“All the Law and the Prophets 1HANG on these two commandments.” (Matt. 22:40)
1Kremannumi: to hang, suspend or be suspended from above. It is obvious that Jesus was attempting to get our attention on this point He was making! Now, I know that I have discussed this previously but this morning the Lord drew my attention to it once again which tells me that we must be having difficulty doing it! So, as a reminder, a religious expert in the law, tested Jesus with this question:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind.’ This is the FIRST and GREATEST commandment. And the second is 1LIKE IT: ‘LOVE YOUR 2NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’” (Matt. 22:36-39)
1homoios: the same as, of equal rank. Jesus is teaching us here that is equally important for us to love our “close ones” as it is to love God! 2plēsion: Neighbor, according to Christ, “any other person irrespective of nation or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet”. Jesus was questioned by a man wanting to justify himself: “…so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29)
Jesus took this opportunity to teach about a Priest, a Levite and a Samaritan who all encountered a wounded man. The Priest and Levite passed by but the Samaritan stopped and help the wounded man, so, Jesus asked the question “which one was the neighbor”? “The expert in the law replied, “The ONE WHO HAD MERCY on him.” Jesus told him, “GO AND DO LIKEWISE.” (Luke 10:37)
Just to sum this up we must STOP saying and doing hateful and hurtful things TO OTHERS! Let us show them mercy instead and repent of any NON-CHRIST LIKE ACTIONS we may have taken because everything else in God’s word “hangs” on this… “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. DO WHAT IT SAYS. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks INTENTLY into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it–not forgetting what they have heard, but DOING IT–THEY WILL BE BLESSED IN WHAT THEY DO. (James 1:22-25)
Let us be “caught in the act” of doing the Word…Bill Stockham