Devotion

Jesus is Our Teacher: The Law of Love

Matthew 22:37-39 "Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

In a world that often feels complicated and overwhelming, Jesus gives us something beautifully simple yet at the same time quite challenging: the law of love.

The religious leaders of Jesus' time were masters of complexity. They had counted a multitude of commandments in the Law of Moses and spent endless hours debating which were most important. When they tried to trap Jesus with the question, "Which is the greatest commandment?" they expected a complicated theological answer that might get him into trouble.

Instead, Jesus cuts through all the complexity with breathtaking clarity. Love God completely. Love your neighbour as yourself. Everything else, he says elsewhere, hangs on these two commands.

But notice what Jesus is doing here as our teacher. He's not just giving us information to memorise or rules to follow mechanically. He's calling us into relationship—with God and with each other. It is not something we tick off; it's a way of being, a posture of the heart that shapes everything we do.

Love God with everything you are. Heart, soul, and mind—our emotions, our very being, our intellect. This isn't compartmentalised Sunday morning faith. This is whole of life devotion that recognises God as the source of all that is good and worthy of our complete trust and allegiance.

Love your neighbour as yourself. Not more than yourself, not less than yourself, but with the same care, dignity, and compassion you naturally extend to your own wellbeing. This revolutionary teaching breaks down every barrier we try to build—of race, class, belief, or background.

As we serve in education, Jesus' law of love takes on particular significance. Every student who walks through our doors is our neighbour. Every family we encounter, every colleague we work alongside, every person in our school community—all are worthy of the love Jesus commands.

Jesus is our teacher, and this is his example: love without limit, love without condition, love that reflects the God who first loved us.

Dear God, thank you for the gift of Jesus, our greatest teacher. Help us to learn from him the law of love—to love you with everything we are and to love our neighbours as ourselves. Give us the grace to live out this love in our daily work, in our relationships, and in our community. When love feels difficult or costly, remind us of your love for us. May our schools be places where your love is evident in all we do. We ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Blessings!

Will Wallace

Principal