Matthew 22:36-40"Teacher, which is the greatest
commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " '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."
Moses was given Ten Commandments for the Israelites to
follow. Later on he was given numerous ceremonial laws.
Other societal laws arose as towns and eventually a nation
was formed. By Jesus’ day, there were hundreds upon hundreds
of laws, many of them put in place as a buffer so that a
person didn’t accidentally violate on the Ten Commandments.
For instance, the Jews had numerous laws about how far a
person could walk and how much weight they could carry on
the Sabbath before it was considered work and therefore a
violation of the rule to rest.
The Pharisees loved to debate which rules were the most
important and tried to put Jesus to the test. Jesus
summarizes all of the law down to love for God and love for
others. If we truly loved God and loved others, we wouldn’t
have a need for laws. There wouldn’t be any murder or
stealing. Greed would be a thing of the past.
WWJD or “What Would Jesus Do?” has become cliché long
ago. The idea behind it still rings true however. There are
many rules in the Bible and their meanings are sometimes
difficult to interpret in addition to whether they are even
applicable today. None of this matters however. Any time
that we face a decision, we can ask ourselves if the action
shows our love for God and our love for people. If it
doesn’t then we should look for another solution.
Having this knowledge doesn’t mean that it is simple to
always do the right thing. We make wrong decisions and sin
each and every day. But this should help us when it comes
time to carefully think things through. It won’t make
everything as black and white as we would like them to be,
but it serves as an important foundation in our decision
making. Does this honor God and does it show my love for
others?
