If you were to look at the millions of pages of academic and theological study of the Christian faith over the centuries, you might conclude that Christianity is a very complicated religion. Every word attributed to Jesus Christ has been analyzed. Every church teaching has been carefully explained. And with all that study, we still struggle to grasp the full meaning of Jesus' life, his ministry and his message.

Yet the Christian faith is also very simple. In today's first reading, God tells the people of Israel, through Moses, "This command which I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you. It is not up in the sky, that you should say 'Who will go up in the sky and get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?' Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea and get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out.'

"No, it is something very near to you already in your mouths and in your hearts. You have only to carry it out."

In other words, God's will for us is not obscure, esoteric and remote, such that we need someone else to decipher it and put in plain English for us. No, God's will is clear. Our challenge is not to understand it, but to do it. We only have to carry it out.

In today's Gospel reading, someone asks Jesus a question that is about the most fundamental possible: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit everlasting life." In keeping with the first reading, Jesus doesn't invite the man who asks the question to a 12-week lecture series, or hand him a 1,000-page theological treatise. Jesus' answer is alarmingly simple: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."

Basically, Jesus answers the man's question with something that the man should have learned in Sunday school, not in seminary. It is a simple command to understand; it is not, of course, a simple command to carry out. So the man asks Jesus to clarify: "Who is my neighbor?"

Jesus tells a story about a victim of a roadside robbery, who is helped by a stranger after a few religious folks cross the street to avoid him. The stranger helps not just by writing a check for the victim, but by dressing his wounds, taking him to a hotel, and paying for his lodging and medical care. Who was a neighbor, Jesus asks? "The one who treated him with compassion," the man answers. "Then go and do the same," Jesus responds.

The Christian faith is very simple. We are called to love God with our whole lives, and our neighbors as ourselves. We are called to treat the neediest among us with compassion, regardless if they are members of our own families, tribes, communities or religions. It is easy to understand, but it is not easy to do. For we are all consumed most of the time with taking care of ourselves, and the needs of others often seem to be in competition with our own needs.

Frankly, it would be a miracle if I could love my neighbor 25 percent as much as I love myself. If I spent a quarter of the time, effort and money I spend worrying about my own well being on others, it would be a vast improvement. If all of us were to do that, we just might find the peaceable kingdom that Jesus promises.

The centuries of study of Jesus Christ are not due to the complexity of his message, but to the richness of it. Thousands of years after his death, his life entrances us still. We must remember, though, that we are called not just to behold him, but to follow him. His fundamental command is not difficult. We have only to carry it out.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.