Which is the great commandment in the law?

 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:

'The LORD said to my Lord,
"Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?

"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

- Matthew 22:34-46

Yesterday, we read that after being questioned by the Pharisees regarding payment of taxes to Rome, the same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?  For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is the not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

 But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."  My study bible explains that the Pharisees had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures and debated about which one was central.  Jesus gives us the first and the second.  These form a summary of all the Law and the Prophets, the central tenets.  While this lawyer (an expert in the Law) had come to test Jesus, St. Mark's Gospel tells us He was converted by Jesus' answer (see Mark 12:28-34).    My study bible also points out to us that the second command is written:  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  It says that this can more clearly be stated, "as being yourself."  It's similar to the "golden rule" that Jesus teaches -- "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Matthew 7:12).  The commandment is not to love your neighbor "as you love yourself" -- the standard is not how much we love ourselves.  The point is that we are to love "neighbor" as being of the same nature as ourselves, created in God's image and likeness as we are.  My study bible says, "As the Fathers teach, we find our true self in loving our neighbor."  Jesus commands, we note, are active.  His greatest teaching on this Law is found in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), in which Jesus preaches being a neighbor, an active choice.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:   'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.   The question leads to one answer:  that Christ is God incarnate.  The supposition or expectation was that the Messiah would be only human.   Being a Son of David fits with this understanding.  But David, as king of Israel, would not address a person who was only his "son" as "Lord."  King David would only address God as "Lord."  In this excerpt from Psalm 110, David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  The conclusion is that the Messiah is a descendant of David according to the flesh, but also truly divine, sharing Lordship with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  The Pharisees do not answer because they see the implications, yet are afraid to state the conclusion.

Jesus isn't afraid to ask some questions of His own.  They are hard and penetrating questions, leading to the heart of the controversy within the temple.  The leadership began by demanding to know how Jesus had the authority to do the things He was doing:  to cleanse the temple as He did on His first day after His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  Where does His authority come from?  When Jesus asks His own questions, the answers are too difficult for these leaders to state out loud.  Jesus asked, "The baptism of John -- where was it from?  From heaven or from men?"  They could not answer for fear of the implications of their response.  Here the question has the same effect:  they cannot answer for fear of the implications of their response.  Telling the truth and asking truthful questions is not an offense against neighbor, today's reading seems to teach us.  Jesus challenges the authority of these men not by challenging the authority of their positions, but by calling them out in terms of their failure to exercise their authority properly.  The first and greatest commandment, to love God with all one's heart, and all one's soul, and all one's mind is not what they are doing.  Their positions come first; that is, their sense of their own authority.  But Jesus asserts correctly -- even according to these experts -- that the first and greatest commandment places God above every other consideration, so that it is God who is the "marker" for setting everything else, including our love of neighbor, in its proper place.  Putting God first automatically teaches us that we are to love neighbor as ourselves; that is, as another child or creation of God.  Within that context, everything else flows, including correction.  To love is not just to "coddle" but rather wanting what is truly best for someone, the highest good.  That's the direction that truly loving God first above all things takes us into with regard to love of neighbor.  Putting God first in truth would also help these men to acknowledge the power and spirit working in Jesus, as it was in John the Baptist.  The truth isn't something we should ever shun away from.  Whatever we need to do to make room for spiritual truth in our lives is important, appropriate, worthwhile.  It sets us on the good path of love of God and love of neighbor.  Jesus importantly teaches us that to live this second commandment is to be a neighbor.  Who needs your help?  What would you want others to do for you?  How do we truly honor a commitment of total love for God?