The Greatest Commandment- Matt 22






In our Gospel reading, Jesus has been peppered with questions by the Sadducees and Pharisees. We are nearing the end of Matthew, so tensions are increasing. They are trying to trap him with their questions- trying to get him to contradict himself, or stump him, or get him in trouble with the crowd, or in trouble with the Romans or King Herod.

Our reading has Jesus interacting with these groups on two topics this morning. I would like to deal with the second one first.

To those who have been trying to trap him, Jesus asks his own question. Whose son is the Messiah? The obvious answer everyone would have known is “The Son of David”.

Quoting Psalm 110, which everyone assumes was written by King David, Jesus says, 
“The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’”?
 Who is David calling “Lord”? There are two Lords in that verse, and they are both above David. One is God and the other is assumed to be the Messiah, but who is higher than the king? How can the messiah be higher than the king and be the king’s son? … This leaves his questioners stumped. And they don’t dare ask him any more questions.

The other topic is the one that comes first, and the one I would like to spend more time on.

A Pharisee expert in the Law asks Jesus, 
"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"
 … For the Pharisees, there are 613 commandments of the Old Testament. The question is really about the heart of the commandments. What is the law all about?

Jesus answers, 
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
 But Jesus doesn’t leave it with just the one greatest commandment, he adds the second greatest commandment as well- 
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
 Jesus gives the greatest and the second greatest commandment, but then to show how foundational these two commandments are he says 
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets".
 He essentially says that these two greatest commandments are so important that if you remove them the entire laws falls apart.

Those two commands are like two hinges that hold a door in its frame. Remove the hinges and the door won’t work. So, loving God and loving your neighbour aren’t just important commands. They actually effect all the other commands. They are they way they are to be understood.

In Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians, in the famous chapter on love, he says, 
“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor 13:1-3).

The lack of love nullifies these otherwise impressive acts of speaking in tongues, prophetic powers, faith to move mountains, giving away all one’s possessions to the poor, and giving one’s life for martyrdom. Without love, it ultimately doesn’t mean anything.

Jesus is saying something similar by saying that all the Law and the Prophets hang on the two greatest commands to love God and to love your neighbour. Without those two laws, the rest of the laws are pointless. You might follow the other 611 commandments perfectly, but if you neglect love for God and neighbour, it’s like there was no point. You actually missed the point.

Love is Jesus’ way of understanding the Old Testament. If you read something in the Old Testament and you don’t see love you haven’t really understood it yet. … The law is about orienting your life towards God in love. The law isn’t really about being obedient to commands. The law is about a way of life that puts your life in line with God. Jesus says that way of life is really about love.

Our society uses the word “love” in all kinds of ways. Sometimes we think it just means being “nice” (and there are worse things than being nice). But, there are times when being nice is not being loving. If you live with someone who is addicted to drugs, being nice will allow them to continue on with their addiction without being confronted about it. ‘Niceness’ avoids conflict. Love is willing to confront for the long term good of the person being confronted. Love is willing to confront the addict in the hopes that the person will find freedom from their addiction. …

The Theologian Stanley Hauerwas says, 
“This love can be harsh and dreadful, because to be loved by God is to be forced to know ourselves truly”.[1]
Real love can be difficult. If we want to understand real love we look to Jesus. When Jesus confronts the Pharisees- that is what love looks like. Jesus turning over the money changers tables is love. Jesus teaching and healing is about love. When we look at Jesus on the cross, we see love.

As we look at these two commands that Jesus says are the greatest, we should remember, that Jesus says they are first and second- they are not equal. One is first over the other. Jesus says first of all, primarily, foundationally, 
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
 This is the most important command in the Law. Essentially this is the most important thing a human being can do. If you were to imagine which Law is more important, “loving God…” or “do not murder”, Jesus tells us that “loving God” is the more important command to follow. … Of course, loving God would also mean not murdering, but that is what it means for the laws to hang upon that greatest command to love God. St. Augustine thought this command to love God was so central and so foundational that he said, 
"Love God and do whatever you please".[2]

Jesus’ response to the question, “what is the greatest commandment?” is actually quite traditional. He refers to the Shema which has been said daily by faithful Jewish people for thousands of years. It is from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and is as close to a creed as exists in Judaism.

So what does it mean to love God? Jesuit author, James Skehan says it is to be 
“seized so completely by the love of God that all the desires of my heart and all the actions, affections, thoughts and decisions which flow from them are directed to God”.[3]
It is to live with a life effected by God’s reality in every area of our life. Our thoughts, our habits, our family, our money, our talents, our work, ... All of it is ultimately directed to God. … God is not a hobby for Sunday mornings. A hobby is added into our life to make our life more enjoyable. … The kind of love that Jesus is talking about places God central in our life, so that our life is oriented around God.

Jesus says the second most important command is, 
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
 This response is also traditional. Jesus is quoting Leviticus 19:18.

It is interesting that Jesus is asked for the greatest command, but instead he gives the top two. It suggests that there is some kind of link between them. You cannot love God and not love what God loves. If you deeply and truly love God with your whole being, you will love even enemies … because God loves them. Even if it comes at great cost to yourself. Even if it means death on a cross.

We read about this connection between the love of God and the love of others in John’s first letter. In 1 John 4 we read, 
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. … God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. … Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also” (1 Jn 4:7-8, 16, 20-21).
May God help us to grow in this love- love towards God and love towards one another. Not a shallow niceness, but a deep love that genuinely desires that God is honoured, and a genuine desire for the good of our neighbour. AMEN


[1] Commentary on Matthew,  192

[2] Tractatus VII, 8

[3] Place me with your son: Ignatian Spirituality in everyday life


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