On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets

 

 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 any more.  

 

- Matthew 22:34–46 

 

Yesterday we read that, on the same day that the Pharisees sought to trap Jesus with a question about paying Roman taxes, the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him 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 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 comments that the Pharisees had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures, and they debated constantly about which one was central.  Here Jesus sets forth the first and the second, which together constitute a grand summary of the Law.  Although this lawyer has come with malice to test Jesus, we know from St. Mark's account of this story that he is converted by Christ's answers (Mark 12:28-34).  My study Bible expands further on the second commandment given by Jesus that it must be understood as it is written; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  More clearly stated, it would read, "as being yourself."  It's often misunderstood to mean "You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself," which effectively destroys the force of the statement.  How much we love ourselves isn't the standard by which Christ calls us to love others.  My study Bible says that we are called to love our neighbor as being of the same nature as we ourselves are, as being created in God's image and likeness just as we are.  As the Church Fathers teach, we find our true self in loving our neighbor.  In St. Luke's Gospel, Jesus offers these two commandments to a lawyer who asks Him about attaining eternal life.  The law then follows up with a question, "And who is my neighbor?" to which Jesus replies by telling the story of the Good Samaritan (see Luke 10:25-37).

 

 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 any more.   My study Bible notes here that Christ asks this question in order to lead the Pharisees to the only logical conclusion:  that He is God Incarnate.  They supposed the Messiah to be a mere man, and so they reply that the Messiah would be a Son of David.  But David, as king of Israel, could not and would not address anyone as "lord" except God.  But in Psalm 110:1, David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  Therefore, the Messiah must be God.  The only possible conclusion is therefore that He is a descendant of David only according to the flesh -- but is also divine, sharing Lordship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  My study Bible adds that the Pharisees are unable to answer any further because they realize the implications, and they fear to confess Jesus to be the son of God.  In the psalm verse quoted by Jesus, the answer is that the first reference to the LORD applies to God the Father, while the term my Lord refers to Christ.  

 

 The commentary on today's reading found in my study Bible invites us to think more deeply about Christ's second commandment listed here.  That is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  The two commandments which Jesus cites here, putting them together as that upon which hang the whole of the Law and the Prophets (that is, the Scriptures known to the Jews at that time), are Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18.  Let us remember that the one who questions Christ here is called a lawyer in the text; that is, he is an expert in the Law, in the commandments of the Scriptures.   The full verse of Leviticus reads as follows:  "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."  So, it seems important to note in this context that the first part of this instruction is a command to refrain from vengeance against "the children of your people."  Its thrust and purpose seems clear; that is, it is meant as a command to refrain from dissension and violence within the community.  We know this is a central problem in the Old Testament, the world having descended from the first sin mentioned in Genesis to the evil of Lamech, who bragged to his two wives in a song as follows:  "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my speech! For I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me.  If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold" (Genesis 4:23-24).  Of such importance was this growing cycle of vengeance that in the time of Lamech's son, Noah, God would decide to flood the world and start over, preserving the lineage of one "who found grace in the eyes of the Lord" and who was "a just man" "who walked with God" (see Genesis 6:5-13).  God's entire emphasis after that, in creating a people via Abraham's faith (accounted to him as righteousness), who would be led by Moses and through him given the Law, was to create a community in the image God desired.  So, there we come to the prohibition against vengeance and its terrible effects upon community. To love neighbor as oneself, as my study Bible explains, is to know others as "the children of your people;" that is, as one like yourself.  It's most important, in considering today's reading and this commandment, that we consider the story of the Good Samaritan as Christ's response to the question, "And who is my neighbor?"  The lawyer's answer in that passage is that "the one who showed mercy" was neighbor to the other, and Jesus' command follows:  "Go and do likewise."  If we look carefully at that story of the Good Samaritan, we may conclude that this command to show mercy is one in which we are willing to take the first step, the initiative, in being a neighbor.  The first commandment given here teaches us not just to follow or even to have faith and believe, but to love God "with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."  This establishes the most basic relationship that defines who we are, for in loving God in such a complete way, we wholeheartedly love Love itself (1 John 4:8), and through a depth of drawing toward union with God, we learn love from God.  Let us endeavor, wherever we are, to create the community that God wants from us, learning to follow these commandments, and to be the kind of neighbor God wants us to become.

