Love at the core
I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever;
With my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 89:1
Read Matthew 22:34—40
If I pull back the camera and look at this passage in the middle of what is said around it, it is as I half-suspected. Yes, Jesus gives this answer in the midst of a test of wits with practised theologians. They are trying him on. They are, I feel, not honestly seeking. This is not open enquiry into the things of God. Here are made-up minds wanting to expose the Lord. I am caught in these kinds of probes at times. They are hardly discussions. This kind of talk does not bring out the best in me. I usually strike on the right answer long afterwards, in the shower. But Jesus! Look at my Lord! Put under pressure, he comes out with the sublime! This is what had to be at his own core. That is what is revealed when the pressure is on. Love God. Love my neighbour. The two are alike. Now I know. Now I know how to go ahead with my life.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the way and the truth and the life. What is at the heart of your life you have declared to be at the true heart of all human life. Human life is yours to define. How to live it is yours to establish. True life is based on your life. So I thank you that at the heart of your life is love of God. At the heart of your life is love for the neighbour, the near-at-hand and the far-away. And I thank you, further, that these two loves clothe each other. Each love helps me to see the other love. These loves beat with the same heart-beat. They are the heartbeat of the loving God. This is my true life now. It is for all this that I was created, and for all this I thank you tonight.