Our paragraph topic is: (The great commandment) Part 4.
The Pharisees came with their questions seeking to test the knowledge of Christ. Others came before him and failed. But the Pharisees were determined. They gathered among themselves and came up with a question that they thought no one who had not studied the Law as they had would know the answer. They believed that their great knowledge and wisdom of the Law came from the years of study with the masters. No one knew or had heard of Christ studying with any of the Doctors of the Law. So they came to question him with this one question that they believed he did not know and would not be able to answer.
The Pharisees came with their questions seeking to test the knowledge of Christ. Others came before him and failed. But the Pharisees were determined. They gathered among themselves and came up with a question that they thought no one who had not studied the Law as they had would know the answer. They believed that their great knowledge and wisdom of the Law came from the years of study with the masters. No one knew or had heard of Christ studying with any of the Doctors of the Law. So they came to question him with this one question that they believed he did not know and would not be able to answer.
They wanted to know what was the one great commandment in the Law. One had to discern this commandment after years of study for it was not given outright. So one Pharisee asked Christ and: Jesus said to him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind."
This is the great commandment upon which all the Law is based and upon which we should practice. But, one should ask how to practice this commandment? How do you love the Lord with your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole mind when you only know physical love? Our love is based upon that which we can see, taste, touch, smell, and feel. Can we see the Lord, or taste, him? Can we touch him or feel him? How then are we to know how to love him?
What is love? Love is what moves us inside, what makes us feel good about ourselves and someone else. Love is the thought of someone we picture, how they look, the little things about them that we like, how they smell, reminding us of them and bringing back fond memories of them. Love is the emotions that we have of a person and how they make us feel. Love is a touch, a whisper, a breath, a breeze, a flower, a blue sky, a rainbow, the smell of freshness in the air. Love is all these things and more. Love is awakening to a beautiful day and realizing that life is joy and life is happiness and life is full. Love is the happiness in the understanding that we are children of God and he is our creator, and our provider and our protector. Love is our whole being in him.
Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ . The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.
