There’s a story in Jewish folklore about a gentile enquirer who, confused by all the requirements of the Jewish law, asked a Rabbi if he could sum up in one sentence just what was most important, and to do it standing on one foot!

Simple, the Rabbi answered “What you hate for yourself do not do to your neighbour, that is the whole law, the rest is commentary, go and learn!”

The lawyer who questioned Jesus would have been an expert in the Jewish law and Matthew tells us asked Jesus the same question.

‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, “The Lord our God is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this ,you shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.’ Mark 12: 29-31

He might have added, the rest is commentary! The whole of the Bible’s teaching is contained in those two commandments, but what exactly does love ask of us? The answer seems to be in the first sentence, ‘The Lord your God is one’. Love asks of us undivided attention.

Have you ever found yourself talking to someone whose attention is somewhere else. They keep glancing over your shoulder. Their body is there but not their mind. Or maybe you’ve worked with someone whose heart isn’t really in their work. They do the job, but mechanically. Their eyes are on the clock!

Well God isn’t like that, he is undivided and gives us his full attention. If you want to know what that looks like then the portraits of Rembrandt give us and idea. The one I have chosen is a self portrait painted in 1659, a year after he had been declared bankrupt.

After many years of success Rembrandt had fallen out of favour with his rich clients. They were now no longer the down to earth Dutchmen and women of his youth, earnest business people in a deeply religious, protestant country but another generation. This generation had grown up with money, they had travelled to Italy and seen the polished portraits by Bellini and they wanted something that showed them in all their finery. The problem was that Rembrandt’s portraits were just too honest, too crude!

Here he is, looking at himself with an intense stare, looking at us looking at him. We can see into his soul and almost feel the pain he felt, but the face tells us he is not broken. The eyes are defiant, the set of his jaw is firm and we know that he still believes in himself. The portrait is modelled after a famous Italian portrait by the artist Rafael, one of Italy’s greatest. Rembrandt knew he was up there with the best!

Rembrandt drew, etched and painted so many self-portraits in his lifetime that we can gauge his moods by comparing one with another. All of them show him as he is, sometimes rich and dressed in fine furs and jewelled coats, sometimes poor as here, but the focus is never on the outward trappings. The focus is always on the face and the eyes that let us see into his soul and indeed look into ours.

Rembrandt’s last painting tells the story of an early uprising of the Dutch people against the Romans. It was painted for Amsterdam’s grand new town hall. The Burghers wanted something romantic and heroic but they got the truth. The one eyed leader of the rebel band is rough and coarse, his fellow conspirators ready with their swords raised but have had too much to drink!

Love always speaks truth. For all Rembrandt’s honesty he is never cruel or spiteful. There is compassion and understanding and he gives to each of his sitters a dignity that is their own. Jesus spoke of our hearts and mind and strength and soul. That is where love comes from, and that is how Rembrandt painted, with heart and mind, strength and soul.

That is also what he painted and what he gives each sitter. We can see their mind and heart, we can feel their strength and soul.

God looks at us like that, and loves us like that. Sometimes that can be uncomfortable, sometimes we will turn away and sometimes we will reject what he shows us. We will always, however, be loved with an undivided love.

A prayer for peace in the Holy land

O God of all justice and peace
we cry out to you in the midst of the pain and trauma
of violence and fear which prevails in the Holy Land.
Be with those who need you in these days of suffering;
we pray for people of all faiths – Jews, Muslims and Christians and for all people of the land.
While we pray to you, O Lord, for an end to violence and the establishment of peace,

We also call for you to bring justice and equity to the peoples.
Guide us into your kingdom
where all people are treated with dignity and honour as your children for, to all of us, you are our Heavenly Father.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.