Sunday, October 18, 2015

The Two Commands of Jesus




UV 1562/10000 The Two Commands of Jesus
And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Mark 12 v 33


The two commands to love God with all one’s heart and to love one’s neighbour as oneself encompass all the Ten Commandments given through Moses. For it implies that we will love and adore God passionately and honour His image in which we are made by aligning our thoughts and character as closely to His as possible. When our first love or passion is in the right place, all other love or passions will fall into their due place and be in balance. The first four commandments are our duties and obligations towards God while the second six commandments are related to humankind. The first command of Jesus ensures that we love, obey and serve God while the second command of Jesus keeps us from doing violence to our neighbour, our fellow beings. It keeps us from lying to him or her. It keeps us from stealing from him or her. It keeps us from damaging their names, reputations, carrying tales or bearing false witness. It keeps us from envying others. It keeps us from desiring to possess that which is legitimately his or hers. The Ten Commandments were negatively framed as prohibitions or injunctions not to do certain things. The Lord knows that mankind is afflicted by what psychologists call the “ embedded negative.” It is in our DNA and our psyche to do that which we are forbidden to do even from our birth and childhood. Our DNA wants us to disobey or do that which is not good for us in the long run. This is the reason why David wrote, “ In sin did my mother conceive me.” But original goodness preceded original sin. Now original goodness can also succeed original sin and deliberate as well as unintended sin. The Divine Nature of Jesus or dna wants us to obey or do that which is good for our well being. The two commands given by Jesus are not written in stone but on our hearts and minds by the Holy Spirit. These two are framed positively so that it not only encompasses the imperatives of the ten commandments but transcends these.


The old covenant which emphasized the ten commandments is like the engagement with mankind while the new covenant that hinges on the two commands given by Jesus is the wedding with those who pledge to love the Lord God as their first love, their greatest passion. The old covenant was but the shadow of the real thing to follow- the covenant of Jesus that had only two commands but ten thousand promises of divine help and inspiration. The Ten Commandments were like the minus sign or negative stroke while the two commands of Jesus is the downward sign that turns the minus into a plus or cross. The cross enables us to leverage on strengths and to overcome human weaknesses. The two commands of Jesus enables us to always stay on the side of goodness and not dabble or run the risk of dipping into evil. Jesus agreed with the scribe who said that these two commands outweigh religion, the show of outward piety and devotion through rituals and sacrifices. Jesus Himself through His life, death and resurrection obviated the need for further physical sacrifice or ritual.


We need to rely on Divine Nature or the DNA of God revealed in Jesus and not our own dna. He requires us to love His mercy, to walk humbly with Him and to do justly. We are not to just do it but do the just. The word “ just” implies that we should align our thoughts, words and deeds with the Lord’s. How do we know what is straight or correct or right? Not human standards and values that keep changing from generation to generation and age to age but the eternal values and principles embedded in the Word. Are we always able to follow or practice the two commands of Jesus? No, but we should keep trying. He fills the gaps in our belief and practice with His abounding grace and mercy. Our faithfulness and passion is measured in how hard and how often we try to practice these two commands. When we follow these two commands, we become inheritors of all the fourteen blessings of the Lord enumerated in the first fourteen verses of Deuteronomy chapter 29 and avoid all the curses of disobedience in the rest of the chapter.

Prateep V Philip

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