He asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” - Mark 12:28-31
“The Lord our God,”
Here is revealed the personal nature of God. I believe that God has chosen to be known as “the God of his people.” (Jeremiah 24:7) He is defined by his actions of grace and love towards those who are his. He desires to call us as “his own” and for us to call him “ours.”
He manifests his grace and love primarily through his own revelation of himself. He has taken the initiative to reveal himself to humanity first in the garden, then through the law, then finally through his son Jesus Christ.
He will be fully revealed on the last day when heaven and earth are no more, until then he reveals himself to humanity through the church which is called his body.
“the Lord is one.”
While the God may have three distinct personages: Father, Son, Spirit, they are still one. This is important for it shows the God of the Old Testament is not opposed to Jesus, rather he is fully revealed through Jesus. Additionally, the Spirit will not manifest any new teachings that are not one with (or congruent to) that which was revealed through Jesus and his disciples.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Our response to God’s revelation is love, love for God. This love is all consuming involving all of us, heart, soul, mind and strength.
Strength has traditionally been interpreted to mean the body. This indicates the importance of the physical in our relationship with God, meaning that what we do matters! If Paul’s analogy between our relationship with God and marriages is taken seriously then baptism becomes the consummation of our relationship with God (Ephesians 5:31-32) and communion the continual wedding feast.
Love is a relationship with choice while slavery is a relationship without choice. Therefore if one were to stop loving God then the relationship would be ended and the benefits from it forfeited.
“Love your neighbor as yourself”
This final portion shows that our relationship with God is to be manifested outwards as well as upwards. If our relationship with God is primary then our relationship with others is secondary and the love that God pours into us should be poured into others. This starts with our first neighbor (our spouses or parents) and then flows to our second neighbor (children or other family) then on sequentially. This means that whatever is good for our relationship with God is good for our first neighbor (our spouses) which is good for our second neighbor (our children) and so forth.
