what does the LORD require of you?

Sometimes the simplest questions are the ones that reveal the most about us. Someone asks us, “What does God really want from me?” And perhaps we immediately begin thinking about all the things we should do: pray more, read the Bible more, be more patient, help others, forgive. And all of these things can be good. But in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gives us a much simpler answer. He says, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you?” And then he tells us to fear the Lord, to walk in his ways, to love him and to serve him with all our heart and with all our soul. Then, in the Gospel, Jesus is asked a very similar question: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And Jesus answers, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And then he adds the second: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Everything depends on these two commandments.

At first glance, it seems simple enough. Love God. Love your neighbor. But then we begin to think about what that really means. Loving God with all our heart means that God is not simply one part of our life. He is not something we fit into our schedule once we have finished everything else. And loving our neighbor as ourselves means that the needs of others cannot always come after our own. Think about an ordinary day. We wake up and almost immediately begin thinking about ourselves. What do I have to do today? What do I need to take care of? What do I need? What will make my day easier? Then perhaps someone sends us a message that annoys us. Someone cuts us off in traffic. A person at work speaks to us disrespectfully. And suddenly, “love your neighbor as yourself” becomes much more difficult than it seemed in church. And sometimes it is not even something so serious. We can be sitting at a table with someone we love, but instead of listening to them, we are already thinking about what we want to say. Someone tells us about their problems and, while they are speaking, we are already preparing our response. We may genuinely care about that person, but we still discover how easily our own thoughts, needs, and concerns come first.

The same thing happens in our relationship with God. We can say that God is first in our lives, but then we look at how easily everything else takes his place: work, money, relationships, our plans for the future, even our worries. We can spend an hour scrolling through our phones without even noticing, but ten minutes of prayer can feel difficult. We can remember exactly something someone said to us three years ago, especially if it hurt us, but we can have difficulty remembering God’s promises when we are afraid. This is why Jesus’ words are not simply a nice principle for living a better life. They expose our hearts. Jesus does not say, “Try to love God when you have enough time.” He says, “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And he does not say, “Love your neighbor when your neighbor deserves it.” He says, “as yourself.” And if we are honest, we have to admit that we have not done this perfectly. There are times when we have loved ourselves more than our neighbor. There are times when we have put our desires before God. There are times when we have held on to anger instead of forgiving.

But notice what happens immediately afterward in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus does not simply continue by giving moral instructions. He asks the Pharisees a question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They answer, “The son of David.” And Jesus takes them deeper. If the Messiah is the son of David, why does David call him “Lord”? Jesus is pointing to something they have not yet fully understood. The one standing before them is not simply another teacher explaining to people how they should live. He is the Christ. He is David’s Lord. He is the Son of God who has come among his people. And this changes everything. Because the Christian faith, at its heart, is not about becoming good enough to satisfy God’s commandments. The commandments show us what it means to love, but they also show us how far we are from fulfilling them perfectly. The good news is that Christ did not come because we had already loved God perfectly. He came precisely because we had not.

Jesus loved the Father perfectly. He loved his neighbor perfectly. He even loved those who rejected him. And when he was falsely accused, beaten, mocked, and finally crucified, he did not stop loving. He went to the cross for sinners like us. And this is where Paul’s words in the First Letter to the Corinthians also become important. Paul begins his letter by thanking God for the Christians in Corinth and says that they have been enriched in Christ “in every way, in all speech and all knowledge.” Then he reminds them that they are waiting for “the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ” and that God will sustain them to the end. Paul’s confidence is not, “These Christians are doing everything perfectly.” If we continue reading First Corinthians, we quickly discover that they have quite a few problems. They argue among themselves. There are divisions. They misunderstand Christian freedom. They struggle with sin. And yet Paul begins by reminding them of God’s grace in Christ. This is important for us as well. Our security before God does not depend on how well we have managed to love this week. It does not depend on whether we have prayed enough, forgiven enough, or been patient enough. Our security is in Christ.

And when Christ becomes the center, obedience also takes on a different place. We do not love our neighbor so that God will love us. We love because God has already loved us in Christ. We do not forgive because we are naturally better people. We forgive because we ourselves have received forgiveness. Think about a person who has hurt you. Perhaps you still remember exactly what happened. Every time you think about that person, the anger comes back. The Gospel does not pretend that what happened was right or acceptable. But Christ reminds us: you are not being asked to earn my forgiveness by becoming better than that person. You have already received forgiveness from me. And precisely from that forgiveness, you can begin to forgive. Or think about a person who is simply difficult to love. Perhaps they complain constantly, they are rude, or they simply manage to get on our nerves. Loving them does not mean pretending that their behavior is right. It means remembering that Christ did not wait until we became easy to love before he loved us.

This is why Deuteronomy says that the Lord “loves the sojourner.” Israel was to remember that they too had been sojourners in Egypt. In other words: remember what you have received. Remember where you came from. Remember God’s mercy toward you. And this is precisely what we Christians are also called to remember. We were not saved because we were worthy. We were saved because God is merciful. We were not welcomed into God’s family because we had perfectly kept his commandments. We were welcomed through Christ.

Therefore, when we hear Jesus say, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” we should not simply leave thinking, “I need to try harder.” First of all, we should look to the One who perfectly loved God for us and who gave himself for us. And when we hear, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” we remember the love that has already been shown to us. The question is not simply, “Have I loved enough?” The deeper question is, “Where is my security?” If my security is in myself, I will always be uncertain, because I know my failures. But if my security is in Christ, I can honestly confess my failures without despair, because my salvation does not depend on my ability to love perfectly. It depends on the perfect love of Jesus Christ.

And from that love we can return to our daily lives. We can go home and try again. We can apologize when we have spoken harshly. We can forgive someone who has hurt us. We can make time to listen to someone who needs us. Not because these things earn us God’s favor, but because in Christ, God’s favor has already been given to us.

“So what does the LORD require of you?” He calls us to love him and to love our neighbor. And when we realize how poorly we have done this, we should not turn away from Christ. We should return to him. Because the One who commands us to love is also the One who first loved us. And this, ultimately, is who Jesus is in today’s Gospel: not merely the teacher who teaches us how to love, but the Christ, the Lord of David, who has come to save sinners. Our hope is not that one day we will finally become people who love perfectly. Our hope is that Christ has loved us perfectly, died for us, risen for us, and continues to sustain us in his grace. Therefore, we love because we have been loved. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We serve because Christ has served us. And we return again and again to him, trusting that the God who began his good work in us will sustain us until the day when Christ returns.