Sh’ma
Mark 12:28-34
Memory is something that happens communally as well as individually. I bet that if I started a sentence with, "The Lord is my Shepherd...." many of you reading would be able to finish the sentence for me.
I see this communal memory clearly when I officiate funerals. At any funeral I've conducted, I can almost guarantee that there are a number in the room who have the entire 23rd Psalm or the Lord's prayer memorized. I hear this communal memory come to life when a room full of so many different people can sing the first verse of "Amazing Grace" or "I Come to the Garden Alone" from memory. I witness this communal memory at the bottom of the 7th inning at a baseball game when an entire stadium sings "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
And something relational happens when we find something deep in our bones like that which we have in common and share it with one another--even strangers.
Jesus was asked by a scribe in the gospel of Mark in the height of his final visit to Jerusalem, "Which commandment is the first of all?" Now, for a Jew, this answer only has one question.
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד
"Hear, O Isreal, YHWH is our God, YHWH is One"
This phrase is the beginning of a ubiquitous Jewish prayer known as the “Sh’ma.” It is considered by Jews to be the watchword of faith. Observant Jews recite it twice daily. The moment Jesus proclaimed this to the scribe, Jesus forged a connection with him through their shared faith.
The moment Jesus said the "Sh’ma" in answer to the scribe's question, Jesus animated something shared and ancient in both of their bones. And then Jesus fleshed out his answer further by mentioning another commandment from another book from the Torah. "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Historians and scholars have shared much about what they believe these commandments might have meant to those living during Jesus' life. Given the location of these commandments in the Torah, for instance, it is likely that “neighbor” was implicitly understood by Jews to be widows & orphans (Exodus 22:22-23), foreigners (Leviticus 19:33-34), and the poor (Deuteronomy 15:11), among others. In other Gospels, Jesus alludes to this in the sharing of parables in answer to that question. Today, I think it is an act of prayer for us to consider this question in our own context: Who is our neighbor?
The way I see it, Jesus makes it clear that these two commandments are yoked together inseparably. I love God when I sing to God, when I pray to God, when I feast at God's table in Holy Communion.
And I also love God when I share love with my neighbor who is struggling and suffering. I love God when I love my neighbor with whom I disagree significantly. I even love God by loving my neighbor who has no desire to love me back. Maybe our neighbor is the one completely blitzed out on fentanyl in our neighborhood. Or the single mom who lucked out on a place to live in Eiberhood. Or our gardeners who happen to be houseless. Or the programmer who is living in one of the trailers in the Lakewood Estates trailer park off of Ammons. Or the couple with a kid who is stealing food from the Safeway grocery store. Or the long time resident who is uncomfortable with the changes that have happened in this neighborhood over the past 15 years.
To love God wholly and completely is also to love that which God loves. And God loves each and every one of us. God loves every single person that shares breath on this earth with us. God loves the people that disgust us or horrify us.
And God loves us, too. Many of us might struggle to love ourselves. We might disgust or horrify ourselves. But failing to love ourselves leads us to fail in loving our neighbor, and loving that which God has lovingly created. Remember that each of you are worthy of God’s love. Which, by the way, is something all of us have in common like Jews and the Sh’ma, or baseball fans and “Take Me Out To The Ballgame.”
Love yourself. Love one another. Love God's creation. It isn't easy, but Jesus never said this life of faith was, did he?
