HAVING God as his savior and granter of victory, the psalmist expresses his love for Him and extols Him (Psalm 18:2-3, 3–4, 47, 51). Jesus teaches that the whole law and the prophets depend on loving God with one’s entire being and on loving one’s neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:34–40).
Loved and loving
ONLY here in Psalm 18 do we find, in the whole Bible, this tender word for love (raham in Hebrew) being used in reference to our human love for God. It is used four times in this psalm; three times it refers to the tenderness of God’s love for us, and properly so, because the Hebrew word comes from the word for “womb,” denoting the intimate love of a mother for a child in or from her womb. Used for God’s love for us, the word expresses the elemental connection with something that comes from one’s very being; it signifies the mysterious love of God for us, His people.
This extraordinary love of God is experienced by the psalmist, who calls Him his strength amid the very grave dangers and challenges he faced. God is his rock, his fortress, his stronghold—an impregnable bulwark against all attackers. God is his shield and horn of salvation, protecting him from all harm. God is his deliverer from every disaster and defeat. Indeed, God is his savior. God is the One who showed loving kindness to His anointed and granted great victory to His king. Based on so much love received from God, the psalmist lovingly cries out, “Praised be the Lord!” and triumphantly exclaims, “The Lord lives!” and confidently proclaims, “I love You, Lord!”
Loving God with one’s whole being
THE Pharisees wanted to cut Jesus down to size with a trick question based on the labyrinth of the law: Which commandment in the law is the greatest? In the maze of more than 600 commandments, the question would spark an endless debate that would put Jesus to a test. Whatever commandment Jesus chooses would surely be challenged by someone; whatever commandment He might appear to downgrade would reflect badly on Him. All commandments were binding because all came from God, although some were evidently more important than others.
Jesus did not choose one commandment. But He articulated the fundamental principle of the whole Mosaic Law, the principle underlying the prophets. He endorsed the summons that make up the Shema, the most significant prayer in the Jewish faith (Deuteronomy 6:5): “The Lord is our God…therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Loving God must entail the total engagement of a person, occupying one’s entire being. It is not just an act of superficial loyalty.
Loving others as one loves self
JESUS offers two commandments for all to reflect and live by. The second is like the first, not second in importance, but essentially interconnected in forming the basis on which the whole law and the prophets depend. It is from Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The two are not identical, though inseparable: Loving God with one’s entire being necessarily flows into and demands its expression in loving others as oneself, as also taught by God. Without getting bogged down in the messy arguments on which of the commandments are very important or not so important, Jesus is pointing out that our whole religious tradition is dependent on this commandment of love, and flows from the love of God and love of others.
In bringing together the two Biblical admonitions in the context of the Shema, Jesus is proclaiming that there is no other God but the Lord as the controlling theme of His own teaching. The primacy of God means the primacy of love. It is essential that we live in relationships of love with God and our neighbor. Love is the inner space, the center within the person from which the doing of the commandments and rules of life must flow, from where we should be doing whatever we do. It is doing it from the heart. It is to do…because we love.
Alálaong bagá, like the psalmist, we are the recipients of God’s unbounded and totally unmerited loving kindness. God created us out of love and from nothing. We are loved because the source we came from is love. And we live in the image of the Creator only in as much as we love, and we shall be fulfilled only when we dare to love. When we are directed to love God and one another, we are simply being in accord with our nature; fashioned out of love, it is our nature to love and be loved. And we show we love God by loving what He loves; we love God in the way we love our fellow human beings, especially those who have so little of love. Our love must be kindly and generous like God’s.
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Blurb:
In bringing together the two Biblical admonitions in the context of the Shema, Jesus is pro-claiming that there is no other God but the Lord as the controlling theme of His own teaching. The primacy of God means the primacy of love. It is essential that we live in relationships of love with God and our neighbor. Love is the inner space, the center within the person from which the doing of the commandments and rules of life must flow, from where we should be doing whatever we do. It is doing it from the heart. It is to do…because we love.