It’s easy to gloss over the words of Jesus, smugly thinking that His teaching is for the other guy, or that His wording is lofty for living in a 2025 reality. But living God with our whole being and loving others is the heart of the gospel, the essence of following Jesus anytime, anywhere, and with anyone. I have absent mindedly created barriers between myself and certain groups, and with individuals. I thought I was protecting myself but I have isolated myself from experiencing grace and mercy. I thought I was making progress in the public school setting but I sense a growing dissatisfaction in retirement with my protective walls.
“In John 13 the point was that, if an individual Christian does not show love toward other true Christians, the world has a right to judge that he is not a Christian. Here Jesus is stating something else which is much more cutting, much more profound: We cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus’ claims are true, and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians.” - Francis A. Schaeffer, The Mark of the Christian
““Jesus seemingly didn’t hesitate in responding with the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4–5. This text from Deuteronomy was recited daily by devout Jews. “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Then without pausing, he added Leviticus 19:18. “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mark 12:31). “The second” does not refer to ranking, as though the next one in line. Rather, it means the second part or continuation of the first. The two are inseparably tied together. They go together. The love of God is inseparable from love of neighbor. The way to love God is to love one’s neighbor. “There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:31).” - Excerpt, Following Jesus: Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark by Steve Langford
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