I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Ex.20:5-6, Deut.5:8-9).
It's scary!... and the truth!... that's what God Himself says: I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.
Jesus and the "Ten Commandments"
Jesus Christ stated the original Ten could be boiled down to two: - Love God with all your heart, the first stone tablet - and love your neighbor as yourself, the second stone tablet (Mr.12:28-31):
28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is ONE.
30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mr.12:28-31).
It should be noticed that Jesus mentioned the First Commandment, not from the Decalogue, but from the "Shema", which means "Hear": 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deut.6:4-5).
17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven Matthew 5:17-19.
What did Jesus mean by this? Obviously as a good Jew in a time when the Temple had become corrupt, Jesus sought to reestablish Judaism by reinforcing the laws given us by G-d. How can the Shema be reconciled with the Christian Trinity? And what about the Law?
It was only during my conversion to Judaism that I began to see Jesus more clearly. I seem to be thinking about all these biblical references a lot lately as I try to live my life according to G_d's law. Truly I believe we are here to praise G_d our Father and Creator but also to follow his law to love one another. Every day I hear or see evidence of one person treating another shamefully, speaking about someone unkindly, and I have my guilty moments as well. I am trying to do better. It's so easy to follow the Shema, and so much more difficult to "love your neighbor".
On a daily scale it isn't so hard. But to truly respect and love your neighbor on a world-wide level. Whew! What a challenge!
1 comment:
I don’t believe Jesus came to reestablish Judaism, but to restore it to its original intent: to represent God for the nations to see. I think he did this by referencing the Shema, the heart and soul of the Jewish belief system. I don’t see a conflict with the “Christian Trinity.” Actually, the word “trinity” does not appear in the New Testament, only implications of it. I also see this in the Jewish scriptures from the beginning. In Genesis 1:1 we find God, in verse 2 we find the Spirit. Later, we find physical manifestations of God (which I believe to be early appearances of Jesus) as in Genesis 18, where we have 2 angels and the “Lord”. I am convinced that “the Angel of the Lord” (as in Exodus 3:2) is Jesus as well. I believe God can be have 3 parts and still be one, with each part having specific roles but equality of power and authority. The law points people to their sin and inadequacy to be righteous, which is why, I believe, Jesus had to place himself on the altar once for all (see the book of Hebrews (in the Christian New Testament).
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