Weekly Devotion – September 25, 2011 Biblical Values Part 2

Theme/Title: Jesus’ 411 God’s Values

Scripture: Leviticus 19: 17-18; Matthew 22: 34-40

Media: YouTube “The Youngbloods - Get Together”

Reflection:

So what more do we need to know about God’s values and Biblical values? Well, we who are United Methodist and Christian claim to follow this renegade carpenter from Nazareth who decided that the Jewish religious authorities of his day had sucked the life from there tradition and its true meaning and significance and so he begins to ask questions, challenge their interpretations and all around speak a word that shook the very foundations of their institution and even that of the Roman Empire.

People liked what this Jesus had to say and they felt in their hearts that he was on the right path, that something about what he said made sense in a primal and deep way. So they asked him to explain things, to help them find the truth he knew and to aid them in their efforts to understand God and God’s desire for humankind and creation. And what he said, what he did, and the stories he told got the attention of those in power and they too wanted to know what he was about, only their motive was to try and find a slip-up so they could discredit Jesus and his understanding of God’s values.

So a lawyer questions him about the greatest commandment – Jesus answers correctly from the institution’s point of view: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This commandment is the foundational commandment of the Jewish faith because it expresses their monotheism and The Shema (Deuteronomy 6: 4-5) is the supreme summary of this expression.

But Jesus doesn’t stop there, in the same breath he adds the Leviticus commandment about loving your neighbor and makes the declaratory statement that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” The lawyer had no answer for this. He couldn’t challenge Jesus’ statement because it was a vital teaching of Judaism this loving your neighbor. He couldn’t fault him on his tying the two commandments together because the rabbis and teachers had done so. But Jesus had made a bold declaration that any other law or prophetic word was contained within these two commandments and that was way beyond anything anyone had said before. And the lawyer didn’t have a response – he hadn’t thought about it in those terms and he was caught up short.