The Greatest Commandment

The Greatest Commandment

Joy Wattenbarger

The Ten Commandments.  We’ve all heard them.  Many of us had to memorize them at some point.  And although they are great rules to know and to follow, sometimes, I think it’s possible to allow them to distract us from the main point of our faith.

In the first reading, we hear the shema, the first and greatest Commandment that God gives to the Israelite people. Then, in the Gospel, Jesus reiterates this commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength,” and follows it up with a second one, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  If we stop to think about it, all of the Ten Commandments fall under one of these two greatest Commandments: loving God and loving others.

Unfortunately, commandments are one of those categories where more is NOT better. You see, if we were completely successful at following those two greatest Commandments, we wouldn’t need the other Ten Commandments. Am I saying that we don’t need to follow the Ten Commandments? Not at all! But let me explain. God gives us commandments to guide us in the times when our hearts aren’t in the right place. When our hearts are in the right place, we don’t need lots of rules, because we do the right thing out of LOVE; love for God and love for others.

Here’s an example: I’ve been married to my amazing husband for almost 2 years. He’s a really great guy and I love him a lot! Now, how does this relate to the commandments? The fifth Commandment is “Thou shall not kill.” Do I need this Commandment in my relationship with my husband? No, I don’t! I don’t need this Commandment, not because it would be okay for me to kill my husband, but rather, because I truly LOVE my husband and have no desire to kill him.  You see, when our hearts are in the right place, and we’re truly loving someone, we don’t need a rule to stop us from harming them, we do it naturally, out of love.

If we truly loved God above all else, with all our heart, soul mind, and strength, would we need a “rule” to make us go to Mass on Sunday or stop us from using His name in vain? No! We would desire to worship Him and the thought of using His name as a curse would horrify us.

My point, in all of this, is that we need to look at our hearts. Sometimes it’s easier just to modify our behavior, follow rules, and do the bare minimum. Don’t get me wrong, in our journeys of faith, we need the rules, especially for those times when our hearts aren’t in the right place. However, if we just follow the rules, but don’t allow God’s love to change our us, then we’re missing out. God loves us and wants us to receive His abundant love, return it, and then share it with others.

Take some time this week to really look inside and see what things might need to change.  Do you really try to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Are you truly loving your neighbor, as yourself? What is one way this week that you could go above and beyond “the rules” to really show God or someone else that you love them?

This will be a challenge, but thankfully, you don’t have to do it on your own. Ask God to help you and transform you, and the good news is, once your heart starts to change, the “rules” really aren’t so hard.