Loving God and the Neighbor are alike, especially since God is become our Neighbor in Christ.

Jesus’ enemies likely were hoping to trip him up on  the question of the law, because in their minds he had broken it by healing on the Sabbath; yet he made clear that the essence of the commandments is love: love for God and for your neighbor who is made in God’s image. They woefully mishandled the law of God; and moreover they had little use for the matter of the Christ. Whose son is he? They knew him to be the Son of David, but not the Son of God;  they did not grasp the Gospel because in the first place they even misunderstood the law as applying to themselves. And we therefore must pray lest we fail, and learn of the love of God toward us in Christ, and then redouble our efforts to love Him and our Neighbor. For Christ is both our God and our Neighbor.  Let us love him, and in him also the rest of our neighbors. Sermon for Trinity XVIII.
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