On Love

Greetings Dear Reader,

First I wish to send my fondest desire for all of you to have a happy Valentine’s Day.  Second I want to micro-focus on love for a moment.  When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment is he responded this way.

One of the Scribes approached Jesus while he was reasoning with the Sadducees and saw that Jesus had given them an excellent answer.  He asked Jesus, “Which commandment takes precedence over all the others?”  Jesus answered him, “The commandment that takes precedence over all other is this: ‘Attend to this Israel, Yahweh our God is one Yahweh.  Indeed you must love unconditionally Yahweh who is your God with the center of your physical life.  You must love Yahweh unconditionally with the core of your spiritual life.  You must love Yahweh unconditionally with the vital force that animates you.  You must love Yahweh unconditionally with the all of your understanding, feeling, and desire.  You must love Yahweh unconditionally with all of your force and might.’  Furthermore, the second commandment is similar.  You must unconditionally love every other person as you love yourself.  There is no injunction stronger than these.” (Mark 12:28-31, ATT)

In light of these words I ponder what it means to love someone else.  A dear friend and mentor once pointed out that if one keeps the first commandment then one cannot violate the second.  Everything about what we do is to be directed to this end.  Imagine the unfolding of events if we did this.  Even if just a handful of us did this most of the time.  We are required to do it always but imagine if we worked toward that.

All of the political and social striving that we do would be focused on this end.  We would realize that everyone needs good medical care and demand it for everyone.  We would see that homelessness and hunger are everyone’s responsibility and that we cannot relegate them to organizations and institutions.  We would understand that all life is precious and would stop killing the innocent and weak. 

If I am always about the business of loving Yahweh unconditionally in all that I do then everything else falls into place.  I would be too busy doing this to be selfish, self-centered, and unkind.  My time would be consumed in pursuit of things that matter and I would work things out under the banner of unconditional love when there is disagreement. 

Should this not be our true focus on a day dedicated to celebrating love?

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."