Just as the lawyer tests Jesus about his orthodoxy, so Jesus tests us about our commitment to being a part of the kingdom of heaven here on earth. Using Eugene Peterson's paraphrase from "The Message," Jesus is telling us to love God and love others with all our passion, our prayer and our intelligence. Or as Presbyterian Teaching Elders, Ruling Elders, and Deacons vow in their ordinations, we shall serve Jesus with all our energy, intelligence, imagination, and love.
No small feat - all this unconditional loving. And the phrase Jesus uses, "You shall" leaves no wiggle room - no room for for maybe, might, or "it's all just suggestions." The force and power behind these two commandments presses down on us with the impossibility of it all. Yet God loves us so much that God would send His only Son into the world that we might have eternal life - life both in the here-and-now kingdom of heaven, but also life forever with God.
What can God do with our love if we live by these two commandments? Love in action is a risk - a stepping out in faith. But oh.....the rewards. Psalm 90 paints a picture of what this life looks like: God, satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!
Thanks be to God for God's steadfast love that we might endeavor to share with the world.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley
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