 

 

 

 

 

You are not far from the kingdom of God

 

 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 is 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, and 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 

 

Yesterday we read that, as Jesus is now in Jerusalem (the setting is what we call Holy Week), 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.  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 is 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, and 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.  In Christ's response to one of the scribes, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which is the greatest Jewish confession of faith.  This is called the shema' (meaning "hear," which is the first word of the confession).  As the second, He quotes from Leviticus 19:18.  Thus, my study Bible remarks, Jesus combines what is already present in the Old Testament to create a new understanding for us:  love of neighbor is an expression of love of God.  

 

It's beautiful that we have this concept from Jesus regarding the two greatest commandments in the Law, and how they frame the gospel message.  Jesus has put it in different words in other readings, especially when He spoke to the disciples about receiving even a little child as if they are receiving Him -- and not only Him, but also the Father who sent Him (see this reading and commentary).  In that teaching, Jesus taught us to see others as icons; in this instance He was teaching the disciples (meaning all of those who would follow as well) that in His Church they are to see all as icons of both Himself and of the Father.  Today's reading and Christ's teaching asks us in a sense to love as if we saw others as icons of ourselves.  That is, we're not to love others the same way we love ourselves, but rather the meaning here is to love others as we would like to be loved ourselves.  There's an important -- possibly even immense -- world of difference in these two things.  If I may copy a note from my study Bible for my readers, it notes as follows:  "Rather, we are called to love our neighbor as being of the same nature as we ourselves are, as being created in God’s image and likeness just as we are. As the Fathers teach, we find our true self in loving our neighbor."  It's important to understand, also, that Jesus gives this as the second command, but the first is to love the LORD our God "with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength."  For if we are honest, it is in learning to love God in the ways described here that we learn how to love in the first place, for God is love.  None of us is born perfectly knowing how to love.  Some might think that love means indulgence, never discipline or punishment.  But, for example, to love a child is also to teach that child discipline, to take proper care of itself and its health.  If we're honest with ourselves, neither are we perfect -- and to love us as we need to be loved, as we would prefer to be loved, would be to lovingly let us know when we're making mistakes, and going down the wrong path.  If this were not so, Christ would have quite a different ministry than the one we know from the Gospels, in which He was unafraid to speak out against what was evil.  In John 7:7, He says, "The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil."  Unfortunately this also implies that there are all kinds of things that sound good, or may be done with good intentions, but which have evil effects.  Not without reason is there a popular saying, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."  If we recall one most striking example, when St. Peter proposed that Jesus should never be killed, Jesus' response to him was harsh indeed:  "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men" (see Matthew 16:21-23).  Certainly all of us can sympathize with St. Peter's call that Jesus should not be killed, and yet we know Jesus' striking response, meant to convey precisely this notion that not all that sounds good is good, but to follow the will of God is the true good.  In this we come fully around to the wisdom of Christ's teachings here, and which commandment comes first and which comes second.  For without God's love and guidance, we don't truly know the good, and we can't truly know what love is and how to live it.  We need that discernment to understand the difference between what God wants of us, and what we, on the other hand, may think is good, or sounds good to us.  Let us pray for the discernment to follow Christ's way, to love the LORD our God as fully and deeply and completely as the promise in this passage and confession of faith states, and in so doing learn to truly love one's neighbor as oneself.   For Jesus says Himself, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (John 7:13-14).  He is the narrow gate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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. 

 

 

 

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, and 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 

 

Yesterday we read that the chief priests, scribes, and elders sent to Jesus 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, and 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.   In today's reading, one of the scribes comes to question Jesus, as he perceives that He had answered the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees well (in yesterday's reading; see above).   In Jesus' response, He quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which is the greatest Jewish confession of faith.  This is called the Shema' (which means "hear," the first word of the confession).  The second commandment He quotes is from Leviticus 19:18.  Thereby Jesus combines what is already present in the Old Testament to create a new understanding:  that the love of neighbor is an expression of the love of God.  Indeed, in Jesus' teaching, the two are not separable.  

 

