The Greatest Commandment
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Hello all,
Today, I wanted to flesh out one of my favourite passages in the Bible, The Greatest Commandment, from the Book of Matthew. It is an important passage to the Church today, to put it mildly. Really it underpins a lot of how we are as Christians are supposed to act, so that it is one of the passages that most people know should not come as much of a surprise.
Either way, I hope what I have to say will be of some value for you during this wonderful week of June.
“Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.””
I always get a kick out of reading passages from the Bible where one character approaches another with a question to try to trip them up, only to find the tables turned. This kind of thing happens surprisingly often in scripture, especially in the Gospels between groups of Pharisees and Jesus. This passage is one example of just that.
We read that one day after Jesus silenced a group of Sadducees, a different group of Pharisees got together to ask Jesus a question as “a test”. It is a test because according to Jewish teachings, the question they choose to ask (“What is the greatest commandment”), was a question that had a standard answer that all Jewish religious teachers worth their salt from that time would know by heart. And It is this answer that Jesus at first readily gives. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”
But it is here where the tables are turned on the Pharisees who are testing Jesus. Because to this standard answer that they were expecting from Christ, he inexplicable continues on. “And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.‘ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
So to sum up what happens in this passage, ‘what is the most important single commandment,’ the Pharisees ask Jesus, expecting one answer, to which Christ replies, ‘the answer to which is the most important commandment, is that it is these two things, to both love God and your neighbour, together. Together these two things are the most important commandment that everything else hinges on.”
Now let’s come to today. As is probably understandable, this passage of scripture is an important one to the Church. It is important because in it you can find a two-sentence description of what constitutes all Christian discipleship and good action. Everything we as Christians do, in some way is underpinned by this two-part greatest commandment of Jesus.
This is important to the life of the Christian, and for just one example as to why take the following question. Have you ever found yourself wondering how you can grow into a deeper relationship with God? Well, while it may seem difficult, on the surface, in truth it really isn’t that complicated at all. You just need to work to follow this two-part greatest command of Jesus in your life. Both work toward loving God with all your heart, soul and mind, meaning read, your Bible, pray, and spend time thinking and working through your faith, while also working toward loving your neighbour as yourself, by building relationships with them, helping them as they need, and talking about your faith not just for the sake of conversion, but instead because your faith is a part of who you are, and so to truly be friends with them means that part of you needs to be on the table as well. By doing these things, by following this two-part greatest commandment of Jesus, I guarantee you, your relationship with God will grow.
This is why this passage is such an important one to the life of the Christian today. Because in it, is a catch-all description for how Christians are called to act.
But it is for this reason that a certain reading of this passage that has existed for a long time but is again finding itself rise in prominence is something to be concerned about. It is a reading that seeks to take Jesus’ startling two-part greatest commandment and prune it in order to make it fit the question the Pharisees asked. And what that reading is, is one that says that the true greatest commandment is simply the first part, to love the Lord with all that you are, to which the second part, to love your neighbour, is relegated to second best.
This is a problematic reading of this passage for a number of reasons. To begin to explain why we can stay with how this passage is worded in scripture as our support. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, when the Pharisees asked Jesus this question, they were expecting just one answer. They were expecting Jesus to say only, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind,” and then for him to stop there. But Jesus doesn’t do that. He keeps going and adds the second command as a part of the answer without being prompted. In how the passage unfolds, how Jesus answers this question should make clear for us, that the correct answer to the Pharisees question of ‘what is the most important commandment,’ is that it is both of these two things together are the greatest commandment. To try to split them apart, or prioritize one over the other is only ever going get the question partially right. We can also continue on as to why this is a less than ideal reading of this passage from how it is worded in scripture as well. Often if the case for this multi-tiered poor reading of this passage is being made it is pointed out that Jesus clearly calls the first command the greatest, and then says, “and secondly”, before he lists the next. And while on the surface this may seem to have merit for this multi-tiered reading, it becomes less than convincing when you see that the phrase “is like it,” is used to compare the two commands. This is a phrase that only ever means that the two items being compared are comparable. What that means is that if the second command is comparable to the first, and the first command is the greatest, that can only mean the second is to be thought of as the greatest as well. Again, by the wording in the Bible, it is clear these two commands together are Jesus’ answer to which is the greatest command, not either on their own nor either above the other.
And while this may seem like splitting hairs, that these two commands are to be thought of as together, it is important for our Christian walks to keep the togetherness of these two teachings in mind. It is important for our Christian walks to keep this in mind because the moment these commands are separated is the moment that we can begin to justify some rather less than Christian actions without even noticing we are doing it. For if we say what is ultimately important is focusing on our relationship with God, and that only of secondary importance is how we treat others, I ask you, what makes sense for you to do as a Christian in the following situation? Say you are running late to a Bible study, but someone you know calls on the phone in tatters over their day. Is the Christian thing to do to go to the Bible study, or to talk to your friend? To say prioritizing your relationship with God is always the top Christian option, then making your way to the Bible study should always win out. But if that is the case, then why does that feel so much like the wrong thing to do?
Now I admit that this example is far from perfect, but it works to show that the problem that comes with prioritizing one of these two commandments over the other is that it becomes possible to justify acting in ways that are profoundly uncaring toward other people, downright unchristian even, for the sake of prioritizing your working on your relationship with God. And saying this is problematic because it undercuts most everything Jesus teaches us about how a strong relationship with God should be exemplified in our lives. To prioritize the first command over the second instead of saying they are instead to be thought of as inseparable is to essentially undercut the importance of both.
I get a kick out of this passage from today. I get a kick out of it because I love stories in the Bible where Jesus turns the table on people trying to outsmart him. So when we read this passage, I say it is important to read it as Jesus teaches, instead of how those trying to outsmart Jesus assume we will answer.
