As a boy, I always had trouble in Sunday school, when our teacher — a 20-something woman named Wendy — would try to teach us about the Ten Commandments, and stuff.
Wendy: And the second greatest Commandment is to love your brother as yourself…
Louis: That’s actually not one of the Ten Commandments. That was a new commandment that Jesus gave to his disciples in John Chapter 13. Or maybe you’re thinking of Mark Chapter 12. But I know for sure, it wasn’t one of the Ten Commandments.
Wendy: Louis, I need to remind you that we always raise our hand when we want to say something in class.
Louis: You don’t ever raise your hand.
Wendy: That’s because I’m the teacher.
Louis: You would set a better example for us, if you raised your hand.
Wendy: Thank you for your comments, Louis. Now, as I was saying, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai…
Louis: (Raising hand) …But ‘Love your brother as yourself’ was not one of the Commandments.
Wendy: Then maybe you can tell the class, Louis, why our minister is always telling us to love our brothers?
Louis: Beats me. I don’t have any brothers. I only have a sister.
Wendy: Well, I don’t have a brother either…
Louis: Then you can understand how I feel…
Wendy: …But Jesus wasn’t talking about biological brothers. All of humanity are our brothers. And sisters.
Louis: If Jesus meant all of humanity, why He didn’t say so? That would save us from having to argue about it in Sunday school.
Wendy: Jesus spoke in parables, so that those who can truly see or hear can understand the secrets of heaven. Like his disciples; they could see and hear. But other people couldn’t understand the parables. And I think that might be your problem, Louis.
Louis: What about the money-changers in the temple? Jesus made a whip of cords and drove them out of the temple. And he poured out the coins and overturned the tables. That doesn’t sound like ‘loving all of humanity’ to me.
Wendy: Well, I guess everyone is allowed to lose their temper once in a while. Which is very likely to happen to me, Louis, if you don’t sit down and shut up.
Louis: Cool. Then you could make a whip of cords, like Jesus did.
Wendy: That’s actually an excellent idea…
This is not a verbatim transcript of our conversation. But it comes close.
I didn’t follow Wendy’s career in religious education. My family — Mom and Dad and my sister and I — moved to a different town a few months later. I never found out if Wendy eventually got around to making a whip of cords. Like she said, it was probably an excellent idea.
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