“All” is Hard
Jesus was a fly in the religious ointment of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. As hard as they tried, they could not trap Him or prove Him wrong in anything He said. So, the week of His crucifixion when Jesus was in the temple being bombarded by these religious leaders, one of them tried the tactic of asking Him what was the most important commandment. Jesus answered with the Jewish Shema, a prayer every Israelite recited both morning and night. “‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31) Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments with two, and after this no one dared to ask Him any more questions.
The Shema to the Jews had become rote through sheer repetition. The words had lost their meaning, much like the common words we use of “always” or “never”. Those extremes are easily refutable and therefore negate the intended impact as well as the definition. Similarly, those contentious religious leaders had become anesthetized to the intent and practice of God’s Law and priorities.
Before we cast stones at the Jewish religious elite, we must acknowledge our guilt interpretating certain words through the skew of our individual perspectives. For instance, we might view the word “all” in the Shema loosely translated to mean “most” because there are always plausible exceptions. “All” in that case is a goal worth striving for, but sincere effort that comes close is acceptable. A stricter interpretation is that “all” is actually achievable through hard work and determination. We need to “just do it.”
I would offer a third position that says “all” is not achievable through our efforts and anything less than “all” is not acceptable. When this commandment was given in Deuteronomy 6:4-5, God was making two very important distinctions about Himself to the ancient Israelites who lived among peoples that worshipped multiple gods who were harsh and cruel. The One true God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, made mankind as the object of His love, desiring in turn to receive love from those He created. His love was to reign in our hearts and govern our actions. Sadly, the condition of many of our churches today testifies to our abysmal failure at practicing that first commandment, leaving us hamstrung to keep the second.
Yet, if God said to do it, there must be a way. Paul passed along his revelation about the power of God available to us in Ephesians 3:16-17a: “I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” The power of the Holy Spirit is necessary for the inner strength to align with God in trust. Our job is to exercise that trust that submits to His Lordship. Paul continues in 17b-19, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” The surpassing love of God expressed in His sacrifice of His Son is beyond comprehension even to the brightest human mind. Yet that understanding is precisely what is required to be able to love God with ALL that is in us. No wonder being all-in to love God is so hard! Thankfully, God knows our weaknesses and limitations. His grace has given us the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the impossible. He is the inside man in the heist for hearts.