The Shema is the prayer of our Lord Jesus’s heart. When our Advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous, was asked “Which commandment is the most important of all?”, He began to recite the Shema. The Shema, for those who are unfamiliar, is a portion of Scripture that God’s people have recited for thousands of years several times each day. It is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9.
Hear, O Israel, The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Sh’ma Yisra’eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad
(spoken quietly) Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.
Barukh sheim k’vod malkhuto l’olam vaned
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
V’ahav’ta eit Adonai Elohekha b’khol l’vav’kha uv’kholnaf’sh’kha uv’khol m’odekha
And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart.
V’hayu had’varim ha’eileh asher anokhi m’tzav’kha hayomal l’vavekha
And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them.
V’shinan’tam l’vanekha v’dibar’ta bam
when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.
b’shiv’t’kha b’veitekha uv’lekh’t’kha vaderekhuv’shakh’b’kha uv’kumekha
And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
Uk’shar’tam l’ot al yadekha v’hayu l’totafot bein einekha
And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Ukh’tav’tam al m’zuzot beitekha uvish’arekha
A few years ago I personally embarked on memorizing the Shema, teaching it to my family, and instituting it daily in our prayer life. After having recited it routinely for years, I have internalized it deeply and can now see how this portion of the Scriptures has shaped the entire New Testament. The truth of the Shema is hidden in fibers all throughout Jesus’s teachings and the Apostle’s writings.
The very first line of the Shema begins by telling us to “Hear, O Israel, The LORD our God, the LORD is one. “ As I read through the New Testament I see the correct theology, as outlined in the Shema, everywhere.
I (Jesus) and the Father are one.John 10:30
Since God is one. Romans 3:30
There is no God but one.1 Corinthians 8:4
You believe that God is one; you do well.James 2:19
The second line of the Shema is all about loving God. It underlines that a loving relationship with God is absolutely essential for God’s people. Loving others is meaningless if that love is not in response to a loving, covenantal relationship with The Almighty. A loving relationship with our God must be established first; only then will love for others flow out in response. Love for God is best expressed in loving others. When we internalize the words of the Shema, we will see that the Scriptures are saturated in love!
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son in to the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. John 4:7
Reciting the Shema means renewing our relationship with God. Throughout history, this has been done regularly by believers, perhaps several times each day. Whenever a believer recites the Shema, he celebrates who God is and our command to love. The Shema firmly acknowledges allegiance to God alone. To recite the Shema routinely is to wholeheartedly accept the Kingdom of God in our lives.
Jesus was one with the Father, he obeyed and loved God, and he loved others, perfectly. If we are to walk in the same way in which Jesus walked, the desperate desire of our hearts should be the same.
Sh’ma Yisra’eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad. V’ahav’ta eit Adonai Elohekha b’khol l’vav’kha uv’kholnaf’sh’kha uv’khol m’odekha