Today's Scripture Reading (December 9, 2020): Matthew 19
Some years ago, I had a conversation with a
friend about the ten commandments. The discussion began with a question. "Which
of the commandments is the most important?" I suspected an agenda, so I
responded with another question. "What do you think?" When it comes
to the Ten Commandments, the truth is that we have some trouble trying to
decide what the commandments are, let alone prioritizing them. Different traditions
have come up with a different set of commandments. The Bible doesn't itemize
them. But the best answer is likely to parrot Jesus's response to the same
question. "'Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your
neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang
on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:37-40). But I suspected that my
answer was not going to cut it for my friend.
My comrade had done some thinking on the subject, and he
responded that maybe the Big Ten were given in order, most to least important,
and at that moment, I began to see the agenda. This conversation was less about
"You will have no other gods before me" and more about the fourth
commandment, "Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy." And by Sabbath
Day, this conversation was about worshipping on Saturday.
Armed with this information, what came to mind were these
words of Jesus in Matthew. Jesus is essentially being asked a very similar
question; which commandments were the most important? And Jesus's response to
the question is to skip the first four commandments, emphasizing our
relationship with God, and stress the last six, which highlights our
relationship with each other, but he lists them out of order. Jesus talks about
prohibitions against murder (#6), adultery (#7), stealing (#8), and lying (#9).
Then he adds that we should honor our parents (#5) and love our neighbors as
ourselves, which is impossible to do if we covet our neighbor's possessions
(#10).
Which commandments are the most important? Maybe the easy answer
is that the essential laws are the ones listed in the Bible. But don't get lost
in the minutiae of the biblical commands. To honor God, you don't have to
memorize the biblical laws. Just love. Love God and love each other, and in the
act of loving, you will fulfill all of the laws and commandments. We need to
recognize that I can't love God if I refuse to love you. Hard? Most definitely.
But no one said that following God was easy. Remembering the Sabbath Day is not
about keeping an arbitrary day separate. For the Christian, every day is the
Sabbath, and we try to honor him every day, and not just on the weekends. And
we celebrate him by being committed to loving both God and each other.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew 20
No comments:
Post a Comment