Jesus shows us that love of God and love of neighbour go hand in hand as he puts the two commandments right beside each other. He has drawn ‘the second’ from Leviticus 19:18, showing his great knowledge and love of scripture again. Why are the two “loves” so tightly connected? Because Jesus is not just God. He is the God-man in whom divinity and humanity come together. When we love Jesus as both God and human, we are invited to love the
humanity that he has created in love, and for whom he was prepared to give his life. That is how much God loves all of us whom God has created!
Love of God and love of neighbour are inseparable twins. “If someone says s/he loves God, but hates her/his neighbour s/he is a liar”, 1 John 4:20. Consider your bond to what you have created. God’s love for what God has created, every part of it, is even greater – it is unconditional. In expressing the love of what God has created, we express the love of God. You cannot speak lovingly to God in prayer if you do not treat your neighbour
lovingly in action. Each of us is a temple of God, and God is one, so we are one, interconnected in God. In serving each other and all of God’s creation, we serve God.
‘I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. I sought my God, but my God eluded me. I sought my ‘neighbour’ and I found all three.”
William Blake, 1757 -1827, an English Poet.
Jesus is also emphasising how important it is to love ourselves. Let me at least be as kind to myself as I am to others. Love does not mean that I do not count at all and only give. Love is about giving and receiving. It is in receiving that I can give.
When do I recognise God in those I meet?
Let me recall moments of experiencing God’s love directly; and through others? What action is God calling me to today?
