The Shema (2)
And you shall love YHWH your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:5
Love – The first action of the Shema is to listen-respond. The second is to love. The second verb (ahav) begins the series of demands. YHWH demands that we love Him. The scope of that love is explained in the demand it places on our hearts, our souls and our strength, although we will soon discover that these English words don’t quite capture what the Hebrew implies.
The first thing to notice is this: God commands us to love Him. This is not how we think of love. It would be nonsense in our culture to tell someone that she must love another. She would object. “OK, you can demand that I respect this man or that I be nice to him, but you can’t demand that I love him. That’s like telling me to love a job I hate. You can command my behavior, but you can’t force me to feel a certain way. Feelings aren’t subject to rational decisions.” But there it is in Hebrew – veahavta et YHWH eloheikha. The Shema demands that I love God.
This can only mean one thing. Love is not how we feel. Love is what we do, how we respond. It doesn’t matter how we feel. It only matters how we act. God will never demand something of us that we cannot accomplish. He knows us. He knows that feelings are fickle (the Greeks were right about this one). But He also knows that actions do not require feelings. Feelings follow actions. So, act first and wait for the feelings to catch up. Actually, act first, second, third, fourth and so on – and eventually the feelings will arrive. To hear is to respond with action. To love is to act according the God’s directions.
It’s easy to nod approvingly as we read these words. Yes, of course loving God means acting according to His instructions. Sure, we understand that feelings follow. We are confident that God will provide the theology of emotion once we take up the theology of action. But before we become self-righteous in our new-found insight, let’s consider the larger implications of this definition of love. Loving God is not different from loving a spouse, a friend, a companion or an enemy. Love is defined by what I do, not how I feel. This is so counter-cultural that it is worth elaborating. We do not fall in love according to the Bible. We act with love. We are not passive recipients of an emotional onslaught. We do what love demands – and wait for the rest. Loving God by keeping His instructions for life is only the preparation for loving others in the same active way.
Paul provides us a summary of love’s active ingredients. Each characteristic is an action, not a feeling. Be patient. Be kind. Do not be jealous. Don’t boast. Do not be arrogant. Don’t act inappropriately. Don’t seek your own agenda. Don’t be provoked. Forgive. Rejoice in righteous behavior. Be joyful over the truth. Be content. Be reliable. Hope. Persevere. Of course, this list depends on the Hebrew thought behind the words. But you get the idea. Love is not being swept away. It is not falling head over heels. It is not heart flutters or passionate longing. It is doing what is demanded even when you don’t feel like it.
With this definition in mind, it’s fairly easy to determine if you love someone. Do these actions apply to your relationship? Would an outside observer describe your behavior toward the other person with Paul’s categories? Two decades ago I sat across a restaurant table from a friend, complaining bitterly about the state of my marriage. My friend looked me in the eyes and asked, “Do you love her?” Of course, I said. Then I got hit with the two-by-four. “I don’t know how you can say that when I see how you act.” Wham! The truth was I didn’t love my wife in spite of my words. My actions cost me a skin-tearing, soul-ripping divorce. A most painful lesson brought about by my own selfish desires. Never again. Love is a verb. Don’t forget it.
Topical Index: love, ahav, command, Deuteronomy 6:5
The twin towers. “Shema and ahav.” lol!- And what a word is this “ahav!” “Remember to love!” lol! Remember to serve. Remember to work. Remember to worship.
And remember- behind every “command” of G-d is the G-d given ability to obey! We (each and all) are able to do what G-d asks. He would not ask of us anything we would not be capable of doing- that would be ludicrous!
Yeshua (again) said- “if you love me- keep my commandments.” We have, right here, an “opportunity” to display our love for our Abba. Because He first loved us and gave us His son as a propitiation (a peace-offering) for our sins, our “right-response” to Him is obedience.
Think for just a moment- (it’s okay to think..lol!)- those of us who are fathers. What thrills us more than obedient children? What grieves our hearts more than those who stray from the straight path?
Now, let’s “kick it up a notch.” It’s our turn on the hot-seat. (ouch!). It’s only a bumper sticker, but I like what it says. “If you love Jesus, don’t honk,- obey!”
“A new commandment I give to you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13.34) Friends, – that’s a tall order! Sink your teeth into the meat of that command and I guarantee- you’ll stay quite busy! lol!
