The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, He is One and there is no other than he. And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Mark 12:28-34)
According to her 2021 book, “A Most Peculiar Book: The Inherent Strangeness of the Bible,” Kristin Swenson made an interesting point. She said, “In the Bible, ‘love’ can be (and is) commanded, with the same tenor of a charge to fulfill an obligation as, say, showing up on time for work…the word [love] is indeed used in this commanding way, off-putting to those of us who think of love as an emotional thing, not something a person can demand of another.
In the biblical world, a person could get into a mess of trouble carrying such notions around. Love, in many cases, is the severe duty an inferior owes his or her superior. The term is used in ancient treaties between two kings or nations, with the lessor (vassal) required to ‘love’ the greater (suzerain). Being a treaty, fulfilling the obligation to love brought some benefit to each party – usually protection for the lessor by the more powerful party, if only the promise by the greater not to smash the lessor…”
Taking the emotional aspect out of love when used by biblical writers seems easy. However, when Jesus uses “love,” emotion is important. After all, loving God and neighbors as obligations is not easy to sell to worshipers. Emotion leads to real attachment and a willingness to do whatever is necessary to understand how not to be far from the Kingdom of God.
Deacon David Pierce
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