Shortest Day, Greatest Commandments

Headlines are loud, but love is louder. We start with the shortest day of the year and a sweep of December 21 moments—pilgrims at Plymouth, Ford’s assembly line, Apollo 8’s launch, a tragedy over Lockerbie—and then hold up a cultural mirror with the Oscars slap that dominated every feed. The noise is real, the memes are sticky, and the takes are endless. So we pivot to what actually changes us: Jesus’ Great Commandments in Matthew 22.

We read the passage and break down what it means to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind in practical terms—shaping your desires, your identity, and your thinking around God’s way when it collides with your own. Then we press into loving your neighbor as yourself, widening “neighbor” beyond convenience or agreement. With the Good Samaritan in view, we talk about choosing dignity over drama, restraint over reaction, and service over signaling. This isn’t soft faith; it’s disciplined, daily faith that confronts harm without contempt and seeks restoration without feeding the outrage machine.

Along the way, we draw clear lines from history’s big swings to the choices we make in a checkout line or a comment thread. Small acts of love stack. Praying before posting, listening before lecturing, and apologizing without excuses can tilt a day toward light the way the solstice turns the year. If the rules and headlines feel heavy, take the simple path that outlasts trends: love God fully and love people well. Press play, reset your posture, and carry this focus into the week.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a quick review to help others find this conversation. Your words help us grow—and help more people choose love over noise.

Chapters

• 1:02 Welcome And Daily Format
• 1:29 December 21 In American History
• 4:07 Notable Events And Cultural Moments
• 6:02 Stupid American History: The Oscars Slap
• 11:10 Prayer And Transition To Scripture
• 12:18 The Great Commandments In Matthew 22
• 14:47 Loving God In Everyday Life
• 15:49 Loving Your Neighbor And The Good Samaritan
• 17:43 Simple Faith, Last Encouragement, Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:31

