Malachi: Before the SilenceSample

The Greatest Commandment

When pressed as to what the most important commandment is, Jesus famously responded, "love:"

… “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Most believers today have little trouble accepting the first part of Jesus' statement — even if we don't always follow through. It's the second part where we struggle — loving our neighbor. This was as true in Jesus' time on earth as in Malachi's.

Lack of love for our neighbor can take many forms. Malachi decried the ease with which we break faith with our fellow believers for the sake of carnal pleasures and social acceptance (Malachi 2:10). The apostle Paul preached openly against social divisions within the church, calling on the body of Christ to unify in love despite societal expectations to the contrary (Galatians 3:28). Jesus Himself enjoined the disciples to readily lay down their lives in the name of love if need be (John 15:13).

Yet here we are, some two millennia later, still struggling to love our neighbors as ourselves — to say nothing of defining who or what our "neighbor'' even is!

In the silent centuries between Malachi's prophecy and Christ's incarnation, we failed to understand the centrality of love in God's master plan and His design for humanity. We failed, as His Son bled out on a Roman cross — paying the price for our sins — to recognize the lengths to which love must be willing to go for the sake of others. As believers worldwide wait in expectant silence for Jesus' return, we must remember the simple truth that His command to love our neighbor was never about who we are; it has always been a question of Whose we are.