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“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22: 36-40Matthew 22: 36-40
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? ³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.  

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Love encompasses every aspect of our person: the way we think, act, feel. It cannot be limited to warm feelings alone and yet feelings cannot be excluded. Love takes form in actions and yet right actions alone are not the fullness of love. All my abilities and potential abilities as a human must be brought into the service of love.

Jesus connects the love of God with the love of other people. These two commands provide the heart of living in relationship. Since these two commandments provide the foundation of the the Law and the Prophets, I might see the Law and the Prophets as explanation or exposition upon love of God and love of other people.

But instead of thinking of the Law and the Prophets as some sort of dry, legal or academic work upon the nature of love, we might do better to think of them as stories and songs and words of wisdom that build upon the root command to love. While we sometimes act like the meaning of love is elusive, the Bible explores every aspect, every nuance, every possible expression of love.

From the opening words of Genesis to the closing words of Revelation, we see descriptions, explanations, pictures, stories, aphorisms, creative activity and even humor brought in service of revealing love. Yet all the words of Scripture are incomplete without the person of Jesus.

Jesus comes as the Messiah, the true King of Israel, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. In so doing, he fulfills all human culture, all human stories and all expressions of human love. In His life, I see love, I see relationship, I see and hear stories of what love looks like and how love behaves.

At the end of His life, as Jesus shares a final meal with His disciples, He says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35John 13:34-35
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. ³⁵ By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  

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He has just finished washing their feet. He has just sent Judas away. He has just indicated that he also must go away. In just a few hours, Judas’ betrayal will lead to his capture, arrest and crucifixion. Even as He prepares them for His death, He calls them to follow in His footsteps. Jesus reveals the final expression of love: to lay down your life for one another, even unto death.

Jesus, the Christ, the Teacher, the Friend is also the Lord. He comes as the complete expression of Israel’s Lord. In Jesus, we see the express image of God’s love.

God enters into the human story. He enters into our pains, our failures, our griefs, our suffering. He enters into the pain that we have inflicted and the pain that has been inflicted upon us. He fully enters into the anguish of human suffering and sorrow.

He enters into a world of broken relationships and broken people. And he bears the brokenness within Himself. For only God can redeem us, forgive us and restore our capacity to love. Even as He is redeeming us, Jesus calls us to follow Him and become lovers like Himself.

That mark of love will be the mark of His followers. Christianity is invitation to become lovers. This love will impact everything we think, everything we say and everything we do. This love will require us to lay down our lives: again and again. This love leads us to the end of ourselves and the beginning of ourselves.

Even as we are poured out on behalf of one another, we are being renewed inwardly. The call of Christ Jesus is both the invitation to die and the invitation to live again. It is the call call to live in the wonder of a love that sustains all things by His Word alone.

Now through Christ, I look back at the Law and Prophets, and I see and hear Him teaching me how to love. He is speaking to me in the story of Adam and Eve, as well as Cain and Abel. He is calling to me in the call of Abraham and He is delivering me in Exodus of Egypt. In every story, in every aphorism, in every command, He is speaking. He is revealing His wisdom. He is teaching us how live in relationship with other people, how to be children, lovers, parents, and families.

In Christ and through Christ, the whole Bible can be seen as a book of love, opening up the call of God to His people, the power of God in His people, and the life of God through His people. He is making us human. He is making us lovers. And He is welcoming us into the communion of His love.

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