Jesus knew, quoted (Mark 12:29, 30), and affirmed the Shema, the foundational Jewish prayer, when asked about the greatest commandment in the Law. Specifically, He said that loving the One and only God is the first and most significant of all the commandments. And He taught that what God really wants from man is love.
Shema Yisrael, or the Shema, is the opening line of the central prayer in affirmation of Judaism. The prayer expresses belief in the singularity of God, that is, in God’s oneness and incomparability. The prayer is a declaration of faith in the one God and a call to love Him with all one’s being.
The Shema prayer is recited daily by many Jewish people, particularly as the morning (Shacharit) and evening (Maariv) prayers, and is considered a cornerstone of the Jewish faith. It is typically followed by the verses “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all you might”. The Shema is not just a prayer, but a commandment to love the one and only God and to live according to His laws.
The literal word meanings are roughly as follows:
For me the Shema is a:
Jesus knew, quoted, and affirmed the Shema, the foundational Jewish prayer, when asked about the greatest commandment in the Law (Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, and Luke 10:25-28). Specifically, he quotes and affirms the first two lines of the Shema, found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and in Mark 12:29, 30.
Also, in the finale of His High Priestly Prayer (John 17:20–26), Jesus takes up the language of the Shema in order to describe first His identity with the Father, then His identity with His people, and finally the identity of His people with one another.
Mark 12:29, 30 means there are not many gods but only ONE true and living God. He is Yahweh (the English rendering is Jehovah). God is the Creator of all life, and He is life. We love God because He is Jehovah, the covenant-keeping God.
Jesus said this was the first of all the commandments. And He taught that what God really wants from man is love.
Thus, although the Bible teaches us that since Christ is the new covenant, we Christians are no longer bound by the old law, the Ten Commandments, Jesus affirmed that the first of those commandments (Deuteronomy 6:4, 5) is still expected from us by God. Before any other command, they were commanded to love the Lord their God who created them. It is the first commandment regarding priority. Every other act of obedience is empty if we do not love God first.
The scribe’s response to Jesus was right on the mark (vs. 32, 33). It is easy to think that religious ceremony and devotion are more important than love for God and our neighbor, but this isn’t the case. A thousand empty burnt offerings do not mean more to God than a single act of love done in His name.
Mark 12:30 encapsulates the essence of the greatest commandment: to love God wholeheartedly. It calls for a complete and undivided devotion to God, involving the heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is a deep and comprehensive love that encompasses every aspect of one’s being. The distinction between the terms heart and soul in Mark 12:30 underscores a comprehensive love for God that engages every aspect of human existence: the heart refers to the emotional and volitional core of a person’s being, the soul refers to the essence of life and being. And the mind refers to intellectual vigor and cognitive determination. Therefore, our love for the Lord should be intelligent, feeling, and willing. The Bedtime ShemaThe first word of the Shema is “hear,” or “listen,” which in Hebrew is pronounced shema. The word “Shema” also implies obedience and responding to what is heard.
This is not only a commandment directly given in the Bible (in Deuteronomy 6:6, 7), but it is also alluded to in verses such as “Commune with your own heart upon your bed” (Psalms 4:5).
Shema, (Hebrew: “Hear”), the Jewish confession of faith made up of three scriptural texts (Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–21; Numbers 15:37–41). The full Shema prayer is:
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