I think the Lord made humans for the same reason I got a cat. I didn’t need a cat. The Lord doesn’t need living creatures, although, CS Lewis wrote a great book about this, the Four Loves, and theologians debate this point frequently enough. Maybe we both wanted something, someone to love and fuss over and delight in?
The first reading makes it clear that Moses and his people understand this as well. According to my college Bible-as-Lit professor, many cultures at the time were monotheistic. What made the Jewish people’s beliefs unique was that they believed that the One God loved and cared about them personally. Just as people care about each other. We are made in His image, so of course we love others and God loves us. It seems a bit of a no-brainer …
Ancient societies, the Romans, Israelites, Greeks, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, etc had all developed sophisticated societies based on common understandings of how people should live together. It was radically important that everyone was on the same page. As civilization developed, people specialized in specific occupations. This in turn lead to increased dependence on each other. Personal survival hinged on people adhering to commonly accepted behaviors, roles, and rules. In fact, like the Israelites and their Ten Commandments, many of these peoples wrote their rules and laws down. Over time, the rules and laws themselves became more important than the behavior they were aimed at promoting, mainly, treating each other kindly and fairly.
The Pharisees were the keepers of the law for the Israelites. According to biblical commentary by William Barclay, they took their task of knowing and safe-guarding these laws and rules very seriously. To many, they had become the linchpin and cornerstone of their faith tradition. Jesus is not just reminding people to be kind to each other, He is reminding them, that the Creator created them out of love and personal interest. First things first —love God.The second flows from the first, love other people and treat them right. If one loves, then the rules aren’t really as complicated as all that. He is offering a code of conduct which is simple enough that no expertise to be and do right is required.
It all — by all, I mean the big bang, the universe, life on earth, and each of our own individual lives — starts and ends with love. When my cat drops a toy at my feet so we can play, or I’ve spied a humpback whale and its baby off the coast, or when I see my seven year old neighbor trot down the front walkway to the car for a 6:30am school bus run, my heart stills and quiets. At the same time, it sort of leaps with a love for humanity, for Creation and Creator, for the Universe. Love is targeted and specific, but all-encompassing and wide-sweeping at the same time.
Journal Reflection Exercise
Recall a time when you felt love as is described in the above last paragraph. Use as many sensory details as possible. Write it both in prose and poetry.
Writing to Pray 