Jorge Conde is a Biblical Theology student from Colombia at JUC, Jerusalem University College. He volunteered in Magdala during his vacations. Recently JUC invited him to lead a reflection in their usual Friday evening "Vesper." His commentary to Mark 12:29-31 impressed us as it also reflects the culture of encounter which Magdala fosters as a crossroads of Jewish and Christian history. His final paragraphs poignantly treat religious-zeal pitfalls and the universal nature of love. We are encouraged by the biblical theological reflections of this young man when we ponder the future of ecumenical relationships. We want to share it with you, so you can invite other young people to consider this challenge.

What does it mean to love God?

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I was thinking and debating about whether to do a vesper this semester. I had the desire to do it from the beginning, but with classes, exams, comps, and war going on I just felt I did  not want to put in the work that it required. However, as you may all know by now, the Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways, and as I was listening to a mass on November 2, the Lord  put into my heart not only an ardent desire to share a message to a community that has  embraced me for the past two years, but also the framework of the message I would share.

As I heard the daily reading portion from the New Testament that day, three passages stuck to me. I am sure I was not the only one who felt this way that night, as it is one of the most recognized passages in all of the New Testament. But this time, as I heard it, maybe for  the tenth time, something clicked differently and I instantly understood that this was  something that I needed to explore further. The passage that I come to talk about is Mark 12:29-31, a passage so simple, yet so complex to grasp in our daily lives.

Mark tells us in his Gospel how:

• ‍28 "One of the teachers of the law came and heard them  debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the  commandments, which is the most important?” ‍
• 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God,  the Lord is one.
• 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and  with all your mind and with all your strength.’
• 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor  as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Wow... I thought as I heard these words. Such a complex question to answer, asked by no other than an expert in scriptures (a scribe). “Of all the commandments, which is the  most important?” I am sure he felt so smart at that moment. “Finally I got him with this  one,” he may have thought. “To summarize the whole Torah in one law? Surely he will not  be able to do it, and he will be embarrassed in front of everyone!” Little did he know that through this question, even he himself, the expert in scriptures, would be transformed, just  as the generations who came after him would be. You only need to see his answer:

• ‍32 “Well said, teacher,” the man (scribe) replied. “You are right in saying that God is one  and there is no other but him.
• 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your  understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more  important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Jesus’ answer, extremely simple, yet extremely complex, to this whirlwind of a  question, invites us today, and everyone in the past 2000 years, to ask ourselves “What  is the foundation of my life as a Christian? What guides my decisions, my relationships,  my actions, and are these commandments proclaimed by him at the center of my  Christian life?”

Jesus gives us three commandments that are really one; just as theTrinity, three phrases with  different perspectives, that in essence mean the same thing. That God is one, creator of  everything, that we shall love our creator, and that we are to love his creation. How  beautiful! Diving deeper into his response, Jesus starts his masterclass of an answer using a prayer that Jews, certainly the scribe, would have been acquainted with: the  Shema. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your  God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”  (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). “Easy enough!” some may say but this answer just brings forth an even more important question: What does it truly mean to love God?

Giving an answer to this question has been something that generations of people before and after the incarnation of Christ have attempted, and ultimately, the conclusion when analyzing some of those responses is that that the answer to “What does it truly mean to  love God?” varies from life to life, from journey to journey, and from soul to soul.  

Loving God IS a journey, not an end goal, and we all share that journey. Some of us sail  from the same port, some others from different ones, some hop out of the ship because  they think they need a rest that only being on dry land can provide, some hop back on the  boat again realizing that the world has no rest to offer, some others never hop back on. Let's pray for those souls. Some are 60 and starting their journey of love with him, some are 25 with their hearts already burning for him. Whatever the case may be, loving him is an individual journey that can express itself in different forms, but that has him, and only  him as the end goal.

How arrogant would I be to think I love God more than YOU, or YOU. Who gave me that right to judge? How arrogant would I be if I judged your faith, or your beliefs, or the  sacrifices you were willing to make for him and compared and contrasted them to put them on a scale. It is not for us men to determine what loving God means; to fit it into a concept in the dictionary, it is not for us men to determine who loves him more and who loves him less. But it is for us men to love him, with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength, whatever that may mean for each of us, just as he commands  us.  

