One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Mark 12:28

We recently had an election here. The country is divided. Everyone considers themselves to be on the side of the Truth even though we are constantly contradicting each other and ourselves. Both sides consider themselves to be intelligent and wise and, by default, those who disagree with them are the less unfortunate ones. No one believes that anything good can come from those who do not believe like them. I live in this environment too. I have my favorite side in this dispute despite my better judgment. Even the children and teens are talking about it. It seems like no one is going to win and everyone is going to end up losing in this battle unless we change the way we approach each other.

The gospel story quoted above is taken from a dispute. In every debate, the objective is to win. The Pharisees and the scribes wanted to win and make Jesus look irrelevant. They believed that they were on the side of the Truth. The issue was about the greatest commandment. For Jesus and the religious leaders, the Truth is manifested in the Law. However, they greatly differed in its interpretation and of course, each of was convinced that their version was the absolute Truth. Jesus’ enemies were looking for a loophole in His understanding of the Law. The scribe asked Jesus what he thought was the foundation of the Law.

Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘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.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. ” Mark 12:29-31

We have heard this verse countless of times. It doesn’t mean we understand it. Unfortunately, it is easy to overlook its profundity. It requires us to love a God whom we cannot see or imagine. We are incapable of understanding the magnitude of who God is. Therefore, how can we possibly love the God whom we cannot see or imagine? Perhaps the first step is acknowledging that we are not God. We have to admit to ourselves that we are not the center of the universe. All knowledge and wisdom doesn’t begin and end with us. Life does not exist for our benefit. We don’t have complete control over anything or anybody. We are nothing really but an insignificant collection of atoms in this universe of infinite number of atoms. The most amazing thing is that we exist and we are aware of our own existence. There is no reason why we should exist and yet we do. We could say that it is by chance. We could also consider the possibility that we exist because God loves us. We love God because God first loved us by bringing us into existence and the only way we can discover our significance in this world is through discovering this Love. God is beyond our comprehension but His Love is manifested in us. Our existence depends on His love. We can know God’s love by walking in Love. This is the only thing about God that is accessible to us. We can learn about God’s nature when we learn to exercise His love. Jesus tells us that it is through loving our neighbor as ourselves.

I love myself and therefore, I think the best of myself. I believe that all my opinions and reasoning are based on wisdom because I love myself. If I have to love my neighbor as myself, then I have to think the best of my neighbor even though I dislike the way he or she thinks. This is quite tough. I can understand why the Pharisees and the Scribes had a tough time with Jesus. They disagreed with everything He said. They could not find anything positive in Him. They could not imagine that Jesus was wise like them. If the Pharisees and the scribes loved Jesus, they could have learned something from Him. Unfortunately they didn’t, well, except this one. This is the twist in the above narrative. This scribe was different.

The scribe was surprised by Jesus’ answer. He heard what Jesus said and acknowledge its wisdom. He was not merely attacking but he was listening to his enemy. This is Love. It is recognizing that the people we dislike or disagree with also have the capability to speak the Truth to us. We can miss the most important lessons about the Truth if we think that our enemies have absolutely nothing to say to us. However, all my natural instincts work against me. Our natural tendency is to disregard our enemies completely. However, the gospel goes against our natural human instincts.

Listening to people we dislike or even despise goes against our nature. However, being able to receive from them the Truth like the scribe did in this narrative is even harder. I am only able to receive words and wisdom from those whom I love and cherish. Jesus is setting the bar very high. However, an enemy of Jesus was able to attain it. Therefore, I don’t have much of an excuse if I claim to be a follower of Jesus.

I don’t have to give up my version of the Truth. I need something to guide me in this world. However, my truth has to be based on Love if not, it is just worthless noise. Love means I have to listen even those whom I don’t like. I am not sure how I am going to do it. However, there is always grace. It gives us the strength to admit that we are just a tiny atom in this wonderful existence founded on the Love of God. Therefore, we don’t know everything that there is to know. However, we can listen and learn something from people when we least expect. For this, we need to understand what it means to love. I believe that now I am ready to go back to the streets and be with the children and teens even though I am convinced that we have some difficult times before us. Nevertheless, there is nothing that is going to hinder me from loving my neighbor.