Q: According to the Gospels, when Jesus was asked which was the greatest of all the ten commandments, which one did he answer with?
A: The answer is, none of the above.
The conversation starts at Matthew 22:36: "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?" To which, the reply came: " 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."
And to Jesus, these two commandments trump the ten in Deuteronomy, and those ten must be understood and be informed in terms of these two. How do we know this? Because He said so, at Matthew 22:40: "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. "
Which forces one to ask to those Christians down in Alabama who are supporting the non-removal of the Ten Commandments statue from the Supreme Court building... why the Ten Commandments? Why not the Two Great Commandments?
Is loving thy neighbor as yourself too touchy-feely, too P.C., for 2003?
Comments (3)
Great point! The top argument about why the Ten Commandments in the courthouse is wrong ought not to be a constitutional argument, although as an American I agree with the constitutional argument. The top argument is theological. The proponents of the Ten Commandments monument simply have the wrong commandments.
Jesus tells us what the Greatest Commandments are. But Jesus words do not seem to be good enough for many of those who profess to be His ardent followers.
In Matthew 7:12, Jesus offers the Golden Rule. His precise words are: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
Not only do the Great Commandments sum up the bulk of the Old Testament, so does the Golden Rule. I would assert to the Alabama judge (now former) that he would do a better job of representing God's Truth and be less politically volatile if he were to erect a monument to the Golden Rule. After all, the Golden Rule does not even mention God and even most atheists would agree it is good advice.
It is clear to me that the advocates of the idea that a monument to the Ten Commandments should occupy public space have an agenda that is not consistent with the desire to spread God's Truth in the world. The agenda they represent is a naked power grab for one particularly narrow self-righteous sect.
One of the points of both the Ten Commandments and the Great Commandments is that our love of God must manifest itself in how we love each other, and the answer to the question of how we must love each other is "as we love ourselves". When fundamentalist clergy and other spokespersons insist that the icons of their rather narrow doctrines be made part of the public domain over the objections of their fellow citizens, they are no longer loving their neighbors as they love themselves.
Since Jesus commands me to "know them by their fruit", I must conclude that their love of God is suspect, and they are not fit leaders either politically or theologically.
Posted by The Jesusist | November 16, 2003 11:36 AM
Posted on November 16, 2003 11:36
Nice points you have here. They shoud not remove the commandments from the Supreme Court Building. Our country was founded on Christianity. And if people don't like it, that's their problem.
Posted by Elli | January 23, 2005 4:42 PM
Posted on January 23, 2005 16:42
Try studying American history a little more, Elli. Not much mention of Jesus Christ in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. (Not much meanining NONE)
Posted by gregl | June 4, 2005 6:22 PM
Posted on June 4, 2005 18:22