Jesus put two mitzvot
on love (aheb ) when a scribe asked
him, “Which mitzvah is the most important (Mark 12:28),? By putting Deuteronomy
6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18, saying, “The
first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength’. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these”(Mark
12:29-31), Jesus made his new rabbinic teaching on love, juxtaposing the mitzah to love God without anything held
back (Deuteronomy 6:5) ,because God alone is the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:4), to the
mitzvah to love our neighbors as
ourselves (Leviticus 19:18), as the supreme mitzvah
of agape.
In the Hebrew Torah, these mitzvot are on aheb, which
is understood as love that humans exercise ( in contrast to chesed that God practices on us as His
steadfast love, mercy, and kindness). However, in the Gospel, as becoming Jesus’
new rabbinic teaching on love, these mitzvot
on aheb have become the supreme mitzvah on agape in Jesus’ new rabbinic teaching. Agape in the New Testament corresponds not only to aheb but also chesed in the Hebrew Testament. Namely, agape in the New Testament makes both aheb and chesed
juxtaposed in one word of the supreme love. As chesed is on God’s level, while ahed
is on human, putting these Hebrew words on love into one New Testament Greek
word, agape, in Jesus’ new rabbinic
teaching on love, really inspires us to elevate the level of our love (aheb) to God’s love (chesed) as we practice our agape for God by practicing our agape for our neighbors. As we hold
nothing back in practicing our agape for God, as reflected in Deuteronomy 6:5, we
hold nothing back in practicing our agape for our neighbors. In other words, Jesus
wants us to love our neighbors just as unconditionally as we love God so.
Otherwise, our aheb would be so far
from God’s chesed, as it would not be
worthy to be considered as agape. In
fact, agape is the essence of Jesus’ mandatum novum: To love one another as
Jesus has loves us (John 13:34), as keeping this new mitzvah of Jesus on agape
makes us his disciples (John 13:35).
In essence, Jesus’ mandatum novum (John 13:34) is his encouragement for us to elevate
our aheb for one another – our neighbors
- to God’s chesed for us, as Jesus
wants us to love one another as he has loved us. Jesus’ love for us is always
on the level of chesed, because he is
one with the Father, whose love is always chesed.
This is a great challenge but very meaningful one in following the path of
Jesus as his disciples. We are called to
love one another – our neighbors, as Jesus, who is God, has loved us in his mandatum novum (John 13:34). In addition, through his new rabbinic
teaching on the supreme mitzah on agape (Mark 12:29-31 – Deuteronomy 6:5;
Leviticus 19:18), we come to understand that we really cannot practice agape
for God, to love God without any reservation, as commanded in Deuteronomy 6:5,
unless we do so for our neighbors – for each
other (Leviticus 19:18). If we separate our neighbors and one another by
distinguishing “us” from “others”, we are allowing devil, who divides and
breaks us down” into our communion.
Among us, one another, who is our neighbor that we
really need to practice this new rabbinic mitzvah
of agape by Jesus (Mark 12:29-31)?
Jesus’ new mitzvah
of agape is also found in his parable
of the Good Samaritan narrative (Luke 10:25-37). In this, an expert of torah, asked Jesus, “Rabbi, what must I
do to inherit eternal life?”(Luke 10:25). In response, Jesus the Rabbi, exercised
“Socratic Dialogue”, asking him, “What is written in torah? What do you read there? “(v.26), testing if he understands
the supreme mitzvah out of all 613 mitzvot in torah. Then, the torah
expert answered, citing both Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your strengths, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself”(v.27).
His answer to Jesus’ question on the most important mitzvah in torah to inherit
eternal life was correct. So, Jesus encouraged him to practice these two mitzvot he just cited for eternal life
(v. 28). However, this expert of torah
exposed his Pharisaic hypocrisy to Jesus, by saying, “Who is my neighbor?”(v. 29).
Then, Jesus’ response to his “stupid” question about who the neighbor to
love is became the parable of the Good Samaritan (vv.30-37). The parable teaches us that our neighbors to
reach out with our agape in
juxtaposition of Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 can be the very kind of
people that we usually do not consider our neighbors, as they are different –
as they are stranger to us – as they are foreigners – as they are not
Christian. But, the neighbor, whom the
Good Samaritan practiced Jesus’ new rabbinic teaching on agape (Mark 12:29-31),
juxtaposing Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, was a total stranger, while
this neighbor was ignored by his own people.
Furthermore, Jesus’ new rabbinic teaching on agape
for our neighbors as our way to show our unconditional love, agape, as the Good
Samaritan has demonstrated, affects how we will be judged by Christ at
eschaton. Upon reading the parable of the Good Samaritan in light of Jesus’ new
rabbinic mitzvah on agape of paralleling
our agape for God (Deuteronomy 6:5) and our agape for our neighbors (Leviticus
19:18) in Mark 12:29-31, now reflect it in the context of Matthew 25:31-46. You
will see, then, why Jesus indicates that we cannot truly love God, as commanded
in Deuteronomy 6:5, unless we can truly love our neighbors, as the Good
Samaritan did with Leviticus 19:18. Loving
our neighbors in most need can be, after all, loving Christ in our midst. When we face our judgement, we sure do not
want to say to Christ, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or
a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?”(Matthew
25:44).
In order to take Jesus’ new rabbinic teaching on the
supreme mitzvah on gape in Mark 12:29-31, juxtaposing mitzvah of agape for God (Deuteronomy 6:5) and mitzvah of agape for our
neighbors (Leviticus 19:18) into practice, we must ensure that our eyes are not
blind to our neighbors in need, because our blindness to our neighbors’ need
means our eyes are unable to see God, whom we are to love with all our heart,
with all our soul, and with all our might. This blindness can cost our chance
to inherit eternal life in the Kingdom to come.
May our eyes of agape
be fully open with compassion to exercise the supreme mitzvah of agape, as the
Good Samaritan did it for his neighbor in great need, so that we can truly love
God with our agape. May our practice of agape for God by loving our neighbors make our agape more like God's chesed for us.
