Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 5:17-20)
which one is the least commandment?
I've listened to a course called "Sonship" by a teacher named Jack Miller. To understand the theme of the series of teachings, he repeatedly said, "Cheer up! You're a worse sinner than you ever dared imagine, and you're more loved than you ever dared hope.”
He also often talked about how often we defer to our own form of righteousness, instead of clinging to the Lord's righteousness for our defense and offense. I don't remember if this is from his teaching or just the thing my husband and I have in common when we talked about it after listening to Dr. Miller, but we call it "driver's righteousness." We have driver's righteousness -- the firm understanding that we alone are the only drivers on the road who drive properly. It is so bad that we both acknowledge the other spouse is a good driver, but not as good as we are. I think most people understand driver's righteousness, if they drive. The concept that anyone in another car who offends your senses is guilty of "poor driving," but our personal skill levels are close to perfect.
I see the Ten Commandments as a way of destroying everyone's personal pet-righteousness. I used to think the sixth commandment was "the least of these," because I've never killed anyone. But then Jesus pulled that out from under me because I have called my brothers fools.
I think I still suffer from covet-righteousness, because I'm not the jealous kind. I can read that at the surface level and openly declare I have never coveted my neighbor's wife nor donkey. Then again, I'm a heterosexual woman, so not prone to want another woman, and owning a donkey in a city is impractical and worthless. So, covet is the least to me.
But it isn't least at all if I look closely at it. I see people smarter than I am, and want to be them. That's me telling the Lord he didn't give me enough. I see people closer to him and want to be them. Again, saying the Lord hasn't given me enough. My car is a clunker, my house is only functional, and I am the type of woman if you saw me walking down the street, it is likely you wouldn't remember me before I walked by you. Those very thoughts say I covet constantly.
So, if the least is this hard, what about the greatest? The greatest is the first commandment. By failing the tenth, I'm immediately failing the first.
I see the commandments as God showing us who he is. Not only does he do them perfectly, he does them perfectly because that is who he is. And that is what he must have from those around him, but those around him fail. So he humbled himself enough to come to earth to live the prefect life and to be sacrificed specifically because he lived the perfect life, so he could be the perfect sacrfice for all of us who failed, and realized we have failed. He became the least, and the greatest even in that.
And in that, we see, and beg to follow, the Greatest.
"Cheer up! You're a worse sinner than you ever dared imagine, and you're more loved than you ever dared hope.”
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