One day people asked Jesus one more stupid question: What is the Greatest Commandment? 

Jesus gave an impossible answer - He didn’t come up with it, he repeated some old stuff tracing back to Moses: 


 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment.” 


Was it a joke? 

In the Bible, it’s written in Deuteronomy Chapter 6 after a caveat about fearing God and complying with his various commandments and prescriptions. Fear, Obey, Love! In that order!  





In the same chapter, the Good Lord tells the people of Israel that he will give them, I quote


“a land with large, flourishing cities they did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things they did not provide, wells they did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves they did not plant” 


As for the people who lived in these cities and houses, just destroy them, says the Lord. 


If Moses was in touch with a Special Power From Above, it was the God of the Pirates in my humble opinion. 




Twelve or thirteen centuries later, people ask Jesus what the greatest commandment was and he repeated what Moses had told before him: “Love God!”


“Hurry up! Love, now! The last day is coming, aren’t you loving already? You’re late! Hell may open under your feet! Love love love!”


Maybe Jesus was just joking? 


Some people try to get away with the paradox by deciding that love is, after all, an action. Your neighbour needs help? Go help your neighbour. Is this love? It is possible to help your neighbour out of a sense of duty without loving them at all.  


And if you have ever loved, you know it’s possible to love without doing anything at all. 


What is love? 


Some people say: “Love is not a feeling”. Sure, but love is something we can feel. 


If you are looking at a mountain, you may exclaim: “What a wonderful sight!”. Then someone tells you that a mountain is not a sight. 


A mountain is a huge pile of earth and rocks, and a sight is a visual perception. If you discard what you see because someone told you that a mountain is not a sight, you may look for mountains for the rest of your life without finding one! 


Love is not a feeling, but when we feel love, we know. 


Once in a while we love something or someone, a piece of music for instance, and we are simply enchanted. There are moments of grace when we find ourselves loving someone as if they were a piece of music. We are just enchanted. We don’t want more than the present state of wonder. Then we start wanting more, we feel desire, we want to possess, we realise we have something to lose, we fear and so on… 


When we are loved like we were a piece of art, without any pressure, without having to protect our boundaries, just being an enchantment for someone for the time being, we can say thank you to life and enjoy being on the receiving end. But if it comes from outside, it may come and it may go…


We know what love is. We can’t force it to happen. Love grows like a plant, love gushes like a spring of clear water out of the earth… We can add manure to the ground, we can dig in search of water, we can remove earth and rocks… but we can’t pull on the leaves of the plants to make them grow, we can’t force water out of ourselves when we’re dry. 


And how could we love an invisible God that smells nothing without even feeling his or her presence?

Jesus must have known that his answer was an impossible one. If we try to love because we want to avoid hell and go to paradise instead, it just doesn’t happen.


I loved the story Jesus told about the Kingdom of Heaven being like a man inviting his neighbours to a banquet. But they are too busy. One needs to plough his field, another has business to do… Noone wants to come. The man sends his servants to look for anyone he may find on the street instead, they come, and they eat, drink and are merry together, the end. 


That’s a good story. Of course, love is not a commandment, it’s an invitation. Those who are too busy making money, running after power… are not available. They miss the party, but the poor, the beggars, Esmeralda, Quasimodo and the like end up celebrating with God.


I checked in the Bible to make sure I didn’t forget anything and I was very disappointed. I didn’t find my version of the story. I found a much harsher one, in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22. The man is actually a king, the banquet is a wedding. Some people decline the king’s invitation, others even kill his messengers. The king gets angry. He sends soldiers to kill them back and burn their city. Then he sends other servants to gather people from the street to celebrate the wedding. It could be a happy ending but the king notices a man who has not dressed up. He tells him: Oh my friend, how come you have no wedding dress? The man doesn’t even answer. No explanation, no excuse, nothing. The king then tells his servants to tie this man's hands and legs and throw him out in the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Conclusion, many are called, but few are chosen. 


I really preferred my romantic version, but then I remembered that there are four Gospels, and they often tell the same stories in slightly different ways. My memory was not that bad after all, my version was Luke’s version, chapter 14. I like this one much more. 


As a storyteller, I understand that there can be various versions of the same story. They make us feel before making us think. 


Is the Great Spirit a Kind Heart who welcomes whoever accepts his invitation? Should we be careful not to take him for granted? 


In any case, don’t shoot the messengers!


Jean-Marc

Storyteller, philosopher, astrologer

https://www.jeanmarcpierson.com/


 



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