This coming Sunday is the 31st Sunday in Year B. Mark alone among the evangelists reports that Jesus introduced his answer with the opening words of the Shemaʿ: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!  (Deut. 6:4), a prayer and confession of faith said every morning and evening by pious Jews. The words of the Shema’ indicate that the command to love God is an obligation which stems from his uniqueness as God and his gracious favor in extending his covenant love to Israel.

Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Monotheism was a belief, in its time,  peculiar to the Jewish people. All the nations around them had a plethora of gods and demigods. But Israel’s encounters with the Lord recounted that the Lord was One and there were no other gods besides him

“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!” (Dt 6:4 – Shema’)

“This was shown to you so that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.” (Dt 4:35)

“Thus says the LORD, Israel’s king and redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; there is no God but me.” (Is 44:6)

“I am the LORD, there is no other, there is no God besides me.” (Is 45:5)

“Remember the former things, those long ago; I am God, there is no other; I am God, there is none like me.” (Is 46:9)

“For you are great and do wondrous deeds; and you alone are God.” (Ps 86:10)

The Shema prayer begins with the imperative command: “Hear.” It is a present tense imperative, which implies continuous or repeated action: “Keep on listening!” “Continue to hear!” This command to listen is heard frequently in Mark, e.g., in the parable of the sower (4:3) and at the Transfiguration: “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him” (9:7). Perhaps the “first command of all” is: “Listen!” What follows this initial command are the consequences of truly listening and hearing as indicated by the shift to a future tense: “You shall love…”. The shift moves from a singular eternal truth (the uniqueness of God) to a continuous love response.

Image credit: The Pharisees and the Sadducees Come to Tempt Jesus | James Tissot | Brooklyn Museum, PD-US