Shema and Crucifixion

Asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus responded without hesitation: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." In Hebrew, this is known as the Shema, which is simply the first Hebrew word in the phrase. It is obviously one of the most important statements in the Scriptures, and it should be made even more important to Christians as Jesus picks it out as the most important commandment.

This statement is so wrapped in layers of meaning, from the LORD is one to how we are to love the LORD. What stands out to me is that we are to love the LORD with heart and soul and strength. Basically we need to love God with our whole beings. To break it down a bit, heart is where our emotions and our desires and our will comes from. In Hebrew, it is actually very closely related to our mind. Strength is our body and all of our physicality. Soul, in ancient Hebrew belief, is actually the unity of the emotions, desires, thoughts, character, and so on as the whole person. So love the LORD our God with our whole beings.

So, if Jesus knew this was the greatest command, it's logical to think that He would orient his ministry towards the goal of making it possible. Making it possible for people, humans, to love the LORD with their whole beings, body, mind, and soul.

The more and more I read through the gospels the more that this is simply jumping all over me. Awhile ago I wondered about Jesus' miracles, healings, exorcisms and other radical things that he did that seem so beyond me. Now as I look at that stuff through a different lens, the lens of the Shema, I see that the miracles are meant to change people's minds, to allow them to see that God is God and God is all powerful. That God is the only God. That's why John calls the miracles "signs." They are not just about the miraculous thing that gets done, they are about what the miraculous thing points to. Miracles deliver peoples' minds and hearts and set them on the LORD.

And healings. Healings deliver peoples' bodies, their strength. A blind man, a crippled man, a leprous man, a bleeding woman, these people all have bodily problems that may separate them from worshipping with their whole bodies. A blind man cannot worship the LORD who provided the lush forests and magnificent mountains. A crippled man cannot worship the LORD who gave him speed and dexterity. And so on. Jesus delivers peoples' bodies.

And souls. The wholeness of a person. The seat of their "spirit." Traditionally, we think that this is what Jesus died on the cross for. And it is. But I don't think that it is only in the sense of "so we can go to heaven and be with Him." Soul, in the Shema sense, is the unity of body and mind, strength and heart.

So I think that Jesus came, lived, and died so that salvation could be brought to our heart, strength and soul. So that we could understand and be free to worship the LORD, to love the LORD, with our bodies, minds, and souls.

That seems to make sense to me, and it really helps me understand why Jesus does what he does...don't know how it was explained though. Or what to do with that now.

Lord, I know that You are the LORD. Help me to live in a way that teaches others You are the one LORD, that inspires others to serve You with their strengths, and invites others into the wholeness of Your salvation.

Two Extremes

Texts:
- Psalms 97-100
- Luke 13-14
- Matthew 2, Luke 2:39-52

Lord God, I have so many things on my mind, all the time. It becomes tough to pull out one hour in the morning to focus them on You. Help me to do that this morning, to take some silent time and really hone in on Your voice and Your call. What are You saying to me?

The Scriptures that I read today dealt with praising You for You are set above the nations, high and mighty and working salvation with Your strong hand. Then I turn to Matthew and Your earthly parents were wrapping You up tight and fleeing to Egypt because Herod was literally going to kill You. Such might and awe and wonder to such fear and weakness and avoidance. God the unchangable, but certainly You always exist in ways that don't make much sense.

Of course, isn't my life really like that? Lived in two extremes? There are all the things that I know and want to do for You, for my wife, my friends, myself, etc. Then there are all the desires for detrimental or inconsequential things. I sit at my computer and write my blog, rolling around ideas of salvation and awe and wonder, then click over to my email, see the woman on the sidebar advertisement and suddenly become a person in fear, weakness, and avoidance. Strength to weakness in a matter of moments.

The shocking thing I think is that You don't change this process. Being right with You doesn't mean I will live in perpetual strength. In fact, it guarantees that I'll go through lengthy times of weakness, where You show Your strength in my life by being the only thing I can rely on. I think that is a mis-taught point in many Christian congregations today. When God's strength comes into my life, it does not in any way mean that I will be strong all the time. It just means that I will now have companionship and the hope of deliverance when I am invetibly weak.

Lord God, may You ever shorten my moments of weakness and ever strengthen my ability to run. May You stand between the two extremes for my and guide my transition, keep me humble in times of strength and hopeful in times of weakness. Blessed are You, Lord God of mighty hand and humble cross, for You walked the life of humanity, were exalted and were beaten down. May my lips ever praise You Jesus, for walking through it all so You can walk through it with us. Amen.

Drawn Thin, Drawn to You

If there's one thing I've learned over the course of the past twenty-five days, it is the importance of slowing down to find some time with You. I haven't always found that time, but when I have Lord, well, You've made it well worth my while. I'm still waiting for You to speak like You have in the past to me...but as I type that it seems that those times You've spoken to me in the past become grander and clearer as we walk them out in life. They weren't that clear when delivered were they?

I don't know why I'm so reflective this evening. Maybe because I'm so beat. But there is this glorious resignation in my soul. I am resigned to You. I am resigned to Your care. The heaviness of my eyes, the burning in my back, my slight headache from lack of sleep, my grumbling stomach from lack of food...much of this is because of You. And that's not an indictment, it's a praise. I feel very sleepily peaceful, despite the physical thinness of my being. I am finding joy in resting in You.

So as I fill with thankfulness, I just look back and remember the things You've done for me.
- working with me on fear-of-the-Lord, and that one awful, dreadful moment when I saw Your power
- helping me realize that each step of my life must be thankfulness embodied, for without You I don't step
- intriguing me with continual questions from Your Scriptures, working them around in my brain more non-stop than ever
- introducing me to the beauty of paradox, maybe one of my favorite faith lessons ever

My prayer for the rest of these forty days is that You hear our cry and act. You are the One who hears our crys. We move forward with Your church on our hearts, and our cry is to be in the center of Your will, as Bryan put it. Lord, hear that cry and act.

Secondly, allow us to do the same. You've taught me the beauty of reclining and relaxing close to You, in reverent fear and in love. Now, use these times of closeness to instruct me. Instruct me on the ways of the kingdom. Instruct me on Your will and how we can bring it here. Lord, allow us to hear and act as well. Replace our fear of the unknown with a simple fear of You, then move through that to our ears. Then let us move, for You.

Circular, You hear us and move toward us, we hear You and move toward You. Lord keep drawing the circle tighter, until we are One with You.