Tags
Commandments, Deuteronomy 30:11-14, God's love, God's teaching, Good Samaritan, John 13:34, Law, Love of neighbor, Luke 10:25-37, Luke 6:30-36, Matthew 5:48, Romans 13:8, Ten Commandments, Torah
Day 5
Thursday in the first week of Lent
Deuteronomy 30:11-14
Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?’ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
Does God ask too much of us? Are the commandments more than can be expected for those of us who are “merely human”? Are the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount “counsels of perfection” and not commandments for the ordinary? Does Jesus really expect us to forgive as we have been forgiven? To love our neighbor as ourselves? To “give to everyone who begs from you,” and to lend without expecting anything in return?
There are subtleties in the phrase: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” the word ‘perfect’ is from the word for ‘end’, so it carries a sense of being complete, whole, defined by our end in Christ rather than never failing to make mistakes. But our end in Christ is perfect love.
Does God ask too much of us? Is it too much to ask for kindness and generosity? Is it too much to ask that we not hurt one another by word or deed? Is it too much to ask that we help one another protect and keep what belongs to them rather than finding ways to cheat and steal? Is it too much to ask that we pick up the wounded man at the side of the road and bear him on our own donkey to an inn?
The problem isn’t that we cannot do these things. The problem is that we do not want to do these things. The heart is turned inward on itself. It is what the church means by “original sin.” An infant knows only its own need, but we are not meant to remain there. We were created to love – even as we have been loved.
Eternal Word, Enduring Mercy
guide our heart and lead our way
that we may love as you have loved.
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Image:. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maximilien_Luce_-_Le_bon_samaritain.jpg; Maximilien Luce, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
© David K Bonde, 2021, All rights reserved