The Jesus Creed

The paradox of a mustard-seed kingdom means that all Jesus needs is a person and an opportunity.

Let’s put this all together now: As a normal Jew, spiritual formation for Jesus begins with the Shema of Judaism. But Jesus revises the Shema in two ways: loving others is added to loving God, and loving God is understood as following Jesus.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” [So far, so good; this is Deuteronomy. 6:4–5.]
[And now Jesus adds a verse from Leviticus. 19:18.]
The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
There is no commandment greater than these.

spiritually formed person loves God and others.

Jesus calls us to love as God loves: with a rugged, affective commitment of presence, advocacy, and direction.

Now about order again: A rugged, affective commitment of presence and advocacy is the necessary foundation for us to speak into the lives of those we love about becoming more Christlike. We have no right to speak into a person’s life until we have formed a rugged, affective commitment of presence and advocacy. Let’s do this with prepositions: only those who are with and for another person can speak words of unto.

God loves us to expand us into the persons he designed for us to be. Love, then, is not the Western political idea of tolerance but is much more like the way ancients, such as Aristotle, talked about friendship as growth in virtue.

Love has direction.

Love is a rugged commitment

Hear O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is One. 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: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.