Young Commandments

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

(Matthew 22:35-40 KJV)

Re: Young Commandments

My nephew

Covered in advanced theology

Lineage of Melchizedek

All 144 months of him

Found refuge in

Love

The most simplistic

Complicated gospel

Ever preached

My take on the verse:

Our Sunday sermon was dense and fibrous. We were dissecting levitical law, the mysterious bible figure of Melchizedek and revisiting the role of the levitical priest. I sat next to my twelve year old nephew and watched him try to interpret and decipher what the pastor was saying. He is extremely smart and grew up around adults so his ability to wrap his brain around challenging ideals and concepts is vast. He was struggling. As Pastor Charlie begin to wrap up his sermon he juxtaposed the greatness of Jesus with that of Melchizedek with Jesus being the obvious victor. But once we can finally acknowledge Jesus as priest and king still leaves us wondering what to do with that. How are we supposed to live under the Law? What is most important part? Reread the verse above. I leaned over and told my nephew to remember the two commandments. On my way to take him back to San Diego, hours later, I asked him if he remembered the most important part of the sermon. He said, “...love God and love my neighbor.” Money. On this Monday, let us remember the basic complexity of what Jesus calls us to live out. It is easy enough for a twelve year old and is refreshingly basic for us grown folks.

God. Neighbor. Love em both (in that order).

Pray:

God help me desire to want to follow your most important commandments. Help me love my neighbors who seem unlovable and give me strength and boldness to love tragically and sacrificially. Lord, help us first love you and have a desire towards you that spills over to the people we encounter. Help us to  wondrously and refreshingly encounter your Love this Monday and let a new love be the overflow. --Amen

Paz,

Antonio Cortez Appling