Loving God, making him the center of our being, is a commandment that we as Christians should live every day, and as abstract and personal as I may have tried to explain it, the reality is that we as Christians are constantly trying to fit in a box what loving God means, just as Jews were in the time of Jesus. In the time when Jesus spoke these words Jews had 613 laws and whoever followed more in their lives determined who loved God more, and whoever broke the rules was regarded as an abomination–a message and attitude very relevant to Christians today because fitting the concept of “loving God” into a box is exactly what Christ is calling us to reject. Loving God is not about rules, it is about freedom! Loving him does not imprison us in four walls, it frees us from shackles that the world wants to put on us.

However, because we are called to love God, and because the more we love him the  more personal our relationship is with him, a zeal to protect that love is created. We all  want to believe that we love him the right way, and that surely those who love him differently love him in the wrong way. It is that zeal, it is that personal love that we have for him that sometimes does not allow us to love each other when seeking to love God. It is the zeal for our faith, for what we believe is the correct way to love God, that makes us see the  ways others love him as a threat.

Jesus knew this and at that precise moment understood that to love God was to love one another. Believer, non-believer, gentile, Jew, pagan, Arab, Muslim, let alone Christians! Protestants, Orthodox, Catholics, no exceptions were made whom to love. And so, he gives us the basics to walk with him:  God is one, love God, and then removes the boundaries to that love: to love him means to  love one another.

And so, the question I would like to leave you with today is a crucial one in the life of every Christian and one that we should ask ourselves every day: Is my love for God causing me to abstain from loving others? Is my zeal for my faith causing me to reject others? Is this judgment really stemming from love? And is that truly love then, or fear, or insecurity?

Jesus in these words today teaches us to love God but also understands that love can and will blind us sometimes, more so when the love is directed to someone that never fails  us. And as such, the only parameter he gives us to love him in the most important  commandment is to love blindly one another. He understands that this love that we feel for him, and which is reciprocated by him, does not come out from a fountain meant to  separate us. Rather the opposite, it surges from the desire of the Father to unify us. As  such, the teaching that Jesus gives us today is as relevant, if not more so, than it was 2000 years ago. Let us then love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength, while also loving one another.  

I love you all.

Amen.

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Get to know...

Karina Guinzburg - Housekeeping Manager

"Magdala represents the certainty that peace between religions is not only possible, but also that it is in our hands to help achieve it.”

The first day Karina stood out was at a Magdala   managers barbecue at a shore on the north of the Sea of Galilee, Fall of 2022. Each one presented themselves. Karina had just joined our staff and dramatically stated: “I’d never want to leave Magdala."

Karina was born in Argentina to descendants of Yiddish speaking Ukrainians. Paternal great, great grandparents helped found Coronel Suarez in Argentina. She lost her dad when she was sixteen but her own parents also were orphaned early, her mother at two and her father at thirteen years of age. So, Karina, who has an older sister, had to start working to help maintain the family and keep studying.  

Her boyfriend was planning to move to Israel. His mother was Catholic and married to a Jewish man. Karina left home on her 20th birthday in 1982 for Israel. Since then, she has always worked in the hotel sector in northern Israel. After her 1983 marriage she did everything to ensure her three sons did well. Now, two are engineers and one a doctor.

Karina loves Magdala. “Even when Magdala is full, there is peace here. It is warm. I go home strengthened, not tired. I’m fulfilled.  Magdala doesn’t seek to impress people. There is a different spirit here. It’s not mechanical. Problems can be solved.”

“The day I came to Magdala I knew I would stay here always. Magdala is not a mere hotel. The atmosphere is tranquil. All will be ok. Nobody is inert. We are engaged and uplifted to improve.” Raised without any religious upbringing, Karina displays a great respect for the different faiths. “Magdala represents the certainty that peace between religions is not only possible, but also that it is in our hands to help achieve it.”

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