Shema: Listen, Hear, and Obey

You may or may not be familiar with the term "shema."  If you have any knowledge whatsoever of Judaism, I'm sure you have heard of it.  And if you have read the Bible, you have also heard of it (whether or not you recognize it). 

So, what is it?  What does it mean?  Is it important?
Well, Jesus sure seemed to think so.
Let me explain:

The word shema is a Hebrew word, Hebrew being the language of the Old Testament.  It is a single word, yes, but like most Hebrew words, it can't really be summed up in one English word.  It really needs a phrase to do it justice.  Usually, in our modern day English translations of the Bible, this word is translated as "hear" and sometimes "listen" (depending on the version).  You may recognize it from the common passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 , which is the text that the Hebrew prayer called The Shema comes from.

“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." 
-- Deut. 6:4 HCSB

This was a command given by God through Moses to His covenant people that He had just made His covenant with.  It is right after the 10 Commandments, when the people heard directly from God and were afraid, so they sent Moses to get all the instructions on their behalf and relay them back.  It is later referred to by Jesus as the greatest commandment (but we will talk about that in a minute).  In this translation of the Bible, the word "listen" is used.  A more accurate translation, however, would be "Listen, hear, and obey."

But aren't listen and hear the same thing?
Depends on who you ask.  The concept is different, because shema is a whole process of how we are to respond to God.

First we listen when He speaks to us.  This in and of itself is hard enough, because that requires us to get out of our own heads for a minute and focus only on God and what He is saying to us without projecting what we want for ourselves.  To listen is to get rid of the ideas that we have of what we want to hear, and to just listen for God to speak, remember that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, and let Him be the dominant one in the room.

This is when hear comes in, or we could use the word acknowledge or even understand.  Because you can totally listen without hearing, acknowledging, or understanding.  Basically, don't let it go in one ear and out the other.  This isn't geometry class.

And then that paves the way for obey.  We can't just listen to God and hear what He has to say; we have to follow through and obey.  If we don't, we may as well not have heard Him.

So, this word shema is used at the beginning of this verse because what comes after it is very important.  Important enough that Moses says to the people, "Listen up guys, hear what God has to say, because this is something you're going to want to do."

He then continues with this bold statement: "The Lord your God, the Lord is one."  This could also be phrased "The Lord is our God, and He is the only God."  Wow.  That was quite the statement to make when they were coming out of a culture where multiple gods were worshiped, especially because basically everyone else in the world would still be polytheistic. 

Then he says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."  So not only is He the only God you are going to acknowledge, but literally everything you have in you is going to go into worshiping, loving, and serving Him.  Now that is some hard core dedication.

Later on, Jesus refers back to this verse when he is asked what the greatest commandment is, and He even goes as far to say that it is what the whole law and prophets hang on, so if you are loving God with all your heart, soul, and strength, you will be living out the law and the prophets.  So everything you do, needs to be done in love.

So, you see why shema is so important?  It was used to draw the people's attention to a very important, everlasting commandment that sets the tone for how we respond to God through the ages, and still today.  It inspired a prayer that is still said daily by practicing Jews, and many Christians, all over the world to remind themselves that we are to relate to God on His terms, and if we are not doing it out of love, we may as well not be doing it at all.

Shema can teach us how to pray, how to act, and how to worship.  We are to be still and listen to God, hear what He is saying to us, and obey what He tells us to do.

We should keep this in mind always.
When we pray.
When we read the Bible.
When we are out and about.
When we are at home.

Are you going to shema today?  I hope so.