The Greatest Commandment

Hello Friends,

Can you believe that today is the last Sunday of February? The next time we meet, it will be a new month: a month of green, luck, and delicious pie. Hopefully, in this new month it doesn’t leave us feeling scared as some of us were a few days ago when the weather got scary. I hope you are doing okay. Hopefully, this month is filled with joy, happiness, and warmer and pleasant weather. Are you ready for March?!

Since today is the last Sunday of February, I thought we could spend one more day thinking about God’s love in the Bible, as we have been doing together for several weeks, before talking about the new season that we are officially in: Easter! Today, I want to remind you of one of the greatest commandments found in the Bible. Let me explain…

I imagine that most of you have seen a list of rules: telling you what you can and cannot do. I imagine that most of you have seen a list of rules in your classroom at school. One day last week, I walked through the school and every classroom I walked by had a list of rules on the wall. Even though there were some slight differences, most of them said pretty much the same thing. They said things like: raise your hand before talking, be prepared, be kind and caring to others, be respectful, put others first, treat others the way you want to be treated.

Of course, there were more rules depending on the classroom and subject. If you were to ask me which classroom rule is most important, I know what I would say. I would say that the most important rule is to respect and obey your teacher and the second is very much like it–be kind and show respect for your fellow classmates. If we would just follow those two rules, there really wouldn’t be a need for any more. But following those two rules is not always easy. And we aren’t the only ones who struggle with following the rules.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day liked to sit around and discuss the law, the rules in which people were told and informed to follow. They especially liked to ask Jesus questions about the law to try to trick him into saying something that would cause people to turn against him. You see, the religious leader’s of Jesus’ day didn’t really like what Jesus was doing. Jesus was doing something new. He was fulfilling the present day laws so that we could live by a new set of laws and rules. And the people did not like that. They were ready to put Jesus in “time-out.”

One day they were questioning Jesus and he answered them with one good answer right after another. (Nothing was going to trick Jesus!) One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Sort of like your teachers asking you, “What is the most important rule in the classroom?”

The religious leaders wanted for Jesus to refer to the Ten Commandments, the laws that God gave Moses on Mount Sinai on tablets many years ago. Most of you know the Ten Commandments, don’t you? “Thou shall have no other god; Thou shall honor our father and mother; Thou shall not steal, and so forth.” How would you answer that question? Would you respond by saying one of the Ten Commandments or would you say something else?

Their question, meant to trick Jesus, didn’t trick him at all. This is how Jesus answered.  He said, “The most important commandment is this: ‘The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no other commandment greater than these.”

After hearing Jesus’ answer, no one else dared to ask him any more questions! Jesus stumped the religious leaders by giving them an answer they couldn’t refute or push back on because they realized that if one loves God and loves others, then that person is following the Ten Commandments. They are treating others the way they want to be treated which is giving and receiving love.

What a wise answer, don’t you think? If we could just keep those two commandments, those two rules and laws, we wouldn’t have any trouble keeping the rest of them, would we?

So, I’m glad that I was able to witness the rules in the classroom because those rules reminded me that if Jesus treats me with love then I can certainly treat others with love. With a new month around the corner, maybe we can make a promise to live out these two commandments in all that we do and in all that we say.

Let us pray: Dear Father, help us to love you with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love one another as we love ourselves. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Your Friend, Holy Spirit!

Lesson borrowed from “Sermons 4 Kids”: https://sermons4kids.com/sermons/greatest-commandment?srsltid=AfmBOoqbGVOkeo1uEoR_MmkRX5643a5sJyKnz5RtT-V-MEwh4L1fp_uB