The Greatest Commandment
Matthew 22:34-40: "When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 'Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?' He said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.'"
In the verses just preceding this passage, Jesus has answered the Sadducees' question about the resurrection. It says that the crowd was astonished at his teaching (Matthew 22:33). Not to be outdone, the Pharisees pulled together and put their best theologian forward with their own question. One of the lawyers (an expert on the law of God) came before Jesus and asked which commandment was the greatest. At the time of this question, the Jewish people had 613 laws. There were 248 positive laws and 365 negative laws. So Jesus took all of these laws plus the Ten Commandments, and he narrowed them down to two: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your mind," and "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:38-39). Those two laws would certainly be much easier to remember than the 613 laws that the Pharisees expected the Jewish people to remember and follow completely!
Why did Jesus simplify the law like this? If the people would truly love the Lord with their whole being, they would naturally fulfill the first four commandments: have no other gods, make no idols, do not take the name of the Lord in vain, and honor the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:3-8). If the people would love their neighbors as themselves, they would naturally fulfill the last six commandments: honor your father and mother, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not covet (Exodus 20:12-17). There is the vertical relationship between the believer and the Lord, then the horizontal relationship between the believer and mankind.
As Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, the law was not just about one's actions but about the attitude of his heart. Jesus brought an inside-out kingdom. When one's insides were changed by love of God and devotion to God, then his or her actions would be transformed to reflect that love and devotion. When God says he looks on the heart, it is because one's heart informs one's actions.
The Pharisees were intent upon trapping Jesus because their hearts were hard towards him. Instead of receiving Jesus as the promised Messiah from God and submitting to him, they resisted Jesus and refused to accept him as the Messiah. Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies of the Old Testament, but he did not fulfill the expectations of the religious leaders. Thus, they rejected Jesus and missed the very one they had been looking for in their study and teaching of the Scriptures.
What is your view of the Commandments of the Lord? Do you narrow them down to these two given by Jesus and allow those two commandments to inform your faith and lead you in your relationship with God and with others? Are you seeking to have the Lord transform you from the inside out?
Reflection:
How does the Lord want you to live deeper into these two commandments - to love him with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind, and then to love your neighbor as yourself?
In the verses just preceding this passage, Jesus has answered the Sadducees' question about the resurrection. It says that the crowd was astonished at his teaching (Matthew 22:33). Not to be outdone, the Pharisees pulled together and put their best theologian forward with their own question. One of the lawyers (an expert on the law of God) came before Jesus and asked which commandment was the greatest. At the time of this question, the Jewish people had 613 laws. There were 248 positive laws and 365 negative laws. So Jesus took all of these laws plus the Ten Commandments, and he narrowed them down to two: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your mind," and "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:38-39). Those two laws would certainly be much easier to remember than the 613 laws that the Pharisees expected the Jewish people to remember and follow completely!
Why did Jesus simplify the law like this? If the people would truly love the Lord with their whole being, they would naturally fulfill the first four commandments: have no other gods, make no idols, do not take the name of the Lord in vain, and honor the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:3-8). If the people would love their neighbors as themselves, they would naturally fulfill the last six commandments: honor your father and mother, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not covet (Exodus 20:12-17). There is the vertical relationship between the believer and the Lord, then the horizontal relationship between the believer and mankind.
As Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, the law was not just about one's actions but about the attitude of his heart. Jesus brought an inside-out kingdom. When one's insides were changed by love of God and devotion to God, then his or her actions would be transformed to reflect that love and devotion. When God says he looks on the heart, it is because one's heart informs one's actions.
The Pharisees were intent upon trapping Jesus because their hearts were hard towards him. Instead of receiving Jesus as the promised Messiah from God and submitting to him, they resisted Jesus and refused to accept him as the Messiah. Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies of the Old Testament, but he did not fulfill the expectations of the religious leaders. Thus, they rejected Jesus and missed the very one they had been looking for in their study and teaching of the Scriptures.
What is your view of the Commandments of the Lord? Do you narrow them down to these two given by Jesus and allow those two commandments to inform your faith and lead you in your relationship with God and with others? Are you seeking to have the Lord transform you from the inside out?
Reflection:
How does the Lord want you to live deeper into these two commandments - to love him with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your mind, and then to love your neighbor as yourself?
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