February 17 - Matthew 22:37

February 17 - Matthew 22:37

“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.’”

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

The Pharisees had just watched Jesus undermine the Sadducees and decided that it was their turn to test Him.  As a group, this was their best effort – one of them went to Jesus with the question, expecting that any response would allow them to tear Him apart.  There was no way to choose one of the Ten Commandments over any other.  They thought they had Him.

The Pharisees never seemed to be prepared for the words that came out of Jesus’ mouth.  Every time they challenged Him, they walked away with their tails between their legs and their mind confused by the simplicity and truth that He spoke.

These words were in the Shema taken from Deuteronomy 6:4.  “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord our God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” But the heart of them is found in the body of the Ten Commandments.

We might be conditioned now to look at those commandments as a series of “Thou shalt nots,” but in reality, their purpose was to draw the Israelites into a closer and deeper relationship with God.

The first four of the commandments are all about the relationship with God: don’t worship anyone else, don’t make an idol, don’t misuse His name, set aside the Sabbath as holy.  God wanted (wants) His children to love Him with everything.  With heart, soul and mind.  As long as those are turned towards Him … all else will fall into place.

Jesus goes on in Matthew 22 with a second commandment saying, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  The final six of the commandments flesh out that command. 

Jesus’ wasn’t about to be trapped by the Pharisees.  He didn’t need to be.  The greatest command is to love God, followed immediately by loving each other.  No matter how much we rebel against the “thou shalt nots,” the truth is that when we put in place “thou shalt love,” our rebellion drops away.