Today’s passage: Matthew 22:34–40 and Mark 12:28–34
Focus verse: “‘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.” (Matthew 22:37)
After he shares the three parables, the religious leaders—roiling over Jesus’s parable of the tenants—seek to trap him into saying something they can use against him.
Remember, they want to arrest him but are afraid because he has so much public support. Discrediting him is their best option—at this time.
First come the Pharisees. After flattering him, they ask if it’s right to pay taxes. Jesus’s delightful answer tells them to “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:15–22).
With the Pharisees’ failure, the Sadducees take a turn. They wonder if our resurrected forms will marry.
It’s an interesting choice, since the Sadducees don’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus puts them in their place, too, astonishing the crowd in the process (Matthew 22:23–33).
After this, the Pharisees and Sadducees conspire to form a new strategy. They send an expert in the law (today, we might call him a theologian) to Jesus. The man asks Jesus, “What is the greatest commandment?”
This is a question everyone must want to know. The Jews followed tens of thousands of rules. It’s a mind-numbing list of dos and don’ts.
They developed these rules over time to guide them in their daily interactions, expounding on the original 613 laws Moses gave to the people. This occurred after they left Egypt for the land God promised to give them.
Drilling down further from these 613 laws are the ten big ones, which we call the Ten Commandments.
Now Jesus must pick one as the greatest of all.
The greatest commandment, Jesus says, is to love God far more than anything else. Specifically, to do so with all our heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5).
But Jesus is quick to tack on a second one. (Isn’t this just like Jesus, to not do what the people expect?) The second-greatest command is to love others as much as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18).
Everything else in Scripture flows from these two commands.
Think about it.
Of the Ten Commandments, the first four are about our relationship with God, that is, loving him. The last six are about our relationship with others, that is, loving them.
Also, looking at all 613 of the laws Moses gave, we can see that they all boil down to these two commandments.
We are to love God and love others. When we do this, everything else will take care of itself.
Questions:
How well do we do at loving God?
How well do we do at loving others?
Prayer: Lord, may we love you to the grand extent you desire. And may we love others as much as we love ourselves.
Discover more about celebrating Jesus and his passion to save us in Peter’s new book, The Passion of Jesus. It is part of the Holiday Celebration Bible Study Series.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.