The Two Great Commandments

Peter spoke in his ward this past Sunday. We knew he was preparing, he mentioned it when we spoke last week. He'd been asked to speak on service, a topic he's had a lot of experience with over the last year. With his permission, here's his talk:

About two thousand years ago, a Pharisee approached Jesus Christ and asked him a question. Being a lawyer, and a Pharisee, the question wasn't asked with the intent to learn, but asked with the intent to tempt Jesus, entangling him in his words so that his teachings would lose their credibility. This was the intent of the question. The result, however, was far more profound than anyone had expected.

The question was as follows. “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?”

Knowing the intent behind the question, the lawyer perhaps knew that there are many great and important commandments, and surely nobody could truly name one above the others. One could present an argument that any commandment could be above the other.

Jesus knew the intent of the question, and answered perfectly. He said: “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 all the law and the prophets.”

Instead of picking out one commandment and portraying it above the others he instead chose to summarize all other commandments in two simple commandments. Love God, and love thy neighbor. This answer, and a few questions asked by the Savior shocked the Pharisees, and they asked no more questions.

Later, Jesus is telling his followers about how the great nations will be divided in the last day. To those that follow him he will say: 

“I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

By this parable we learn that as we fulfill the second commandment, we also start to fulfill the first. Or, in other words, we can not fulfill the commandment to love our God without also following the commandment to love our neighbor.

This of course is taught by King Benjamin, the righteous king in the Book of Mormon, when he teaches us of service, and serving our fellow man. And he tells us these things, that [we] may learn wisdom; that [we] may learn that when [we] are in the service of [our] fellow beings [we] are only in the service of [our] God.

Towards the end of his New Testament ministry, Jesus is speaking again to his apostles. He tells them “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

If we truly are to be disciples of Jesus Christ we must learn to love one another, to love our neighbor.

When we are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, we make a covenant with God to take Jesus's name upon us. By doing so, as the prophet Alma states, we are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort,

When we take the name of Jesus on us we are asked to serve others. To make their burdens light. 

We can all serve those around us in many ways! Service can be teaching someone about the gospel, or helping a loved one with a long and dreaded task. Service can be a child helping a parent prepare dinner, or watching their younger siblings. Service can even be as small as a kind word and thoughtful smile that will brighten someone's day.

Service means a lot to me. Before coming here to P4, I was what was called a service missionary, for 9 months in the Lehigh Valley. A service missionary is a missionary who focuses on serving the community instead of teaching. Every day I would go out and serve in donation centers and food banks. This was a wonderful opportunity to serve, but we don't all have to be set apart missionaries in order to do so. 

We can help those that need help everyday. In doing so we exercise our love for our fellow man. In a sense this serves us, because it will increase our capacity to love our neighbor. 

God has blessed each and every one of us with unique and individual talents. These talents can be things like connecting with people, or music, art, intelligence, any number of things. We can use all of these talents to help serve those around us, to help uplift those as the savior would.

Jesus teaches us this when he says “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

We have a lot of light in us, gifted to us by our glorious Father in Heaven. There is no reason to not use that light to light the path of others, and the lives of others. By doing so we are doing a great work and inviting others to glorify God!

One of the greatest Christ-like attributes of which we seek to attain in this life is charity. Part of charity is patience, kindness, selflessness. Serving others can even be something as simple as showing a little bit more patience and kindness as someone goes through a hard time.

One of the best sources of guidance on how to serve our fellow man in our everyday life are the four simple words “what would Jesus do?”

By relying on the Savior as our guide through life we will never miss an opportunity to serve. You will be pillars of light in the darkness, brightening the world for all to see and glorify God.

I leave this invitation with you all to remember to follow the example in Jesus Christ, to ask yourselves what would Jesus do?

I say all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.