Teacher, What is the Most Important Commandment in the Law?

By Polo Munoz, Managing Editor/Publisher

Christmas Day 2019 is here, and as a human family we are failing. We are still very reluctant to accept the humanity in all others and the reason for the season has been invoked, as one major rationale all should accept the inhumanity. Acceptance of angry and twisted minds have convinced their more grounded Christian practitioners that their fear and hate is more divine than the need for us to take care of children and adults who keep dying at the hands of human cruelty. As I look at the peaceful street of my neighborhood, it would be easy to just thank the stars for my personal well being and peace, but this day is about deep thought and about our actions for the good of others; especially those that we do not know and will never know.

As individuals we can do things to support the well being of others, but as a community we can do miracles to help all of those in need. We need to understand that the spirit of these Holy Days is to look out for those whose pain is too much for them, and provide gifts so that their situation can change and be more humane.

If we look at the prayer most Christians pray as an acknowledgement of a higher being, at the center is the most holy, ‘thy will be done” as we look at what is being done to the most vulnerable at this moment, we would have to be bowing to a different being than we claim to. We are at the cusp of losing our souls because we want to be left alone to do what we want, rather than what we claim to do.

There is a reality that we can no longer avoid, there are people that want to disappear others that they do not like, to them it’s not about hate, it is about their own fear. They will cage children, kill refugees and still go to church to praise the God they feel has given them the power to do such. Although these folks want to believe, as Aristotle did, that some humans are born “natural slaves,” the idea is clearly disgusting as this country already tried it with horrific results. The current administration is clearly advocating for cruelty as a tool for subjugation. Staffers and demagogues like Stephen Miller, continue to push a strategy that promotes violence toward those he hates.

As Christian travel through this holidays, we need to remind each other of this guiding directive on “Matthew 22:36-40” ³⁶ “Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ Jesus answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. ³⁸ This is the first and most important commandment. ³⁹ The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.” ⁴⁰ All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.