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LOVE IS LIKE LIGHT, THE ABSENCE OF WHICH IS DARKNESS

01-30-11

(Gen 1:3,4)  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Love Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ownest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

- William Shakespeare 1564-1616

(Mat 22:33-36)  And when the multitude heard this [Jesus’ affirmation of the resurrection in response to a question from the Sadducees], they were astonished at his doctrine. But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer [Gk: an expert in the (Mosaic) law], asked him a question, tempting him [Gk: testing him], and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

1.      Pharisee: Dictionary = 1. one of an ancient Jewish sect which believed in the validity of the oral law and in the free interpretation of the written law by seeking to discover its inner meaning. 2. a self-righteous, or hypocritical person. (Gk: separated).

2.       Sadducee: Dictionary = 1. one of an ancient Jewish sect or party whose views and practices were opposed to those of the Pharisees, and who denied the authority of oral tradition, the resurrection of the dead, the existence of angels, etc.

3.      (Mat 16:6)  Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven [yeast that puffs up, symbolic of false doctrine] of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT,

AND THE SECOND

(Mat 22:37-40)  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 [or completely support, or are lifted up, i.e., spiritualized, separate from the world] all the law and the prophets.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

(Exo 20:1,2)  And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

FOUR COMMANDMENTS PERTAINING TO OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

(1). (Exo 20:3)  Thou shalt have no other gods before me [“or besides Me” Amplified Bible].

(2). (Exo 20:4-6)  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity [Heb: sins] of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

(3). (Exo 20:7)  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

(4). (Exo 20:8-11)  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou [collect Manna in the mornings and] labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

SIX COMMANDMENTS PERTAINING TO OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH EACH OTHER

(5). (Exo 20:12)  Honour thy father and thy mother [“Regard (treat with honor, due obedience, and courtesy) your father and mother” Amplif.]: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

(6). (Exo 20:13)  Thou shalt not kill [“You shall not commit murder” Amplif.].

(7). (Exo 20:14)  Thou shalt not commit adultery.

(8). (Exo 20:15)  Thou shalt not steal.

(9). (Exo 20:16)  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

(10). (Exo 20:17)  Thou shalt not covet [Heb: desire, lust after] thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

(Exo 20:18-20)  And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you [to be a mighty sword of the Lord], and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

LOVE AND THE ABSENCE OF LOVE

(John 12:1-3)  Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment ["myrrh", i.e. perfumed oil] of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour [Gk: fragrance] of the ointment.

(John 12:4-8)  Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the [treasurer’s] bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

1.      Commentary: Judas Iscariot was a thief who had no fear of God (“Thou shalt not steal.”), but he did have a fear of being caught by men, i.e., Judas Iscariot did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and he feared the punishment of men over the punishment of God. Idolatry = fearing men over God. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

Amen