P
E R S P E C T I V E S
Positive spirituality
While driving
back to Wisconsin from Chicago on New Year’s Day we saw a huge,
amazing billboard. It said:
WHAT PART OF “THOU SHALT NOT” DO YOU
NOT UNDERSTAND?
Signed: GOD
I thought to
myself, “How interesting. Mike, Nick and I try to give a message
that is exactly the opposite of the one on this billboard.”
Let me try to
explain…..
The billboard
is obviously quoting one of the 10 Commandments. Jesus, as a good
Jew, lived the 10 Commandments because they were part of the Torah,
or the sacred instructions that God gave to the people through
Moses. These instructions were mostly based on justice, i.e., I
give to the other what is deserved. They led the people to be just
in their dealings with God and with one another. We know that there
are a number of “thou shalt not’s” in the 10 commandments.
However, the first of the
instructions honored by the Jews was not a negative “thou shalt
not..” It was a command to act positively: “You must love your God
above all, firstly (Dt. 6:4-5,) and secondly, you must love your
neighbor as your self.” (Lv. 19:18) Jesus never erased any of the
Torah. Furthermore, through his ministry Jesus led the people to
see that much more than justice was necessary. Jesus emphasized
mercy, i.e., I give what is undeserved and what is compassionate!
And so Jesus went way beyond the 10 Commandments when he said that
loving our neighbor wasn’t
even
enough, we must also love our enemies, a stance of mercy and
compassion.
One of my favorite stories
illustrating this is the account of Jesus forgiving the woman taken
in adultery. Whatever we may think of the woman and what she did,
the bottom line is that Jesus releases her, even from the Law of
Moses, which said she must be stoned. How often must I forgive? ?
We know Jesus’ answer to Peter (Matt. 18:21-22)“…not 7 but 77
times,” meaning, there is no end to how often I should forgive, even
my enemies and people who have hurt me. I am going to try and make
2008 a year to forgive… and start with my friends….a simple form of
positive spirituality.
