Jesus’ Creed

I’ve been using Scot McKnight’s book “The Jesus Creed” as a devotional recently and it has been good. Jesus’ knack for taking the things that we wish to complicate and making them simple is demonstrated again in Mark 12. Someone asks Jesus what the most important commandment was. In other words, what is central to being a God follower? Jesus answered with the “Shema”, which was the twice daily prayer of any Jew. Every Jew in Jesus’ world would have recognized Jesus’ responce immediately from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ““Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.” But then Jesus adds one verse from Leviticus 19:18 “Love your neighbor as yourself.” And says: “There is no commandment greater than these.”

Why are we so good at complicating what it means to follow Jesus?

Love God with all you have and love others. In theory it almost seems too easy, in practice it is the hardest of all things. Keeping things simple always helps me!