Which commandment is first of all?

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ Then the scribe said to him, ‘You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that “he is one, and besides him there is no other”; and “to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength”, and “to love one’s neighbour as oneself”,—this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.’ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question.

- Mark 12:28-34

Jesus' questionings continue by the authorities in the temple. He has already been questioned by chief priests, scribes, temple elders, Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees. In this passage, a scribe comes upon the dispute from yesterday's passage, and asks Jesus about the commandments.

"Which commandment is the first of all?" The first commandment Jesus quotes is the beginning of the confession of faith, called the shema (after its first word, meaning "hear"). "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." (Deut. 6:4,5) Jesus then names a second, quoting from Lev. 19:18: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” In this way, Jesus ties two commandments from Jewish scripture: to love one's neighbor is an expression of the love of God.

It is an essential understanding of Jesus' teachings that all good things come from God. His own qualities, his identity, his power - all are given to him by the Father. We come to an important understanding here about spirituality and relatedness: when we pray, when we worship, we seek dialogue and participation with the great source of Love, of all good things, of that which is love. It is through the first great commandment that we seek to receive the blessing, the grace, of right-relatedness. The love we find through that commandment teaches us how to practice the second: worship and prayer must lead to fruits of the spirit and to right-relatedness, teaching us to love our neighbor - and how to love our neighbor. When we seek discernment, when we seek not our own judgment but to find good judgment, we are seeking wisdom not merely in an intellectual sense, but to grow in how we practice love, in how we understand and know love. To worship God makes all of these concepts and ideas inseparable. As discussed in yesterday's commentary, to live a God-centered life is to take our very identity - as does Jesus - from this relationship. Jesus links these two great commandments from different books of the Old Testament because to know God, through grace, must lead to the practice of the love of neighbor and to grow in understanding of what this means.

The scribe who has asked the question approves of Jesus' answer. The scribes were a professional class of experts in Mosaic law. The scribe replies to Jesus that "this is much more important than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices." So, he has understood that the depth of the heart - the embrace and practice of love via this central relatedness to God - is to worship well and properly. The outward form is secondary to these two central commandments of what it is to worship and to love God. The text tells us then that "when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ After that no one dared to ask him any question." Even in the midst of questioning and hostility, confrontation produces this important understanding. To teach is also to love, to speak the truth is also to love. The scribe seems to be a sincere seeker, and in the midst of confrontation there is still relatedness, and the door is open to relationship.