COMMANDMENT OF LOVE: WHOSE NEED? 

‘The Lord is one, and love the Lord your God with all strength, mind, heart, and then love neighbours as oneself’’. Is God that narcissistic and jealous that He prioritises himself before other gods, and people? One needs to understand the context of time and culture of the people of Israel then. The commands in fact are meant to serve the good of people rather than God himself.

The people of Israel found themselves living among very morally corrupt peoples who practiced all sort of abhorrent vices such as human sacrifices to deities, prostitution in temples, immoral sexual behaviours among humans and animals… When God instructed them through Moses to focus on one God and love this God alone with all their strength, mind and heart, it was meant to protect them from those immoral vices. This love of One God only serves as an immunising dose into their personal and community lives. Whether they worship God or not, God is still God and still great. So, the commandment of love first of all and above all is meant to protect them and it is for their own good.

Loving neighbours as oneself flows from the above pure love of God. God is love, so anything that is from God and of God is definitely a genuine authentic love, for God is Love. When one loves God and immerses oneself in this love, one experiences what true love is, and from there, he/she brings this genuine authentic love to others.

In short, we can say the twin commandments of love of God and neighbours are two but in fact one. It is a commandment of Love, and God is Love. When we love God as God is wholeheartedly, then we can be assured that we are people of God, and that anything we do is certainly born of genuine love. The commandment of love as Jesus sums up in today’s gospel if understood in the right context of time and culture, is meant more for us, to protect us from moral corruption, and it helps us grow into loving people as God first and foremost is LOVE.