Jesus: His Commands (10 of 14)

This is part 10 of a 14 part piece. Start here to read it through:

Love the Lord — Matthew 22:37–38, Mark 12:30 , Luke 10:27 — Religious piety demands there be a system of easy assessment to the nature of a person's standing before God. Instead Jesus leaves his listeners with a command that is essentially unattainable. Jesus sets the entire success of living the Jesus way to a wholly obsessed physical, mental, and spiritual embodiment of participation in the immanent presence of God's divine spirit which permeates the entirety of his creation.

Love Your Neighbor — Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27 — Practice of the “second commandment” is so contingent on participation in the first. It is when God's permeating presence and work is recognized in the entirety of creation that our selfish desires are eclipsed to be capable to wholly participate in God's reconciliation work. It is only in total obsession to the fullness of God, that we can be fully emptied to work as conduits of God's compassion and mercy, fully participants in the divine loving renewal of the creation.

Watch Against Deceit – Matthew 24:4-7, Mark 13:5-8, Luke 17:20-21 – Many people, groups, organizations will claim to speak with the authority of Christ. Many will want to manipulate the desire of the genuine follower of Jesus' lifestyle to their own gain. Others will threaten to destroy and even destroy those who are genuine in their selfless loving participation in God's justice mission in the creation. Jesus warns his followers to trust the “law of love” that burns inside as the preservation and illumination of the themselves and of the world.

Be Alert To God's Work — Matthew 24:36–44, Mark 13:9-13, Luke 21:8 — The world is full of would-be messiahs and self proclaimed saviors. Jesus warns his followers to stay attuned and participating in the divine redemptive work of God's own in the creation.

Eat My Body, Drink My Blood — Matthew 26:26–27, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:14-20 — These two commands are well beyond the scope of any satisfactory discussion in a post of this magnitude, and to be rightly handled would require at least an entire post dedicated to the combo and could be more fully worked out in at least a post for each. Suffice to say, these commands orient us to the position and posture of the Jesus follower in the world. Like Jesus we embrace the emptiness in order to be consumed as participants in Christ's brokenness which leads to new creation.

Continue Reading Part 11 of 14