 My study Bible comments that the second commandment expressed by Christ (from Leviticus 19:18) is frequently misinterpreted.  It says that it must be understood as written:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself; or more clearly, "as being yourself."  It is often misinterpreted to be understood as "You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself," which is not true to the force of the statement.  How much we love ourselves isn't the standard by which Christ calls us to love others.  My study Bible explains that we are called to love our neighbor as being of the same nature as we are ourselves -- as being created in God's image and likeness just as we are.   Moreover, if we look at the precise commandment, it leads us into an interesting perspective in its fullness:  "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."  Its first impetus is a prohibition against vengeance, and against bearing grudges within community.  That is, it is foundational to Christ's injunction regarding the practice of mutual forgiveness.  In Monday's reading, Jesus spoke about the power of faith and prayer.  But when He spoke of prayer, He added this statement:  "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."  There are many things that open up here for our understanding.  The first is that to love neighbor as oneself is to see an injury to neighbor as to oneself; these are commandments regarding community, after all.   The original commandment also sheds light on the meaning of forgiveness:  that it does not preclude justice or the normal understanding of appropriate conduct in the face of harmful behavior.  But it does preclude vengeance and the exercise of holding a grudge; it limits tit-for-tat harm or injury, and it gives us a context for Christ's teachings on forgiveness -- that we give up our "debts" or "trespasses" to God, first, because community comes from God and our love of God in the first place.  It helps us to more fully understand Christ's teachings on community, and the kind of community He wants His Church to be; that is, the community of His followers, those who belong to Him.  Moreover, to love neighbor as oneself suggests a kind of love that is like a good parent for a child:  it does not imply harmful overindulgence, a nurturing of selfishness or self-destructive behavior.  But rather it implies that whatever discipline is good for us and healthful on any level, this also applies to how we love others.  To love another is not to encourage nor tolerate bad behavior, but to nurture what we believe is good for ourselves and therefore for others.  It supports Christ's notion of mutual correction in the Church found in Matthew 18:15-35.  In that passage, Jesus also speaks famously of forgiveness,  telling Peter to forgive "seventy times seven."  But this teaching is couched in a means of correction, giving us a way to reconcile injury, while at the same time upholding the teachings in Leviticus 19:18 against vengeance and nursing a grudge.  In Christ's important combination of these two commandments, we come to understand that everything begins and ends with the love of God.  We turn to love of God in prayer to help us to reconcile our own sense of injury and the command to forgive; we seek God's love for us to teach us how we are to behave in community, in the world.  We "turn over" our debts to God the metaphorical central Banker, and we find how to conduct our lives free of vengeance and grudge-holding, in order to find our peace and by extension that of community.  Life is full of injury, because life is full of sin and selfishness.  But Christ asks us to find the best way to make our way through this world within the loving embrace of God and the teachings of God, not as frustrated individuals lost without community.  Christ's great emphasis is the centrality of God to our own identity and understanding of community.  Connecting it to Psalm 27, we might say, according to the Septuagint translation in my study Bible:  "For my father and my mother forsook me, but the Lord laid hold of me" (verse 10).  It is in keeping with the understanding that although sin or abuse may interfere with relations in this world, we can still find community in God, the good teachings that will see us through life.  This is the kind of community that Christ offers to us through His teachings.  They are not teachings of self-centeredness or selfishness, but they are teachings for health of self and in community, teachings of true self-love and therein true discipline, offering us what's good for us, like a truly good parent should.  Let us take to heart that Christ's way is both the way of truth and the way of peace:  these are so often hard to reconcile on human terms, but, as the psalm says, the Lord will care for us and teach us the way in our lives.  Everything begins and ends with the love of God, for it is God's kingdom in which we seek to dwell.

 

There is no other commandment greater than these

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, and 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

In our current readings, it is Holy Week, and Jesus is in Jerusalem, daily disputing in the temple with the leadership.  Yesterday we read that the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders (after their own confrontation with Jesus) 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 died, 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."  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, and 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.   Jesus quotes from the shema' in His response to the scribe.  Shema' means "hear" and it is the first word of the greatest Jewish confession of faith.  Deuteronomy 6:4-5 reads:  "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."  Jesus doesn't answer by giving a single commandment, but adds a second, which He says is like it, quoting from Leviticus 19:18, which reads:  "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."   My study bible says that Jesus takes what is already present in the Old Testament and creates a new understanding:  that love of neighbor is an expression of love of God.   The Pharisees had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures, and would debate over which one was central; Jesus expands the question with His own summary of the greatest commandments.

