The Lessons of Lent: The New Commandment

The Lessons of Lent: The New Commandment

[My Offline Bible] John 13
33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Christ's valedictory message continued as He began to set certain things in place for His departure.

His life had been a practical coaching class to the disciples. His teachings and principles have been revolutionary, upsetting the status quo of many generations. He was always at loggerheads with the priests and the sects leaders on doctrinal issues, Jewish traditions and true spirituality and godliness.

He gave a frontal attack to the retaliatory tradition of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, instead, He taught turning the other cheek, loving your enemies, settling with your adversary on the way to judgment, going the extra mile and what we call the golden rule...doing to others as you wish others do unto you...

He confronted the aberrations the law brought into godliness. He said divorce wasn't part of the original plan: it wasn't so from the beginning and so rated the operations of God before the coming of the laws of Moses above the law.

When questioned about His attitude to Sabbath, He questioned them also on their selfishly making the word of God of none effect by their traditions. He called the Ten Commandments the word of God as against the Law of Moses. Honoring your father and mother must not be rationalised...as they were doing!

And concerning the Sabbath, it was war! He healed on the Sabbath and it became an issue. To them doing good on Sabbath was work when you should be resting, He pointed out their hypocrisy because if their money making animals had fallen into a pit on a Sabbath, they would have overlooked their sabbatical traditions to rescue their money machines!
So He taught them, Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

Solomon had been a great teacher, but He declared Himself greater than Solomon. David was a great prophet but He questioned them as to why David called the coming Messiah his Lord since the Messiah was also to be the son of David!

They demanded where He got His authority to teach from and He also asked where the authority of John the Baptist came from and so shut up their mouths. The ministry of John had prepared the way for such a query.

He accused them of being whitewashed sepulchres filled with dead men's bones, because they were the hypocrites who killed the prophets sent to them. Who would load on the people great weights of religious obligations which they themselves won't touch with a finger.

He queried the hypocritical benevolence and giving they did. He taught that giving needs no funfare otherwise the reward is lost. He taught that personal prayer must be in your secret closet to command a public testimony and not the other way round.

He was accused of His disciples eating without the ceremonial washings of the law and He rightly pointed out to them that it isn't what entered into the mouth that spiritually defiles a person, the stomach deals with food and sent it into the trash...rather it is what comes from within that defiles a man...fornication, adultery, falsehood, hatred and so on come from the heart and defiles the person.

He taught that except something is done to a man from within, you can't deal with his fruits. The tree had gotten bad within it before it brought forth the bad fruit. Except the treasure from within is changed what the man brings forth cannot change. Except a man received the God's seed and nature and be born again of God, he cannot be saved to see the kingdom of God! 

These thoughts were revolutionary and unsettling to the teachers and priests of the law. It was turning the heart of the common man who heard Him away from traditions. They heard Him gladly, and the popularity of the priests was threatened so He had to die...

Yet all His contradictions were to fulfil the essence of the law which they preached but what physical gains they were getting wouldn't let them see...

So He brought out a new commandment. He had lived what He preached and had used His life to show a practical example of what He taught and so the commandment evolved from 'Love your neighbor as yourself" to 'Love each other as I have loved you'!

He has loved us by laying down His life for us. That's the ultimate that a person can sacrifice for another. We have that commandment from Him to give each other the best we have as disciples of Christ.

[My Offline Bible] 1 John 3
16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

When we discovered the essence and the extent of the love of God we too are able to go the same extent with the same intent and with that we can do God's pleasure with the power of His love.

We may love selfishly, always giving less than we have the power to, giving with selfish reasons and not giving to meet the needs of those we give to even with the capacity to, but to show that at least we gave. We may actually be giving more problems than solutions and all such givings and loving won't bring forth any reward, they aren't God kind of giving or loving.

The new commandment as learned from the passion of the Christ is that we love one another to the extent of genuine and sincere love without hypocrisy just has Christ as loved us...

And surely we can...we only must be willing to!

I pray the nature of God finds expression in our lives more and more. I pray that the grace to obey Christ's new commandment and to follow His revolutionary teachings without those dead religiosities be granted us in Jesus name!

Good Morning and Have a great Sunday!

THE ESSENCE OF EASTER

continues

Thursday, 26th March 2015 6:00pm

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