In today’s gospel Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Hoping to trip him up the ask him:
“Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?”
Unfazed by their question Jesus has an answer ready that they cannot disagree with:
“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind… You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
His answer takes us back to the most basic principle of Christian life, the call to love wholeheartedly. This is not just a fine principle based on spiritual or devotional practice.
It is a call to give surrender ourselves and our lives wholeheartedly to God, to respond with our whole being to God’s call. But it is not only that, the love of God that we are called to is to be lived out in the practicalities of daily life. By itself it is not enough.
Love of God has to go hand-in-hand with love of our neighbours and (though we so often forget it) of ourselves. But Jesus words are clear, we are called to love our neighbour “as yourself”.
Challenging as we find it I sometimes think we better understand the call to love our neighbour than the call to love ourselves.
The call to love is a call to ensure that no one is left outside the circle of God’s love. It’s a call to love everyone as precious and valued children of God. That applies to our neighbours wherever we encounter them. Uncomfortable as it may make us feel, it also applies to ourselves.
Where is Christ calling you to widen the circle of his love so that it includes everyone you encounter?