When love starts with Jesus
by Tim Castle-Schmidt
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Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 22:37,39b).
Read Matthew 22:34–46
The Pharisees come to Jesus with what they think is a clever test: ‘Which commandment matters most?’ Jesus does not dodge the question. He answers simply: ‘Love God with everything, and love your neighbour as yourself.’ There it is. The whole law, condensed into love.
And if we are honest, that answer should stop us in our tracks. Love God with all your heart? All your soul? All your mind? Love the person next door, the difficult family member, the annoying committee member, the stranger, the enemy, as yourself? That is not a gentle religious suggestion. That is God’s law, and it is far deeper than good manners or being basically nice.
But Jesus does not leave us staring at our failure. Jesus turns the conversation to the Messiah: David’s son, yet David’s Lord. The one who commands love is also the one who fulfils it. Jesus loves the Father perfectly. Jesus loves his neighbours perfectly. Jesus loves sinners all the way to the cross.
That is the good news tucked inside this sharp little exchange. We are not vindicated by our track record of love. We are vindicated by Christ. Because we no longer need to scramble to prove ourselves, we are set free to begin loving properly. Not to earn God’s smile, but because in Jesus we already have it.
Vindicated by Christ, God’s people are freed and formed to love. So today, take the command of love seriously, but receive Christ even more seriously. He is not only your teacher. He is your Lord, your righteousness and your life. From him, love begins again.
Lord Jesus, thank you for fulfilling love for us. Free us from proving ourselves, and teach us to love God and our neighbour from the life you give. Amen.
By his own admission, Tim Castle-Schmidt is a broken man. Broken in body, mind and spirit, he says he is learning that God is at work in and through human brokenness. He says that while God has not ‘fixed’ him, God continues to work through his brokenness to connect with the world. Tim is the pastor of Nunawading–Waverley Lutheran Church in Melbourne. After spending many years as a teacher in Lutheran schools, he finally listened to God’s call to the pastoral ministry. Tim is passionate about social justice and engaging the church with contemporary society. Tim shares his life with Fiona, Miranda, and a Jack Russell called Otto.
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