From Aleph to Tav

Readings:

Deuteronomy 6:2-6 
Hebrews 7:23-28
Mark 12:28-34

Blueprint for Freedom

After the exodus from Egypt and its polytheistic culture, Moses leads the Israelites into the wilderness to begin a long journey of divine pedagogy and discipline.

Moses spoke to the people, saying: “Fear the LORD, your God, and keep, throughout the days of your lives, all his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you, and thus have long life. Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them, that you may grow and prosper the more, in keeping with the promise of the LORD, the God of your fathers, to give you a land flowing with milk and honey.

“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!  Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.”

Deuteronomy 6:2-6

What is God’s blueprint for training slaves to embrace freedom? Fear of the Lord and keeping his word. The Shema prayer that begins, “Hear, O Israel!” teaches children to love the one God who alone is Lord of heaven and earth. Four centuries of slavery had conditioned the Hebrews to fear human authority—Pharaoh and his taskmasters. The new “fear” is not servile but filial—a reverent awe of God’s holiness and compassion. Keeping God’s law written into creation results in human and cosmic flourishing, described as a “land flowing with milk and honey.” 

Jesus the Perfect Priest

As the covenant with Israel develops, God appoints levitical priests (the descendants of Levi) as provisional mediators of worship, liturgy, and sacrifice. Imperfect priests offer imperfect sacrifices (animals). Jesus Christ, who is both priest and sacrifice, supplants the Jerusalem temple with its priesthood and sacrificial offerings. Christ, the Son of God and the unblemished Lamb of God, accepts slaughter at the hands of sinners out of love for them. He teaches his brothers and sisters that the way to the Father’s heart is through selfless love, mercy, and sacrifice. The essence of divinity is selfless love.

Brothers and sisters: The levitical priests were many because they were prevented by death from remaining in office, but Jesus, because he remains forever, has a priesthood that does not pass away. Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them.

It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, higher than the heavens. He has no need, as did the high priests, to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did that once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints men subject to weakness to be high priests, but the word of the oath, which was taken after the law, appoints a son, who has been made perfect forever.

Hebrews 7:23-28

Love of God and Neighbor

A learned scribe steeped in the law of Moses asks Jesus to state the first of all the commandments. Jesus answers that the Shema is first, and the love of neighbor follows as its complement. Enlightened, the scribe understands that this twofold love of God and neighbor is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. Jesus, the Word made flesh, commends him for grasping the essence of the word of God.

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Mark 12:28-34

Aleph to Tav

Jewish scholars revere every word and letter of the law as divine, immutable truth. Indeed, mystics of the word, such as the Kabbalists, continually mine treasures from shapes and numeric values of Hebrew letters. In the spiritual universe of the Jews, the word is alive, divine, transcendent, and supreme.

“Aleph to Tav” is the Hebrew equivalent of “A to Z,” the first (א) and last (ת) letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Tav is pronounced “Tahv.”

By calling Jesus Christ the “Word made flesh,” John the Evangelist reverences the mystery of the Word, affirming its divine origin and telos through proclaiming its incarnation by the Son of God (John 1:14). With rabbinic authority, Jesus speaks mystically of the indestructible “letter of the law,” which is the mind of God. 

Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.

Matthew 5:18

It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the smallest part of a letter of the law to become invalid.

Luke 16:17

For Our Neighbors and Heavenly Av

The Ten Commandments and all directives dependent on them can be summed up in the single precept of love for God and neighbor: “For our neighbors and heavenly Av.”

“Av” (pronounced “ahv”) means Father in Hebrew. Jesus calls his Father “Abba,” which is the intimate, familial form of Av. Jesus Christ, the law of love enfleshed, fulfills the covenant with Israel by transforming slaves into free, deified sons and daughters of God (Galatians 5:1).

Traditional Chinese Translation

 《自始至終》
愛是從始（A)到終(Z)的律法
為了我們的鄰居和天上的父。