|
The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17)
When I look at the ten commandments, I envision them in three parts: the rules regarding our relationship with God; then there’s my favourite “Honour thy father and thy mother”; and then those commandments that some people have called “The Don’ts”. - Don’t kill. - Don’t commit adultery. - Don’t steal. - Don’t bear false witness against thy neighbour. - Don’t covet thy neighbour’s wife or goods. Looking at those “don’ts”, I am reminded of another commandment given by Jesus to His disciples. It can be found in three of the four Gospels: Mark 12:29-31 Luke 10:27 and my favourite text regarding this – Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Love God with your whole being. What does that mean? Well, I try to imagine the love I have for my darling wife and our wonderful son. When I plan to do something, I consider them. When I get angry, I try (not very successfully) to limit my anger in front of them. I spend quite a bit of time thinking of ways to make them happy. I recall the love my parents showed me as I was growing up, and my Mom still showers love upon my siblings and me. That kind of love is just a small fraction of what Jesus says we should do. Love your neighbour as yourself. I love myself, not in a narcissistic way but in a very practical way. I take care of myself, I try to stay healthy, I’m careful to guard against disease. Jesus says I should treat others the same way. The Bible doesn’t say “Love your friends as yourself”. It says “Love thy neighbour”. And who is thy neighbour? Jesus spelt that out for us as well, didn’t He? In Luke 10:29-37, we read about the good Samaritan and the Bible’s definition of what it means to be a neighbour. It reminds me of the late Mother Teresa, who just loved everybody. It didn’t matter what you said or did, or who you were, or what other people thought of you or said about you, she would just love you. That, in human terms, is what I think Jesus meant when He said “Love thy neighbour as thyself”. So, if we love God with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind, and if we love our neighbour as ourselves, how could we even contemplate doing any one of the “Don’ts”? If our hearts and our lives we so attuned with God that all we ever wanted to do was Good, we simply wouldn’t have time to do any of those “don’ts”! Published: January 22nd, 2006 My Sunday Examiner Articles
|