When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
The religious leaders were always testing Jesus to try to accuse him of blasphemy and punish him by stoning him to death. One of the Scribes, who was a scholar of the Torah and a Pharisee, asked which commandment was the greatest (v. 36). Jesus had healed many on the Sabbath so this could have been taken by the Jewish leaders as a sign of disrespect towards God since the Sabbath was for worshipping God. It appeared to them that he had placed acts of mercy and the needs of others above worshipping God. They would not believe what he told them; “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works (Jn. 14:10).” The Jewish leaders had previously questioned him, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?” so that they might accuse him (Mt. 12:10).”
In answer to the scribe’s question (v. 36) Jesus quoted the Shema (Deut. 6:5) which obligated the chosen people to be faithful to the covenant God made with them (love of God above all else). You must love God with all your heart/mind (will) with all your being/life (soul) and with all your possessions/wealth (might). All other commandments depend on and flow from the Shema. In the OT, loving one’s neighbor (Lev. 19:18) was not considered as important and the first commandment, but became more important in the NT (Mt. 5:43). Jesus saw the two commandments as bound together and even extended love of neighbor to loving one’s enemies (Mt. 5:44). The Law (the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) depended on these two commandments of love.
Almighty God, help us to love you as you love us and to love our neighbor even when it is difficult. Grant us the grace to keep your commandments and the will to choose You above self. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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