LOVE? WHAT'S THE POINT?*

A Jewish teacher of the law once questioned Jesus, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" We get this to mean as -- "Which is the most important commandment among all the laws that God had given man?”

A Jew would most probably presume that Jesus would pick one of the 10 commandments which God had written with His own hands on the stone tablets He gave to Moses. Surely those 10 commandments were the best known.

But let us read Jesus' answer in Mk 12:29-31.

"The most important one", Jesus answered,"is this: `Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (NIV)

Jesus' answer was none of the 10 commandments. Jesus' answer was first, "Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength", which is taken from the book of Deuteronomy. This was understood to be part of the implementing guidelines for the 10 commandments. The second part of the answer was, "Love your neighbor as yourself", taken from the book of Leviticus and which was also an implementing guideline for the 10 commandments.

In a parallel account in Matthew, Jesus added, "On these two commands hang the whole law and all the prophets". Actually, these two commands would summarize all of the ten commandments. The first four commandments could be summarized as, "Love God with all your heart .…….." The rest of the commandments could be summarized as, "Love your neighbor as you would yourself".

Now how do we apply these two commands into our lives?

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*from Hosanna!, an outreach publication of Hosanna. It is a compilation of teachings delivered during one of the Sunday Services of Hosanna.

Hosanna! is an outreach publication of Hosanna. It is a compilation of teachings
Delivered during one of the Sunday Services of Hosanna.

The following is an excerpt of the issue entitled

"FIVE SHORT PARABLES CONCERNING FAITH IN MATTHEW CHAPTER 13
(Matt.13:31-50)"


Jesus once told a parable of the mustard seed. Let us read about it in Matt.13:31-32. He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches." (NIV)
In this parable, our Lord Jesus tells of a man who took a mustard seed and planted it in his field. Jesus points out that the mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds; but when it grows, it becomes a huge tree. It is such a wonder that a seed so small and insignificant can attain the size of a big tree. With its hugeness and strength, it can sustain and assist the lives of other creatures. Jesus mentioned the example of the birds which come to its branches and perch there, even building nests on it. This is like the seed of FAITH. In Matt.17:20 Jesus also compared FAITH with the small mustard seed by saying that if we had faith, even as small as a mustard seed, we could command a mountain to move from its place and it will indeed move. In the verses that we read, Jesus says that if we plant this small seed of faith in our lives, it would grow big enough to benefit others, just like the birds which benefitted from the branches of the grown mustard tree. Such was the small faith of Moses whom God used in order to benefit the Israelites ( Exodus chapters 3-4 ). Such too was the small faith of Peter whom God used to benefit the new believers in Acts chapter 2.

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