When I was younger, I used to hear today’s first reading from Leviticus—commandments, interspersed with the refrain, “I am the LORD”—as a little threatening. I am the LORD, so be good or else. (Healthy, I know.)

But if you really pay attention, I think another message comes through.

I know this is a struggle, but I am the LORD. I won’t lead you astray.

I know these things seem scary, but I am the LORD. I won’t hurt you.

I know you’re unsure about doing the right thing, but I am the LORD. I won’t ask you for anything beyond your abilities.

In other words, I think the refrain is less the reason why we should follow these commandments and more the way we’ll follow them. It’s God shoring us up.

I hear the same gentle reminder—I am the LORD, I am the LORD, I am the LORD—in the Gospel, when Jesus reminds us that He is the recipient of our every work of mercy and all our acts of cruelty and indifference. Feed the hungry, visit the prisoners, and welcome the stranger because the hungry, imprisoned stranger is the LORD.

A friend in crisis? I am the LORD. A stranger in need? I am the LORD. An enemy in distress? I am the LORD.

The lesson we usually draw from this is that we should love the poor and the people around us because we love God. But in my experience, the reverse is true. I love God because I first loved those around me. What a great Being that gave me these people to love. How blessed I am to have hands to help and feet to walk alongside others. What an incredible thing that God chooses “these least ones” as His dwelling place—because how often have I been the least one?

This is my LORD.

So if the commandments in today’s readings freak you out—well, join the club. The law of the LORD may be perfect, but I am not, and I am often unsure what the law would ask of me in a given situation. More often, I am pretty sure what the law is asking, but I don’t know whether I can or want to do it.

But in the most basic sense, we don’t follow the commandments for God. And we certainly don’t perform the works of mercy to avoid being sent “into the eternal fire” with the goats. We stumble after the good for ourselves, because that’s where God is, because love is what we’re made for, because we want to be close to Him.

Because God is the LORD.