And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13)

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31)

The view that Love is the Greatest of all command- ments tends to blur the absurdity that results from an improper understanding of the concept particularly when examined vis a vis the concepts of justice, mercy and morality. This impropriety in reasoning can sometimes position Love as a tranquilizer of wrongs. It is a widely accepted dogma that love is the greatest commandment. But this doesn't belie the fact that it can sometimes be impractical to love the way some religious tenets command, especially to love one's enemy and pray for those that persecute you. Love as enunciated by Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 is described as patient, kind, forgiving, selfless, not boastful, not proud and so on. And the chapter ultimately posits that "love is the greatest of all virtues and never fails." Yet one point stands out; and that is the fact that despite the reverential aura that the concept of love possesses, it is difficult to view the world flawlessly through it. Evil still persists and sometimes done in the name of love - for a person, country, thing or set of beliefs and sometimes even love of God.

To put in context the love captured herein is the Agape love. It is often lauded as the purest and most profoundly unconditional kind of love which transcends gain and ideally extends to all persons; including friends, family, strangers and foes. Admittedly, love is a fascinating concept, it some- times blends through some complexities, it could come in the form of a defence, to avoid navigating the often overbearing discourse of wrong and right. Love often blinds many people to other facets of a trail. Take for instance A murders B (which is obviously wrong) and is consequently punished by the law to die. There is a sizeable faction of the public who will em- phasize the sanctity of life and preach of God's love for humanity and how we are expected to demon- strate such love towards the condemned, perhaps out of love for God. Conversely, this argument may seem flawed when considering the fact that the offender is himself a murderer- who showed no love to his victim or cared for their life.

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44).

At the core of these arguments are the concepts of Justice and of love. It is very common to elude the concept of love in the pursuit of what is just. After all love is shown to those who are loveable. But this does not represent the tenets of some religion, does it? Christianity for example, teaches love as the greatest of all commandments. At the epicentre of this dogma is the aphorism "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Indicating that love isn't just a matter of convenience or a reward for righteousness. True love as typified in the scripture is often not earned, it doesn't appeal to human judgement of fairness or justice -which invariably connotes retribution.

In the same vein, the Christian teaching on love is inextricable from mercy. It may seem unfair to extend mercy to a Murderer. Perhaps if it were fair it would not be altruistic. As Bryan Stevenson clearly articulates in the book Just Mercy, "The power of just mercy is that it belongs to the undeserving. It's when mercy is least expected that it's most potent..."

Furthermore, the concepts of love and justice are equally philosophical as they are theological. They form a very significant aspect of religious and philosophical discourse, because while love (even In the Christian teaching of loving one's enemy) may seem impractical it also plays a significant role in the administration of justice. This is so because justice is itself a reflection of love — for the victim, the society and idealistically for the offender. Hence, the perceived impasse created in the discourse of Love and Justice as seen above is a figment created if one considers both concepts in isolation rather than conjunctively.

Justice in the context of this discourse, is as Plato opines: giving to each person his due. Thus the same way Love and Justice entwine, so does concepts such as; moral right, mercy and love — they all reflect through love. Whereas Christianity positions love at the cynosure of all actions, Philosophers like Plato believe Justice is the greatest virtue; because it harmonizes all other virtues.

With all said, one could safely assume that the concepts of love and Justice are two sides of a coin (while justice may appear harsh without love, love also seeks Justice). Both concepts are foundational tenets of humanity. They both aim towards balance and happiness. Maybe the greatest virtue is neither love nor justice but love and justice.