When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came together, 35 and one of them, a teacher of the Law, tried to trap him with a question. 36 “Teacher,” he asked, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and the most important commandment. 39 The second most important commandment is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ 40 The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
In Matthew’s account this is the third dispute with the religious leaders. Last week we saw how Jesus comprehensively outmanoeuvred the Pharisees on the question of paying taxes to Rome. Immediately before this reading the Sadducees were put right on the issue of bodily resurrection. In today’s passage the Pharisees make another attempt to discredit Jesus’s teaching publicly.
Many Jewish teachers debated which was the greatest out of all the 613 commandments in the Law of Moses. It is clear that they hope to trap Jesus with this question. Perhaps they hope he might dismiss the Law of Moses completely or give an answer they can ridicule. By now they should know better.
Jesus’s initial answer would have been accepted by most Pharisees as he quotes from Deuteronomy 6:5: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This was the foundation of the Jewish faith, Shema Yisrael, a daily prayer and reminder of allegiance to the one true living God.
Jesus then links this to Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbour as you love yourself.” Love, then, is at the centre of the greatest commandment. First, love for God which then overflows into our relationships with people around us. The two must go hand in hand. As John expresses it so directly in his first letter (1 John 4:20): “If we say we love God, but hate our brothers and sisters, we are liars. For people cannot love God, whom they have not seen, if they do not love their brothers and sisters, whom they have seen.”
We mustn’t forget the context of today’s reading. Jesus is living his last few days on earth before his death. Matthew wants us to see that, in submitting to crucifixion, Jesus is fulfilling both these commands: loving God through obedience to his will, and loving his brothers and sisters by being separated from his father in order to restore us to fellowship with God.
Lastly, if we think back to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’s new kingdom lifestyle is about an invitation and promise for a new way of living with the help of the Holy Spirit rather than struggling to obey commandments in our own strength. Those who fully grasp and embrace Jesus’s kingdom lifestyle will be blessed indeed.
MEDITATIO
Think about the example Jesus gives us in fulfilling these commandments in the way he lived his life on earth.
Mark describes a similar encounter (in Mark 12:28-34). There the question is asked genuinely and the teacher of the law draws the conclusion that obeying these commandments is more important than offering animal sacrifices, the central feature of worship at the time. Can we fall into the trap of thinking more about observing religious practices and miss what God wants from us the most?
Read Exodus 22:20-26. These verses provide some practical examples of loving our neighbour. Think about the opportunities you have to show God’s love to people around you.
ORATIO
Humbly come before God and ask the Holy Spirit to help you love God with all your heart, soul and mind. Ask him to reveal God to you in a deeper way and remind you of things you may have forgotten. Let God minister his love to you.
When you feel ready, ask God to speak to you about loving your neighbour.
CONTEMPLATIO
Reminding ourselves of God’s character is a good way to renew our love for him. Take time to read through the whole of Psalm 18 over the next week.
Lectio Divina is an ancient tradition of reading and engaging with God’s Word
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