Howdy,
Yes.
Yes is an answer to a question.
Good questions.
Sunday Pastor Kevin Heppner at The Rock Church of Turlock proposed this as a summarized, though life-opening, one-word wrap of Jesus Christ’s three headline commandments/directions/instructions/guidance/last words to us in Scripture. Yes.
Yes. (Yes, the billyhawes.com running theme since Wednesday. Tomorrow will be different.)
So, yes.
Yes is obedience.
Yet yes is also the requirement.
That’s the wrap part. That’s the summary, the being concise down to one word.
A look at three Biblical statements from Jesus: let’s examine those next.
1) “‘Which commandment is the most important of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”’” (Mark 12:28b-30).
(Love God.)
[FYI, I’m not sure if I’ve got that right, but if I did, we’ve got the rare triple set of quotation marks at the end of that there sentence. Kind of fun … if, you know, you’re a nerd. Uh, er, scholar.]
2) “‘The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these’” (Mark 12:31).
(Love people.)
[Merely a double quotation mark here. So sorry to disappoint. I suppose it’s not so different from the double play being vastly more common than ever conquering the uncanny quest of baseball’s triple play.]
3) “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20).
(Make disciples.)
Okay, so those quotations are Red Letter, if you know what I mean.
Our church has a slogan for keeping a concise version of these three in mind: “Love God. Love People. Win the World.”
Or, that has been it for our 10 years as a faith community, but now—very recently, signs are in the process of being changed—the word will be: “Love God. Love People. Make Disciples.”
Sunday Pastor, like I said, took it one more step: three commandments in one word.
You know very well what that word is. Yes, you do.
Here’s how it works as both obedience and the commandment to be obeyed.
Yes, is our response—if we are in right and willing obedience.
And, Yes, is the stance. Jesus asks, commands, us to stand with an open yes—an open heart, an open soul, an open mind, an open strength, an open love, an open time, teaching, and training: an open yes—as whether in standby or a supple and active posture, Jesus’ greatest commandments instruct an attitude of Yes.
Yes instead of No, or Wait, or Show.
Red Letter one-word wrap: Yes.
—Billy
Reading. Writing. Living.
P.S. This post had a hint—at minimum—of a Sunday Scripture series post, but that comes tomorrow. Have a great weekend!
Also, baseball has a way of always working its way in. Even, say, amidst Jesus’ three greatest commands to the human race of the world, or maybe even in, oh I don’t know, a wedding ceremony address.
Come to think of it, grammar seems also to be ever-present, one way or another.
Grammar and baseball, who knew those two would go together?
And that they’d mingle with God and weddings?
Didn’t know I was so close to God and Blessed Covenant as a baseball and English guy.
You know how they say you should have stopped while you were ahead?
If your answer was, “No,” now you know.
Word Count: 173,023 / On Pace: 168,850 / Year’s Goal: 200,000
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