Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. – 1 Peter 3:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 20, 2018): 1 Peter 3

One of Judaism’s greatest teachers was Hillel, the Elder. Hillel was born in Babylon around 110 B.C.E., and his life is thought to mirror that of Moses. Both Moses and Hillel lived 120 years, and both find their lives easily broken up into thirds consisting of forty years each. For Moses, those thirds are forty years in Pharaoh’s palace, forty years living as a shepherd in the wilderness, and then forty years as Israel’s spiritual adviser and Great Law Giver. For Hillel, he lived forty years in Babylon, forty years studying in Israel, and then forty years as Israel’s greatest spiritual adviser and preeminent teacher on the Law of Moses.

But one story of Hillel, the Elder sets him in direct contrast to another of Israel’s great teachers from that time, a teacher named Shammai. According to legend, a man approached both men asking them to teach him the Law of Moses, or the Torah, while standing on one foot. The question was, in itself, presumptuous. It was essentially asking these teachers, who had spent their lives studying and learning the Torah, to give him all that was contained in their life’s work in a very short period of time. According to legend, Shammai dismissed the man. Hillel, on the other hand, answered his challenge with these words; "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn."

There are so many people around me that seem to be wrapped up in what it means to follow God and do his will. Often they are worried that they have not kept enough of his law. Yet, the words of Hillel the Elder still ring true. "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn."

Peter, a few decades after the death of Hillel the Elder, and maybe a few years after the death of Shammai, seems to side with Hillel on this issue. This is what you need to know. As you live your life, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble, understand what it is like to walk in their shoes. You can almost hear the words of Hillel ringing through in Peter’s teaching. "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah.” Peter’s inclusion of this thought in his letter indicates that it is not just the whole of the Torah, it is the whole of Christian thought as well.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Peter 4 & 5