Los 10 Mandamientos (Introducción)

Let's talk about the Ten Commandments. These are the best-known rules of the whole Bible. They may be the best-known rules of all human history. Yes, the truth is that they are very famous. But if we take the time to go deeper, we will discover that the Ten Commandments are not really just rules. Really? Yes, in fact, each commandment of the Bible is much more than a commandment. What does that mean? Well, let's think, for example, of the first time God tells someone to do something. It is what God tells humanity when He creates it in Genesis 1. God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Exactly. But notice that this is not called a commandment, it is called a blessing. So this first commandment sets the pattern for all the other commandments that will come. Each commandment of the Bible is an invitation to find life. That sounds good, but how? I mean, we don't need rules that tell us how to find life. Sure, but the rules only take you to a certain point. That is, what we really need is to know how to discern between the right and the wrong, and between the good and the bad in any complicated situation in life. That's what the Bible calls wisdom. Okay, and how do I get wisdom? Well, for that we have to review the second commandment of the history of the Bible, and what we see is that it has a lot to do with the search for wisdom. Okay. This comes after God places the human in the garden.

In Genesis chapter 2 we read this. It was God who ordered the humans, saying, Of every tree in the garden you will certainly be able to eat. That includes the tree of life. Super. So, enjoy the tree of the infinite life of God. Excellent. Eat. I like that commandment. But go on. But of the tree of knowledge of the good and the bad you will not eat, because the day you eat of it you will certainly die. Okay, so there's this tree that teaches us to discern the good from the bad, but you don't eat of that tree. What does that mean? Yes, this story is super enigmatic and it's a riddle. It invites us to meditate on what is the true meaning of the commandment. So, let's go back to this commandment, which has two parts. We have the commandment expressed in a negative way, you will not eat of the tree of knowledge, but you notice its counterpart, its balance, which has a positive invitation to eat of the tree of life. In other words, the whole premise is that all trees look beautiful and good. So, how do I distinguish the difference? Between the tree that kills me and the one that gives me life? I only know it because God tells me. Okay, so true wisdom comes from hearing the voice of God. That guides us to life, but deciding under my own terms leads to death. Exactly. That's what the story shows us. Okay. And it is this story that prepares the stage for each commandment of the Bible. And there will be many commandments in the Bible. That's right.

Hundreds and hundreds. Rules and statutes and laws, but each of them is like the first commandment, which is an invitation to listen to the voice of God and find life. And to do this, we have to meditate on the commandments, reflecting on them and discovering how they invite us, one by one, to discover the life and wisdom of God in them. That is precisely what the author of one of the Psalms tells us. How good is the life for which one rejoices in the Torah of the Lord, and in his Torah he meditates day and night. Torah means teaching, and usually translates as law. It will be like a tree planted next to streams of water that bears fruit in its time. Yes, how great. Well, living according to the wisdom of God not only means that I can eat from the tree of life, it means that I really become a tree of life for others. It invites us to live in a radical and brave way, which gives us life and allows us to share that life with others. Yes, so this is the invitation of the Ten Commandments. Yes. We can meditate on them and find life. Yes, exactly. And we can think of them as a list of ten rules, as if it were a list of moral rules to follow. But if we take the time to meditate on them, we will discover a whole universe of wisdom and life in each of these famous rules of the whole Bible. Yes. Amen.