesus grew up a devout Jew. The words of this prayer would have been spoken to him per the text:" Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. (Deut 6:7)

The Shema, named after the first word of the prayer, which means to hear, is considered by some the most essential prayer in Judaism. It would have been as familiar to Jesus as the Lord's prayer might be to us. The Shema speaks of the sovereignty of God, the God who saved Isreal, and how our first and last thoughts should be of that God; the saving God, the God who shows up for God's people, the God who asks us to believe and follow.

Jesus adds to the Shema in the Gospels by commanding that not only are we to love God with all of our being but, we are also to love our neighbor as ourselves. Love, love, love. To follow God is to love first and then extend that love into the world.

In a time when people seem to be so angry, so tired, so done with a pandemic, it seems that it might provide some respite for weary souls to go back to love. To teach our children, to talk about it when we rise and when we lie down, to talk about it while we are away or when we are home, to evangelize love. For if we are followers of Jesus, we are followers of love and have a responsibility to share that love with the world.

Holy God,

May our words and deeds exude nothing but love to the world.

May we teach our children and learn ourselves that loving God leads to loving action.

May we be the one whose kindness is salvific,

and may a loving God be our first thought at dawn and our last thought at dusk.

Amen