Jesus reminded us that God’s greatest commandment to us all is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. The second commandment was similar, he taught – to love our neighbour as ourselves.
During the reading of the gospel at our early morning service on Sunday 4th June, barely 10 hours after the savage and horrific attacks in London, verse 24 from John 14 struck me with such poignancy and truth.
‘Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching’. It was so clear to me that those who carried out the London attacks had no regard at all for Jesus or his teachings to love God and our neighbour.
Arguably, this may be a bit simplistic, but if more in the world followed the teachings of Jesus, irrespective of what they believe, our society would be one of much greater love and peace. And on Pentecost Sunday, when we are given firm instructions to have courage and spread the message of the Good News of Jesus, we have such a sad reminder about why we should do that – with urgency.
It is not enough merely to love God. Very misguidedly, those responsible for atrocities, such as those at Manchester, London and so many other places around the world, believe they are showing their love and obedience to God. They are not. They are instead doing the work of the devil and we should pray for them to see the Light of Truth. True love for God is seen in how we love our neighbours.