Hey guys, it's B-Rob. It's the Food for Thought Fake Cast. Once again, we back at it with you. Um, I know we already did an episode today talking about Epstein and Trump and that sort of thing, but we gonna we gotta we gotta keep up with the daily uh Bible study and the daily day in American history. Um today is Sunday, December 21st, and um if we're looking at today in American history, key events have defined American history on the 21st, from colonial settlement and innovation to space exploration, BS, cultural milestones and tragedy. It also often marks the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, the shortest day of the year. Wow, today's the shortest day of the year. Awesome. In sixteen twenty, the pilgrims landed on uh Plymouth Rock. The Mayflower Pilgrims first stepped ashore near what became Plymouth, Massachusetts. Massachusetts, Massachusetts. I don't even think I studied it right, but it don't matter. My name's B. Rob, and I am who I am. The uh in nineteen thirteen, Ford introduced the assembly line. Henry Ford revolutionized the manufacturing with the first moving assembly line for the Model T at his Highland Park plant. This innovation drastically reduced production time from twelve hours per car to one point five hours per car and made automobiles affordable for the masses. Well, that's pretty cool, Henry Ford. Hmm. 1968, the Apollo 8 launches from Cape Kennedy. Yeah, if you believe in that sort of thing, I am not a fan or a believer, but um NASA is NASA. 1988, the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. A terrorist bomb exploded aboard Pan Am Flight 103 in Scotland, killing all 259 people on board, including 190 Americans. It remained one of the largest, deadliest acts of aviation terrorism and led to international investigations and a lot of memorials. Other notable events on December 21st, 1866 was the Fetterman Massacre. That was Native American forces and Bush and defeat U.S. troops in Wyoming, one of the worst U.S. Army defeats in the West until Little Bighorn. 1891, James Naset invents basketball at the YMCA. They play in basketball. Little Curtis Blow. Yeah, what y'all know about Curtis Blow. 1891, that was 1891, invented basketball at the YMCA in Massachusetts, Springfield. In 1970, Elvis Presley meets with President Richard Nixon at the White House. Now one of the most requested photos from the National Archives. Hmm. Wonder why. Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon. Hmm. In nineteen thirty-seven, Disney White's Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premieres as a full-length animated feature film. And nobody cares. December twenty first blends foundational moments of settlement and innovation with reminders of exploration's triumphs and tragedies. Yep. The American story. The American story. The American story. Which comes to the next part of the show. We're gonna do the stupid American history. And this one is pretty dumb. I was I don't I don't I wasn't there watching it because I don't watch the Oscars, but this was pretty dumb. Um the 94th Academy Awards. This moment was turned into a viral catastrophe. This was on March 27, 2022. Will Smith stormed the stage and slapped comedian Chris Rock after Rock made an unscripted joke about Smith's wife. So this says unscripted. I think that's a lie. We're talking about Hollywood here. They don't do nothing unscripted. Um the joke was about Jada Pinkett Smith comparing her shaved head that she had at the time due to some kind of disease. I cannot remember what disease, but to a potential G.I. Jane too, I guess remake or something. Um Smith initially laughed, but then reacted intensively, shouting, keep your wives, keep my wife's name out your effing mouth. Twice from his seat. Chris Rock stunned but professional. I mean, they saying it's the greatest night in history of television. Why? The slap overshadowed everything that night, including Smith's best actor win for King Richard and Quest Love's documentary win for Summer of Love. But there was some aftermath, and I thought, man, I mean, first of all, those are two dudes, right? I guess, I mean, maybe not. It is Hollywood, Hollyweird, right? But those are two dudes. First of all, two dudes ain't gonna slap each other. Not the dudes I grew up with, anyway. So yeah, why are you slapping people, first of all? But anyway, um there was aftermath. Smith apologized on stage during his accepted speech, calling his actions inexcusable, but not directly to Chris Rock. Um the Academy condemned the violence and lost, uh launched an investigation. Smith resigned from the Academy on April 1st, 2022, not far after the event. On April 8th, he was banned from all Academy events, including the Oscars, for 10 years. Though he kept his Oscar and he could still be nominated. Long-term fallout was Will Smith's career, kind of a black cloud. Who cares? Um, Chris Rock, he addressed it at the 23 Netflix special, basically calling it um. Um, excuse my language, Lord forgive me. He said it, I didn't. I'm repeating it. He said he's not a victim and moved on. But I mean his tour sales spiked and he took advantage of it, obviously. Um I mean, the cool part about it is was the memes. It was uh definitely meme legacy. That was that was um one of the things, but uh three years later, and it's still the defining dumb pop culture moment. I mean, Hollywood drama at its most chaotic chaotic and meme-worthy moments, classic American absurdity. Uh a slap from a dude, huh? Yeah. Not to be judgmental, but um my daddy told me not to slap nobody. If you got beef with my just knock them out. But anyway. But nobody cares about Hollywood, right? So that's it. That's that. That's a stupid American history moment. And now let's get into some good stuff. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we come to you today, Lord. We thank you for your grace, your mercy. We thank you for just providing, Lord. Providing a way, providing an opportunity, providing a space, providing a prayer, providing a soul, providing love for our hearts, Lord. Lord, we pray to do our best to greet each day with love in our hearts. We pray, Lord, to do our best to love our neighbors, we pray, Lord, to do our best in everything we do, that everything we do may show you, Lord. We pray these things in Jesus' holy, heavenly name. Amen and hallelujah. Well, if you got your good book, your Bible, open it on up to Matthew chapter 22. We're gonna be reading verses 37 and 39, which are some famous verses. Um, Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. So love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. So that's verses 37 and 39 in chapter 22 of Matthew. And um, I said it was a famous verse, and these words summarize the heart of Jesus' whole ministry. All in one package. A lot of times they're called the Great Commandments because they capture the core of how Christians are called to live. Remember the theme of love? There you go. There you go. The Bible is a huge book, it has countless laws, rules, wisdom, and advice. It can be hard for even lifelong scholar Christians to make sense of how we're all called to live. But Jesus came and made it so simple. We're going to get into how so many times the Jewish people or people in general get bogged down with the countless laws, rules, wisdom, and advice of the Bible, but always often overlook the simple commandment of Jesus Christ. God wants us to love like God and to love others. So, what does that mean, or what does that look like? To love God with all your soul, all your heart, all your mind means letting him shape every part of your life, not just your desires, not just your choices, not just your beliefs, not just your attitude, not just your thoughts. It's choosing to trust God's way even when his way doesn't match our own way. Does that make sense? Who are you to doubt God? Who are you to doubt God? God wants us to love like Him. He wants us to love others. We have to choose to trust God. We have to choose to trust God's way. To love your neighbor as yourself means treating others with the same care and dignity you want for yourself. And who is your neighbor? Everybody, mother, brother, sister, anybody you come in contact with. So many times in the Bible, Jesus shows us. But in one of his most famous stories, the parable of the Good Samaritan, that everyone on earth is our neighbor. Everyone on earth is our neighbor. You can't love God and hate your brother. You remember that? You remember? You can't do it because that makes you a liar. Because you can physically see, touch, smell, love your brother. You can't God. You gotta have faith. So, how can you love the one you can't see, but don't love the one you can see? You remember that? So, guys, if faith feels complicated, focus on love, focus on loving God, focus on loving people, whether it be friends, families, neighbors, people you don't know, people you're in line with at the grocery store, just ordinary people. Love melts hearts, guys. It's a great day. God is so good. God is so good. Keep the love in your heart. My name's B Rob, it's the Food for Thought Faith Cast. God loves you, and if you ain't got Jesus, you better get right.