“Love your neighbor.”
Most of us recognize those words as part of the Great Commandment (love the Lord your God . . . and love your neighbor as yourself), but what does it really mean?
Does it mean to be inclusive? Generous? Kind?
When it comes to showing love to those who aren’t from the same faith or worldview background, we’re encouraged to model God’s love in our actions. If we reflect God’s love, it becomes impossible for people to not notice that there’s something special behind our actions.
But when it comes to truly embodying God’s love, it’s about much more than checking off actions toward others that qualify as “loving.”
The essence of love in a word that defies translation: Hesed
If there is one central defining characteristic of God, it’s captured in the Hebrew word hesed. Here are some examples of how God shows it in the Bible, as well as how others show it:
- When Jacob steals his brother’s birthright and lives in deceit, God still chooses to keep his promise to Abraham–that he would have a big family, and that one day God would restore his blessing to all people through that family. God remains faithful to Jacob even though Jacob doesn’t deserve it
- When Ruth’s husband dies and her mother in law, Naomi, has nothing to give her, Naomi tells Ruth she should go back to her people. But Ruth promises to stay with her and take care of her even though she has nothing to gain from doing so
Through these examples, we can begin to see that while hesed does mean love, that translation is too simplistic. In fact, the word appears 250 times in the Old Testament, and in English it is translated about 100 different ways, depending on the context.
Michael Card borrows a concept from the field of physics to explain this:
We might say that hesed is a word with enormous mass. The greater the size of the object, the greater the gravitational pull it exerts. Earth revolves around the Sun because its great mass pulls us toward it . . . One of the fascinating features of hesed is its tendency to draw other words to itself by means of its “linguistic gravity.” It’s as if in struggling to express the inexpressible, the original writer was forced to enlist other words beside hesed to help convey its meaning.
This is why we get rich descriptions of God’s love, such as “lovingkindness,” “steadfast love,” and “covenant loyalty” throughout scripture; a simple translation just isn’t enough.
That said, Card does identify eight words that hesed draws itself to repeatedly:
- Truth
- Mercy/compassion
- Covenant
- Justice
- Faithfulness
- Goodness
- Favor
- Righteousness
Many of these words have very rich backgrounds themselves (you can read about justice and righteousness in our previously published articles), so through them we can begin to see how expansive God’s hesed is.
Made in God’s image to reflect God’s image
If we were made in God’s image, anything characterizing him should characterize us and how we navigate our relationships and community. What does that look like?
Nehemiah working with others to rebuild the wall
In the story of Nehemiah rebuilding the wall, we see not only God exhibiting hesed, but Nehemiah and those building.
We see God’s hesed when his blessing is repeatedly extended first, outside of what anyone deserves and before anyone does anything to receive it. That is God’s “covenant love” in action, which he upholds to us even though we’ve done nothing to earn it.
We see Nehemiah’s hesed first when he hears that the walls are destroyed; he responds as though it is his personal responsibility to do something about it. We see it next when he assesses the damage and work to be done, appealing to other people’s identity and responsibility, connecting with their hearts, before asking them to start rebuilding.
We see the builders’ hesed in the community that they form, protecting one another and working together for the good of each other.
The Clapham Circle working together to transform 19th century England
It’s well known that William Wilberforce fought for the abolition of slavery; perhaps less well known is that he was part of what came to be known as the Clapham circle (also referred to as the Clapham Sect).
This was a group of Christians in the early 1800s deeply concerned with transforming society for the better. They were unashamed of their faith, making their Christian identity known and operating on the assumption that they were accountable to God in all areas of life.
They not only fought for–and succeeded in–the abolition of slavery. They also met frequently to support one another in each others passions, and many initiatives came out of their community, such as prison reform, educational reform, sending Bibles all over the world, and animal welfare. Their community wasn’t insular either; they collaborated with those of other belief backgrounds, working toward the common good.
In short, they had hesed for their wider community and for each other.
How hesed can transform your community
Nehemiah and the Clapham Circle tell us a lot about what hesed looks like in action:
- First they took note of the trouble and issues in their communities
- Second they believed they were called to respond to the need they saw
- Third, they were willing to work with others, supporting each others’ efforts in love
Hesed shows us that loving one another is less about taking the opportunity to “do something loving;” it’s more of a fundamental orientation toward those around us. Reflecting this part of God’s character looks like:
- Deep concern over others’ wellbeing
- The default assumption that if you see trouble or brokenness, you are called to respond to it
- Action-oriented relationships with other people to work toward solving the problem and supporting them as they do so
What brokenness or problem do you see in your community, and how are you called to respond to it through your unique experience and giftings? How can you work with others–of all backgrounds–to redeem it?
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