Thursday 5 March 2015

The Great Commandment

Jesus never missed an opportunity to challenge those he encountered.  Reading the Gospels, you get the impression that he just couldn't hold back from each opportunity to put people on the spot and make them think.  If you turn to Matthew 22: 34-40, we read of Jesus answering a question from the Pharisees on what was the greatest commandment.  The Pharisees were obsessed by the law - they had volumes of rules governing all aspects of human life.  Jesus' reply was a show-stopper for those who were trying to lure him into a trap:  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 neighbour as yourself.

Who is our neighbour?  When Jesus said these words, he didn't just mean those who live above us and beside us.  He meant everyone.  The commandment is tough because it demands that we love the unloveable.  It demands we pay attention and be gracious to those who don't count amongst our friends and that's not easy.

The first commandment remains no less challenging today than it was for those who heard Jesus speak those words nearly 2000 years ago.  To love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul and with all your mind - how does that work in practice?  It has to mean leading God-centred rather than self-centred lives.  It means putting faith before fortune, faith before pleasure, and that we enter into a personal relationship with God through Jesus.  It means following Jesus' example in our dealings with others and upholding Kingdom values in a society that sometimes can feel quite hostile to those with religious conviction.

We know we are getting closer to keeping the Great Commandment when we sense the conflict between our day-to-day lives and our commitment to God.  It becomes more real when we are confronted with a sense of calling, when we are prompted by the Holy Spirit to pursue ministry, local preaching or other service of the church.

If we all strived to keep those two commandments, what a different place the world would be.  It is however, a glimpse of our future.  A glimpse of the time when God's Kingdom will be fully established.