What is the link between love of God and love of neighbor?  Perhaps it's important that we review a significant question from Luke's Gospel.  Upon being told these two greatest commandments, a lawyer asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"  To that question, Jesus replied with the parable of the Good Samaritan.  (See Luke 10:25-37.)   In that parable, the true neighbor was the one who took the initiative to act like a neighbor.  The link between people as neighbors wasn't custom nor culture nor nominal faith nor position nor affiliation, as the two people who passed the injured Jewish victim of a violent robbery were a priest and a Levite.  The bond between love of God and love of neighbor cuts straight to the heart, and in Jesus' hands so often everything comes down to a question of the heart.  Faith itself -- in this perspective in Jesus' answer to the question on the greatest commandment -- comes down to an affair of the heart.  To love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength is to love God with a depth of the person that is more than paying lip service to an idea or an ideal.  This is an active love, an active participation, a true faith, with everything we've got.  It calls upon us to be "all in."  It is God who calls us to love of neighbor; thereby loyalty to God means this active love extended to the ways in which we choose to treat "neighbors" -- it is a voluntary choice to learn the love that God calls out of us.  Interestingly, this goes hand in hand with the forgiveness that Christ commanded His disciples when He taught them about the power of prayer (in Monday's reading).  The full command to love one's neighbor in Leviticus primarily includes the command to refrain from taking vengeance or bearing grudges.  But Jesus focuses on the positive aspect of the command:  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," signifying the activity of love.  A genuine love isn't merely following a dictum or command, but it is an act of the heart:  a true love of Creator leads to a way in which we see all of Creation, including our neighbor.  There is a kind of respect for the "person" that is an inherent demand in our dealings, one that asks us to see that both of us are persons, and created in the image of God, and that we may consider to treat others in the way that we would wish to be treated (see Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31, called "the golden rule").   Overall, Jesus' emphasis is on the positive.  It's up to us to be good neighbors, to put into practice our love of God.  If we look around in the world, Jesus' words seem to remind us that it's up to us to understand what it is to be "not far from the kingdom of God."  He calls us to bear fruit, as what we find in the world may not be the good fruit we're looking for -- but rather depends on those who willingly volunteer.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself

 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, and 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

Yesterday we read that some of the Pharisees and the Herodians went sent to Jesus, to catch Him in His words.  (It is Passion Week, two days after His Triumphal Entry, and Jesus has already been questioned by the chief priests, scribes, and elders.)  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, and 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.   The Pharisees had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures, and debated about which one was central.  Here, one of the scribes comes to question Jesus about the first commandment, or the greatest in the Law.  (In Matthew's Gospel, he's called a lawyer, giving us to understand his expertise in the Law.)  We can see that he is already impressed by the answers that Jesus has given to the earlier questions posed to Him.  Jesus quotes here from Deuteronomy 6:4-5.  This is the greatest Jewish confession of faith.  It is called the shema' -- which means "hear," the first word of the confession.  But Jesus once again (as with the earlier questions) does not simply answer what He is asked.  He adds another commandment, Leviticus 19:18.  My study bible says that Jesus thereby combines what is already present in the Old Testament to create a new understanding:  that love of neighbor is an expression of love of God.  Of the second commandment Christ states here, we are to understand it as written, a note tells us:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.   More clearly stated, it's "as being yourself."  If we understand it to mean "love your neighbor as you love yourself," we miss the true form of the commandment.  How much we love ourselves is not the standard by which we're called to love ourselves.  Rather, we're called to love neighbor as being of the same nature or image as ourselves -- being created in God's image and likeness as are we.  The tradition of the Church Fathers tells us we may find our true selves in loving our neighbor. 

Jesus' teaching here echoes an earlier teaching to the disciples, when they were taught about the little ones.  The reflection of Christ's image in others is another kind of statement of this same message, that love of God and love of neighbor go hand in hand and are reflections of one another; that they are inseparable from one another.  Jesus taught, "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."   Little children in this case stand in for the humble, for any who come to them in faith.  In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus teaches about those whom He calls lost sheep:  "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 18:10).  We may believe that we can understand such commandments apart from the love of God, but that isn't really the case with experience.  As my study bible says, "as we love ourselves," simply isn't the right formula.  Often, our understanding of love is deficient, and perhaps particularly so when it comes to loving ourselves.  Arrogance is the wrong kind of self-love, a selfishness that is blind to what is truly best for us and the need for correction of flaws.  Self-hatred or neglect is another form of an inverted arrogance, where the image we hold ourselves to is a false one.  In neither case do we understand what love is in the first place.  And there we truly get to the heart of why love of God is so important.  It is in that communion that we allow ourselves to be taken in hand to grow in learning how to love, and what love is exactly.  We grow in learning to be "like God."  We grow, in fact, in learning what we can be, in becoming less selfish and more understanding of love and service itself.  The world can't truly teach us such things properly.  Only that which can stretch us beyond ourselves and our own concepts can do that, take us beyond what we know.  Our faith teaches us that God is love; it is there everything begins for us.  It is there we begin to understand even what it is to be human, and to be created in the image of God.  There only do we find the communion that teaches us what Jesus is talking about.