“Even a child is known by his doings..” You may “say” you love your wife all day long, but until you “demonstrate” this love by your doings (words, actions, attitudes) our words fall flat on the floor. “Our “saying” must become our “doing”. Love needs expression. Love must be demonstrated.
I am drawn toward Romans 5.8: -But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The greatest demonstration of Love ever- Calvary.
And we who are husbands are (according to G-d’s instructions) to love our wives as Christ loved the church. Another impossible task? No. We are to love our wives selflessly, sacrificially, supremely. (All together now.. Wow!) It is possible to love like that? Well? Is it? Yes, it is. This is where “grace” occurs!
Love is a choice. “Forsaking all others and cleaving unto her only”- remember those words? (it was some time ago for me), but today- thirty plus years later, she is the one (and the only one!). One man, one woman, till death do us part. That is G-d’s plan.
I must choose to love my wife. Refusing that. Choosing this. That’s how it works. Eyes front and center mister- we walk by faith and not by sight. “Choose you this day Who you will ahav.” Isn’t it wonderful? We have a choice. But as we all (hopefully) know by now, every choice is followed by a consequence. ruh-roh. What if I choose to obey G-d and walk in His ways? Good choice Carl- you done good. What are the consequences of obedience? uh-huh.
People- there are some changes in behavior that need to take place (today) in this man’s life. I’m signing off now- I’ve got some praying to do..
Skip, your comment juxtaposes Scripture with our contemporary world and its wrong ideas. The rise of Romanticism, hot on the heels of the Enlightenment, exemplified in hundreds and hundreds of novels, music compositions, pieces of art, — and hymns! — turned love into the notorious love-triangle, just as often with adultery intermixed. In this sense, love became a tragedy of emotion, of feeling. Man’s desire to be his own god turns everything upside down – from doing to feeling. So if it feels good do it.
In contrast to the modern world, love and Torah belong together. As the writer of 1 John 5:3 reminds us: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”
Not burdensome? Now what excuses are we going to find?
Hi Ian,
Do you have Rene Girard’s “mediated desire” in mind?
“”the possibility of mankind becoming like God through the Son’s mediation. Indeed, this process could only take place through him, since he is the only Mediator, the one bridge between the Kingdom of violence and the Kingdom of God.”
From: René Girard’s “Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World.”
Hi Ian,
Your mention of “the notorious love-triangle” made me think of Rene Girard’s reading’s of some of my favorite novels by Stendhal, Flaubert, Proust and Dostoevsky.
Simply put, Girard thinks the only Mediator in real life is Jesus, but that there are good and bad mediators in novels and other forms of literature.
Although, I like his multi-disciplinary approach to literature and his interpretations of the texts, I come from a different school of thought.
I would say that our culture, with its movies and media all focused on the emotions of “love,” certainly do a disservice to what love really is. Our emotional preoccupation is reflected in the number of divorces and teenage pregnancies. As a teacher, I see this so often in the lives of my students. They get caught up in “love” and make choices that they regret based on a feeling that is transient and fleeting. The feelings are great, but it’s much more of a conscious choice. All those people with arranged marriages that we look at and can’t imagine how they survived, may have learned an important lesson about loving God that the rest of us don’t really understand. Making a choice to love (and more importantly, to act on that decision and not just “know” it) is hard, but with God the rewards are great and lasting. I’m still working on it. 🙂
In mid-August I will be teaching a 2 day seminar on an evaluation of the culture, showing why we are where we are and what to do about it. It’s called Money, Sex and Power. It will be taught in Evansville, but we will be making a small group video series from the lectures with workbook, etc.
Skip,
If you put the words “How to have more . . .” before you title, you’ll fill the room. Guaranteed. 🙂
Michael
I did not have anyone’s writing in mind other than Skip’s. His comment this day and the previous tied the loop on the problem of contemporary culture. Love and Torah, doing not thinking — these are some of the key issues that Scripture addresses which Skip raised so well.
Hi Ian,
Okay, I understand. “Love and Torah, doing not thinking”.
My point was addressing the following comment of yours:
“The rise of Romanticism, hot on the heels of the Enlightenment, exemplified in hundreds and hundreds of novels, music compositions, pieces of art, — and hymns! — turned love into the notorious love-triangle, just as often with adultery intermixed.”
My point was that Jesus as mediator and the rise of the love triangle seems to be an almost universal theme begining in the middle ages, reemerging with romanticism in the 19th century, and now seen everywhere in popular culture.
I agree that it has nothing to do with Love and Torah 🙂