The One-ness of God and Prejudice

  Earlier this week I watched a soccer game with one of my good friend who is atheistic; afterwards as we talked, he was surprised when I said that the duties of Jesus followers can be summarized in two commands: Love God; love your neighbors.  Coincidentally this week, I just read Jesus' expression of this truth in Mark 12, and I was struck by the fact that Jesus in this place quotes the entire command beginning with "Hear, O Israel," continuing through the expression of God's One-ness, His command to love Him with your whole wholeness and to love your neighbor as yourself.  Then, the entire sequence is repeated by the scribe to whom Jesus was talking.  Why is the One-ness of God so important to these commands?  

 I think this is related to the fact that there is only one God to worship, and so He must be worshipped supremely.  But regarding the second command particularly, the reflection of the One God in all of His created image-bearers is the cause for loving each of our neighbors as we love ourselves. In the first part of James 2, love of our neighbors is again given as a summary of the law; partiality and prejudice against any fellow human is a betrayal of divine law. (Interestingly, the unity of God is key to the argument in the second half of James 2.) 

 What's the point?  I think the point is that God's One-ness and supremacy creates the first command; His imparting of His image to people raises them to where they are each individually the object of the second command.  Any prejudice towards my neighbor is prejudice against the reflection of God in him or her. Obviously this does not address the fact that God's image in each of us has been marred, but prejudice suggests that I believe I was more worthy of God's restoring His image in me than such a restoration in my neighbor.  And that is not the Gospel. 

 If we believe in the greatness of the One God, if we love Him with all we are (by His grace), then we must love and embrace His reflection in all those around us! This truth is not simple: God's greatness and the honor that He has set upon each of us do not agree well with our natural self-righteousness, nor does it thrive in a secular mind. Yet no other way gives more than pragmatic honor to our neighbors: if we are each just working for our own good when we 'love our neighbor' this is no true love. The Lord God is one: love Him with all you are, and love those whom He has put around you as you love your own self.

(From a Trinitarian perspective, it is interesting that Jesus' next discussion in Mark 12 is about the divinity of the Messiah.)