Which is the first commandment of all?

 

 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is:  'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.  And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."  So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher.  You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, an to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  But after that no one dared question Him. 

 

- Mark 12:28–34 

 

Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words.  When they had come, they said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard  the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth.  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?  Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?"  But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Bring Me a denarius that I may see it."  So they brought it And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him,"Caesar's."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  And they marveled at Him.  Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, and leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  The first took a wife; and dying, he left no offspring.  And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any offspring.  And the third likewise.  So the seven had her and left no offspring.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be?  For all seven had her as wife."  Jesus answered and said to them, "Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?  For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.  But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.  You are therefore greatly mistaken."

 

  Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is:  'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.  And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."  So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher.  You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, an to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  But after that no one dared question Him.   My study Bible says that, in response to one of the scribes, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which is the greatest Jewish confession of faith.  This is commonly called the Shema' (which means "hear," the first word of the confession).  Adding to this, He quotes from Leviticus 19:18.  Thus, Jesus combines what is already present in the Old Testament to create a new understanding.  That is, that the love of neighbor is an expression of love of God.  In context, we should understand that the Pharisees had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures, and it was common practice to debate which one was central.  Here Jesus gives the first and the second, thus summarizing the Law.  

If we look carefully at Leviticus 19:18, its emphasis is on peace through righteousness:  "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."  Note carefully that its main prohibition is against retribution:  vengeance and grudge-bearing.  Jesus places -- as He often does -- a positive emphasis on the command.  He says, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  It reminds us of the similar passage in Luke 10:25-37, in which Jesus is asked, "Who is my neighbor?"  In response, He gives the parable of the Good Samaritan, which further places emphasis on the positive, as opposed to the prohibitive.  After telling the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus asks His interlocutor, "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"  That man replied, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."  Again, in this command, "Go and do likewise," we have the positive emphasis on what we are to do, how we are to be a neighbor and to live like a neighbor.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives a very hard positive command.  He teaches, "I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:44-45).  But He does so in context, and consistently with the passages we're examining in the context of His response to the scribe in today's reading.  He's teaching quite simply that God is love, and that we are to be "like God."  That is, our expressions of mercy, our positive capacity to "be a neighbor," to live righteous lives, these are all in keeping with Christ's summary of the Law -- that we are love God and by extension to practice love for neighbor.   It is important to note, however, that the first of all the commandments is to "love the LORD your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength."  What this does is set down a foundation for what love is and does and means, and how we are to practice discernment in living out these positive commands of Christ.  This is the true foundation for finding our way in life, because to start with the love of God establishes us in the most primary relationship we need for finding Christ's way of life and living it ourselves.  We can abstract out principles all day long, thinking about how we want others to treat us, and how we don't, but more importantly is the whole concept of love and of life.  For example, if I like to indulge myself with things that aren't really good for me, is that loving my neighbor to encourage them to do the same?   Do we participate in gossip because we want to please the neighbor or relative who'd like us to join in?  It is simply too easy to follow theories that sound good, but do not effectively do good.  The positive enactment of these commands -- and especially, to understand what love is -- becomes the most important directive for our lives in Christ's teaching.  It is for this discernment that we practice discipleship, and that we are on a course all of our lives to continue learning to walk in Christ's way.  That can only begin with a foundation in the love of God, setting us in an experiential participation through worship and prayer, learning not only with the mind but also with the heart.  Throughout the Old Testament, and in the Didache, the earliest teaching document in the Church, is described "the Two Ways."  The two ways are the way of life and the way of death.  For Old Testament examples, see for instance Proverbs 12:28, Jeremiah 21:18, Deuteronomy 30:15, 19; Isaiah 1:19-20.  These are about the relationship to God and following God's commands.  Right in the beginning of the Didache, the two commands given by Christ in today's reading form the example of the way of life.  In a world that seems to offer a dizzying variety of variables in terms of what might be prescribed as a "good life" and what might not, we need perhaps ever more diligently to root ourselves in God.  To do good to one's enemies does not necessarily mean that we are to root for what we know is harmful in some dimension, even if this is the choice for some.  To pursue a path that is ultimately harmful and destructive, it would quite obviously seem, is to pursue the "way of death" and not the way of life.  Whether we speak of violence on a grand scale, or even on a personal one that is harmful to the littlest and least powerful, we need to seriously consider the first commandment given by Christ.  For all the questions we have in life, and the increasing proliferation of choices, theoretical lifestyles, and questions of tolerance, peace, and righteousness, there should be no doubt that we must root ourselves in the love of God.  For it is only there, in God who is love, that we can truly learn love -- what is helpful and what is harmful to human beings and human life.  For Christ comes with a promise of abundant life, and we can see so much around us of the way of death, even in things that nominally sound "good."   The saints that we know show us the way of life; let us follow in their footsteps and take inspiration from them.