"When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Being a Christian requires every part of a man, so much so that it appears to onlookers like a death.
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And 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.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
We are considering what Christian devotion looks like, and there seems no better place to begin than here. The concept of 'important commandment' jumps out at me to begin with. What is the man meaning? 'Important for what' we might ask. As a summary or essential statement of faith? But that's perhaps to enquire too much like a modern westerner with 'religion' as a substructure of society. The man isn't interested in defining the central tenants of Jewish religion, but for social and personal wellbeing.
For something to be important it is of use. The earth wire is of importance the electrical wiring, just as oxygen is the most important element in the air we breathe. Seen like this, the question takes on an air of medical enquiry from a senior doctor to a junior one. The man is perhaps wondering what particular axe this latest teacher has to grind. Will he emphasise adherence to Torah or the right to take up arms and reclaim what is theirs? Will he emphasise Yahweh-who-heals-you or Yahweh-our-banner?
Jesus' answer is as orthodox and as practical as they come. Are we to think that the most important commandment as defined by Jesus would be any different for us today? How much do we ever consider it?
The concept of 'commandment' is also important to the discussion. We are used to thinking of commands as one would a law code laying out what is illegal and what is legal. We hear the phrase 'the ten commandments' and think 'these ten things I must do if I am to be in the right' whereas within Jewish law they are categorised as the 'ten words', summary statements of broader teaching and concepts. They are words to live by, more than they are rules to keep.
'Which is the most important commandment?' seen with these two lenses put over them turns the question into: 'What is crucial word we need to live by?'
Jesus' reply is not the reply that many Christians would give to the same question. As we saw last week we often reply simply by telling a person to 'believe' or 'behave'.
Let's spend some time considering what Jesus says. Before we do, notice that Jesus rejects the exact nature of the question by the way he replies. The question, like a modern day investor, asks Jesus to define the One Thing that matters most of all. "Tell me the USP of our faith. 'P' Singular." Jesus replies with three:
The Shema
The Greatest Commandment
and a variation on the Golden Rule
These are, amongst many other things, the essentials of doctrine, devotion and duty. A devotional life must surely involve a focus on all three.
Hear
Take heed, pay careful attention
O Israel
The community and congregation of God's people. This underlies the centrality of the community and people of faith. There is a believing and called people as distinct from the other peoples in the world. The boundaries of that people are established by what follows:
Yahweh our Elohim
In a world of elohim (gods), we have Yahweh as ours, he is distinct from the other gods and is not the same. We must not be fooled into thinking that just because someone uses the word 'god' does not mean they have in mind ours. Is Yahweh your god?
Yahweh is one
He is united in his person, integrated and whole not divided against himself, not lacking anything.
At the outset Christian devotion is marked by attention to all the above, inaccuracy on the above results in a skewed and 'wonky' life.
Zac: my legs feel wonky.
We'll consider the rest of Jesus' reply in the next few weeks.