Love—the road to eternal life
For the Lesson titled "Life" from January 14 - 20, 2013
This week’s Bible Lesson, titled “Life,” explores a question of interest to everyone: “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25 , citation 4). A lawyer—a scribe or teacher of the Mosaic law—asks this question of Jesus. Perhaps he had overheard Jesus thanking God for “hid[ing] these things from the wise and prudent” (verse 21 ) and wondered how he, a “wise” man, might fit into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus, sure of finding common ground in their mutual knowledge and love of the Torah, turned the question back to him: “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” (verse 26 ).
The lawyer’s reply in the next verse is the basis of this Lesson: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart [Section II], and with all thy soul [Sect. III], and with all thy strength [Sect. IV], and with all thy mind [Sect. V]; and thy neighbour as thyself [Sect. VI].” Next to a marginal heading that says, “Practical religion,” Mary Baker Eddy refers to the command to “love the Lord thy God” as the “El Dorado of Christianity” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 9 , cit. 3).
Christians are accustomed to hearing the two commandments in the lawyer’s reply as if they came from a single Old Testament verse, but the lawyer was in fact combining two separate laws from the Torah. The command to “love the Lord thy God” with one’s whole being, from Deuteronomy 6:5 , is part of the Shema (the twice-daily prayer of affirmation in the Jewish faith that begins with Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ). And the command to love one’s neighbor, from Leviticus 19:18 , is part of the “Holiness Code,” a name given to Leviticus chapters 17–26 because of their laws dealing with purity of behavior.
Though Jesus approved the lawyer’s answer, for him knowing the words wasn’t enough—he expected action: “This do, and thou shalt live” (Luke 10:28 , cit. 4). The interchange between Jesus and the lawyer introduces the parable of the good Samaritan (see Luke 10:30–37 ), the quintessential example of loving one’s neighbor. Jesus constantly demonstrated active love. For example, Matthew 14:14 (cit. 6) tells how Jesus “saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.” He expected his followers to do likewise. The disciples also healed (see Luke 9:1, 2 ), and this week’s Lesson includes two examples of Peter’s healing work.
Accompanied by John, Peter effected the first healing in the book of Acts, that of a lame man, by calling on the “name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” (Acts 3:1–8 , cit. 16). Now able to freely enter the temple and become a full member of the community, the man leaped and praised God, loving God with all his being. He had been an outsider, typifying the marginalized of society whom Jesus had cherished, and whom the young church embraced.
Peter’s last recorded healing was raising the disciple Tabitha from the dead (see Acts 9:36–42 , cit. 23). She was an insider of importance, whose love of her neighbors was evidenced by her active practice of good works.
The followers of the Master in every age are the heirs to his healing example. How do we inherit eternal life? When we love God with every aspect of our being and our neighbor as ourselves, we answer rightly: “This do, and thou shalt live.”
