Once there was a good man who wished to live a good and holy life. So he met a Priest to seek his advice. The priest was glad to welcome him and congratulated his ambition and asked him, “How have you been faring so far?”
The man replied, “Quite well. I think.”
“When you say ‘well’ what do you mean?” the Priest asked.
“I have not broken any of the commandments, such as,
taking the Lord’s name in Vain, not profane the Sabbath Day, not dishonored my parents, not killed anyone, never been unfaithful to wife, not Stolen , not borne false witness against anyone, never coveted my neighbor’s wife or goods” the man replied.
“Wow, I see,” said the Priest.
“That’s correct,” the man replied with pride. “But have you ever kept the commandments?” the Priest asked him.
“What do you mean?”, the man asked.
“Have you ever honored God’s holy name?
Have you kept the holy obligations?
Have you honored your parents?
Have you sought to preserve and defend life?
Have you shared your goods with the poor?
Have you defended the good name of someone?
When was the last time you helped your neighbor?
When was the last time you told your wife that you loved her very much? The Priest said about.
The man was taken aback. But to his credit, he went away and reflected on what the Priest have asked him. He then later realized that up to this he had been merely intent on avoiding wrong-doing. It’s surprising how many people think this is the highest criterion of virtue. But the priest offered him a new vision of goodness, not merely to avoid the evil, but to do good. Up to now, he had a negative concept of goodness. Now the priest was offering the positive concept of goodness. He had given him a new and better compass to guide him, a new and more challenging path to follow.
And we must be careful not to make the mistake that the man-made. We must not approach the commandments in a negative way because this leads us to do the bare minimum of the commandments of the Lord. Rather, we must approach them with a positive mindset. We must keep them in a right spirit. Our obedience must be motivated not by fear but by love. We don’t follow the commandments “so that God will love us; we keep the commandments “because God loves us.”
Jesus brought in a new and more exciting law – “The Law of Love.” Far from contradicting or abolishing the old law, the new law goes beyond it, and so bring it to perfection. He said that all of God’s Laws could be reduced to two; “Love of God and Love of Neighbour.” In truth, there is only one law that is the Law of Love in all the time. Amen.
