This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
In our Gospel this week, we are told that after silencing the Sadducees, Jesus is then cross-examined by a Pharisee who is also a lawyer. I’m very clear on the fact that this lawyer asked Jesus about the greatest commandment, but did you hear him mention anything about a second commandment? Jesus just slipped that one in there almost unnoticed, but that he bothered to do so begs us to stand up and take notice!
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Faithful Jews repeated the first commandment as part of the sacred prayer taken from the book of Deuteronomy, called the Shema, the Hebrew word for the first two words of the prayer, Hear O Israel. Observant Jews consider the Shema to be the most important part of the prayer service in Judaism, and its twice-daily recitation is considered a mitzvah, a commandment.
When Jesus adds something to the Great Commandment in the belovedShema, I think it might Jesus’ way of saying, Listen up!
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Firstly, it’s important to note that in the original Hebrew this second commandment would be better rendered as Love your neighbor ‘BECAUSE’ you love yourself. It’s causative rather than comparative. Therefore, right out of the starting gate, Jesus reminds us of something that many of us have forgotten, namely, that self-love is foundational to and the source of proper love for others. It’s no longer God first, neighbor second and self last.
How we view ourselves colors how we look upon others.
If I believe myself to be deceitful, I will most likely find that same deceit in others. If I find myself untrustworthy, I will begin to distrust others. If I have trouble really believing that God loves me, then it becomes a possibility that God really doesn’t love everybody; the church must have been deceiving us all these years.
You know for a long time now, we thought it was formal liturgy and staid music that has been at the heart of lagging church growth, but maybe it’s self-loathing that has made the church feel so irrelevant to so many these days. It doesn’t help that we have had a strong tradition in Christianity conveying that true holiness only comes when we totally deny ourselves. Such an ascetic life-style goes all the way back to John the Baptist.
There’s an amusing story that illustrates an ascetic life style carried a bit far:
In old-style convents, no nun was expected to ask for anything for herself; she was to keep her eyes open for the needs of those on either side of her, and ask for what they needed. One day a sister found a dead mouse in her soup. The nuns on either side weren’t paying attention, and the sister couldn’t figure out what to do.
Then she had an inspiration. Pointing to the nuns on either side of her, she said to the nun who was serving, Sister, neither of these two sisters has a mouse in her soup.
I know it’s going to sound strange, but for the Christian, it should read Christ first, self second and neighbor a very close third if things are to be as they should. As a priest in the church, I am so often put in the position of having to remind people that they are forgiven for things that I still punish my self for.
Do you ever find yourself doing that? I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Almost as soon as we are born, we are surrounded by people who want to label us, and a lot of the labels aren’t kind and loving, are they? And I’ve met so many people that hear them for so long that they begin to believe the labels. That’s when it’s important to remember the label that God gave us, the only label that really counts, God stamped it on our hearts: IMAGE OF GOD!
Sadly it’s often easier to get down on yourself than it is to lift yourself up, but if you want to love yourself, you have to change your mindset. You have to believe that you’re worthy of love, and you have to actively seek out positive things about yourself and your life. Believe me, if you don’t do it, no one else will.(1)
Change the way you think about yourself. I believe we all have the capability of doing this today; we can fulfill the second part of the great commandment right now.
Just make a list of those things that you do, they don’t have to be heroic acts, just things that mirror God’s love. Make a list. You may be very pleasantly surprised.
This Gospel serves as a reminder that you serve a God that is love and nothing else, and if that God dwells within each of you, as the Christian faith dictates, then you should, as the poet says: Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with a pot of gold at both ends. (2)
(1) Positively Present.com “The 6 Essentials for Cultivating Self-Love”https://www.positivelypresent.com>Blog
(2) Attributed to the poet, Aberjhani
I agree that God is LOVE. At one time I ran an alternative high school with troubled students. The most glaring issue I found was “their low self image.”.
My first job was to help them find their own self worth. Once that was accomplished that, then we worked on getting then a high school diploma.
The key was that if I could show them that I loved them because they were worth loving, then mabe they could see that they had value worth loving.
We had a lot of success but did not help them all.
So if they could not love themself, how are they going to love others?