COMMANDING RELATIONSHIP
"Which commandment is first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is, '...Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' " Mark 12:28-30, N.E.B.
There is such an incredible contrast of ideas in this verse that most people just don't grasp it in the first reading! So try to imagine the setting for this dramatic encounter.
Jesus was talking with a group of devoutly religious people. They were awesomely intent on doing absolutely everything that was required of them lest they miss out on salvation. And since the list of required actions was becoming quite long, allowing the chance that something might fall through the cracks, they wanted to make sure they at least mastered the most important requirement. So they asked Jesus which one that was.
Jesus' reply was completely unexpected. He said, in essence, "Your most important focus is not upon a thing to be done, but upon an intense, total, all-consuming relationship with a Person, whom one could indeed love."
Behavior versus relationship. We are still too often hung up on that distinction. For example, we might enter into a brisk discussion on the question Is it a sin to go hiking on the Sabbath? Some might want to consider how far we would walk, what we might wear, where the walk would take us--wanting carefully to avoid doing a wrong act.
But I suspect that Jesus would want us to ask, "Will it add to, or detract from, my relationship with my Friend?" And I am sure that Jesus would want us to be so enthralled with our heavenly Friend that we wouldn't regard the protecting of that friendship as an imposition upon our desires.
From Jesus, a "command" is not a do-it-or-else threat but rather an expression of His very strong desire for His people. And that desire is not just for actions we can "paste on" the outside of our lives. Rather it is for a relationship with Him that will produce an inner change--which in turn will produce the right outward actions.
When God "assembled" Adam in the garden, He breathed right into Adam's soul an intense longing for his Creator--a longing rich with trust, love, and dependence. Then God woke Adam and entered his life as the fulfillment of that very desire. Jesus now admonishes each of us to return to that original, rightful state for all mankind.
"Which commandment is first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is, '...Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' " Mark 12:28-30, N.E.B.
There is such an incredible contrast of ideas in this verse that most people just don't grasp it in the first reading! So try to imagine the setting for this dramatic encounter.
Jesus was talking with a group of devoutly religious people. They were awesomely intent on doing absolutely everything that was required of them lest they miss out on salvation. And since the list of required actions was becoming quite long, allowing the chance that something might fall through the cracks, they wanted to make sure they at least mastered the most important requirement. So they asked Jesus which one that was.
Jesus' reply was completely unexpected. He said, in essence, "Your most important focus is not upon a thing to be done, but upon an intense, total, all-consuming relationship with a Person, whom one could indeed love."
Behavior versus relationship. We are still too often hung up on that distinction. For example, we might enter into a brisk discussion on the question Is it a sin to go hiking on the Sabbath? Some might want to consider how far we would walk, what we might wear, where the walk would take us--wanting carefully to avoid doing a wrong act.
But I suspect that Jesus would want us to ask, "Will it add to, or detract from, my relationship with my Friend?" And I am sure that Jesus would want us to be so enthralled with our heavenly Friend that we wouldn't regard the protecting of that friendship as an imposition upon our desires.
From Jesus, a "command" is not a do-it-or-else threat but rather an expression of His very strong desire for His people. And that desire is not just for actions we can "paste on" the outside of our lives. Rather it is for a relationship with Him that will produce an inner change--which in turn will produce the right outward actions.
When God "assembled" Adam in the garden, He breathed right into Adam's soul an intense longing for his Creator--a longing rich with trust, love, and dependence. Then God woke Adam and entered his life as the fulfillment of that very desire. Jesus now admonishes each of us to return to that original, rightful state for all mankind.
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