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To what should we give the highest priority? Jesus responds by quoting Hebrew Scripture - a prayer that he as a Jew prayed regularly, the Shema (which translates Listen). The scribe probably would not have been surprised by this response. But, depending on his familiarity with Jesus’ teachings, the scribe might have been surprised when Jesus continued by quoting Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Loving one’s neighbor was a major theme in Jesus’ teachings. He saw love of neighbor as organically flowing forth from love of God; he knew Divinity dwells intimately within humanity.
Another scribe had questioned Jesus about his teaching on loving one’s neighbor by asking how Jesus defined neighbor. In responding to that question, Jesus did not quote Scripture. He told a story of a Samaritan acting compassionately to a person he might well have perceived as an enemy. In so doing, Jesus not only defined the term neighbor; he also defined what he meant by the verb to love. In that parable, love does not suggest affection or esteem; love is compassionate action. To love one’s neighbor involves living a life grounded in the understanding that loving God inherently entails acting compassionately toward others.
When the scribe in today’s Gospel affirms the intertwining nature of love of God and love of neighbor, Jesus says the scribe is “not far from the kingdom of God.” The intellectual or intuitive understanding gets the scribe close, but ultimately it is living out that understanding that will enable the scribe to experience and manifest the kingdom of God. And so it is for us as well. We come to know our connection to the Divine and the Divine Indwelling in ourselves and in others. Then, in compassionate service, we experience and manifest the kingdom – on earth as it is in heaven.