By Debi Hull 12/13/2009
LOVE the Lord your God
with all your HEART and with all your SOUL
and with all your STRENGTH and with all your MIND,
and love your NEIGHBOR as yourself.
Luke 10:27
As we walk on a wooded path, along a beach, or anywhere in the natural splendor of what Our Father has created, we search for peace in a troubled world. Tonight, I thought about the desperation that was in my heart, suffering from food poisoning, feeling concern and sorrow and revulsion at the state of the world around me. Suddenly I felt pressure under my right foot, so blunt I thought it would go all the way through the thin sole of my moccasin. Frustrated and somewhat uncomfortable, I dug the rock from the ridges of my shoe, and I found a small stone, somewhat irregular in shape. Looking at the pebble closer, I saw that it was a dark brownish red color, and heart shaped. I knew in an instant that this was like a message and an embrace from my Heavenly father. It was at that moment that I knew that the message was that we must find beauty and dignity in all things that occur in nature, because they exist in the nature that Our Heavenly father has created.
In terms of the scripture I started this writing with, Christians must understand that this statement is unique in the teachings of Jesus. It is the only passage in the Gospels in which He used the word "commandment" in reference to something He said. In all his other uses of the word, He was referring to the Law of Moses. Furthermore, everything else He said in the Gospels can be considered teachings based on the Law and the Prophets. Only this commandment is exclusively that of the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.
It is also noteworthy when, where, and to whom Jesus gave this commandment. He was speaking in the Upper Room at the Last Supper. Judas Iscariot had already left when He said it. Jesus gave this commandment to no one else but His Disciples. Through them, He gave it to the Church.
The full implications of this new commandment are rarely fully understood and taught among Christians today. And the greatest failure of the Church today is failure to obey it.
"Love Your Neighbor As Yourself"
Since Jesus said told the Pharisees that the above commandment is the second greatest, it follows that in the commandment to "love one another", He was saying something that went far beyond loving your neighbor. Just what did He mean?
There are limitations to the requirements of the commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself". St. Paul identifies the parameters of obedience to this in Romans 13:9 & 10, summing them up with the words,
"Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
Obedience to this commandment is mostly passive in operation. It is, as Paul shows in this passage, more a matter of what we don't do then it is of what we do. The same is true of the Golden Rule.
There is one thing that is not implied in the Golden Rule, which is implied in the Commandment to "Love One Another". It is that we should make an ongoing practice of being servants only to our fellow Christians. However in Mark 16:15 (New International Version)
“He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” In this passage, Jesus is instructing his Apostles to spread the gospel. The gospel was not merely words, but the account of living faith, and active deeds. If we are to spread the world, and obey the greatest commandment Christ Jesus gives us, we must walk in His light, and work to spread that light, to every living creature with the exuberance and joy of the spirit in which the gift was bestowed upon us.
Love one another, and spread His word with joy. The world is rife with tribulation. Love and support one another has He has always loved and supported us.
No comments:
Post a Comment