Human beings have a natural resistance against being told what not
to do.
We think of the Ten Commandments – the Decalogue – as a set
of restrictions around important moral issues (“thou shalt nots”), but in fact
this text is a defining document of our faith, a set of instructions about life
that specifies, first of all, the relationship we are to seek with God, and
secondly, the relationship we can hope to have with one another.
When Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” he
replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, with all your mind, and with all of your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’
(Mark 12:30-31).
In fact, the Decalogue given to Moses is simply another way
of stating this Greatest of all Commandments:
the first commandments of the Decalogue are directed toward the love of
God, while the subsequent ones relate to love of neighbor. The Decalogue encourages us to enter fully into
the activity of faith and faithfulness as a way of being focused in the one
relationship that should define every aspect of our lives. And then we are called to live that
relationship out in the ways we engage with our fellow human beings.
If we are open to relationship, open to obedience, open to
life-giving justice for other, then we will quite naturally follow the Ten
Commandments, inspired by grace constantly to turn toward the God who loves us,
and to each other, to foster the Kingdom of God on earth.
Photo credit 2: Gary Larson, The Far Side.
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