Which is the most important commandment?
When I was in college, I spent a little time volunteering with a ministry that was led by another college student. The ministry was evangelistic in nature and was geared toward sharing the message of the gospel with area high school students who lived near our school. There was also a discipleship component as well in the sense that one of our other aims was to help students who already had faith in Jesus to walk with Him more devotedly.
Overall, I had a good experience serving in this capacity, but along the way, it also became clear to me that it might be challenging to serve under this other student’s leadership.
One of the primary tasks this student was asked to do was to organize various events throughout the year. Some of these events would be in house events that didn’t require travel. Others were events that required us to provide transportation to outside locations.
During the time we served together, I watched him excel at organization and promotion, but as the events drew near, he would often get frazzled about something, hand me whatever he put together, and say, “I can’t do this right now. You’re going to need to lead this for me.” Most often, this would happen on the day of the event.
As I observed this taking place, it frequently stood out to me that he was neglecting the most important thing. Everything he did had value, but the most important part, the part he was primarily tasked with accomplishing, was leading these events. Because of his inability to do so, he didn’t last in the role and was eventually replaced.
With that in mind, imagine you were a member of one of the prominent religious sects that operated during the time of Christ’s earthly ministry. One of those sects in particular, the Pharisees, made a practice of reading the Old Testament Scriptures and creating lists of laws, regulations, and commandments they found in God’s word. Eventually, they came up with a list of over 600 commandments, some of which were actually found in Scripture and many of which were derived from their own theological interpretations and leanings.
As they developed this impossibly long list of commandments, they would also debate amongst themselves where these rules should be ranked and which commandments they considered more important than others.
It was in the midst of this context that a scribe or teacher from the Pharisees (Matt. 22:34-35) approached Jesus to learn how He might answer the question as to which commandment was the most important.
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)
Many of the questions Jesus received from the religious leaders were antagonistic in nature or geared toward setting a trap for Jesus, (much like some reporters attempt to do when interviewing political candidates they aren’t particularly fond of.) The Pharisee who asked Jesus this question doesn’t come across quite as negative as some of his predecessors. Matthew’s gospel tells us that this man wanted to “test” Jesus, but we can also see what appears to be an agreeable spirit in the man’s demeanor when Jesus answers him.
Matthew’s gospel also tells us that this man was a lawyer. He wasn’t afraid of debate or dispute. He also probably appreciated hearing a well-reasoned argument or defense, and that’s precisely what Jesus offered him.
In answering this man, Jesus began by quoting the Shema. The Shema is one of the primary creeds in the Jewish faith and is considered the most important prayer. It was recited in the morning and the evening by the Jewish people. It can be read in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Jewish tradition has also added a portion of Deuteronomy 11 and Numbers 15 to form a three-part prayer that is intended to cover all aspects of the Ten Commandments.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deut. 6:4-9)
The prayer is called the Shema because that’s the Hebrew word for “hear” which is the first word in this Scripture.
When Jesus answered the Pharisee, He may have surprised the man because the answer He gave was something this man apparently agreed with. If we were to summarize the response Jesus gave, we could do so very simply. Love God with every aspect of your being, and love other people as you love yourself.
Just imagine what this world would be like if people actually did that? Would there be war in a world governed by those commandments? Would there be crime? Would there be conflict? But because we are born with a sinful nature, the only way someone can truly live out these commandments is to be changed from within. Through faith in Jesus, we are given the grace to become a new creation that honors Him and loves others.
Have you ever realized that the Ten Commandments can be summarized with the statements Jesus spoke? Love God. Love people. The first four commandments are all about loving God as the primary object of our affection, and the remaining six are about loving the people God has placed in our lives.
If we love God, we won’t use His name in vain. If we love God, we’ll set aside time for Him. If we love people, we won’t murder them. If we love people, we won’t covet their blessings and selfishly desire them for ourselves.
It’s apparent that this was something that the disciples of Jesus came to appreciate as they learned to apply the teaching of Jesus to their day to day lives. We see this illustrated several ways in one of the letters the apostle John wrote. In the book of 1 John, we read…
Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. (1 John 2:4-5a)
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (1 John 3:23-24)
The Holy Spirit guided John to help us understand that true faith isn’t just knowing details about God. True, saving faith involves genuinely knowing Him in a loving, trusting, relational way. Love for God is shown to be mature when it is coupled with the genuine desire to honor what He says instead of idolizing our own voice over His.
And if we know the Father through the Son, Jesus Christ, we have been united to Him and united to one another. Being united to one another as family, redeemed by Jesus and indwelled by the Holy Spirit, results in genuine love for one another. How could I as one who is indwelled with the Holy Spirit not love another brother or sister whom the Holy Spirit has also indwelled? It wouldn’t make sense spiritually or relationally.
And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Mark 12:32-34)
The Pharisee that Jesus was speaking with couldn’t deny the fact that Christ had given him the correct answer. The man even made a point to summarize what Christ had spoken, showing that he really believed these words.
After hearing the Pharisee’s agreeable summary, Jesus said, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
Christ’s response to him at that point was both beautiful and tragic. It’s beautiful because it demonstrates the delight Jesus has when people experience spiritual reconciliation through Him. It’s also tragic because it illustrated that the man was still distant from the God he claimed to love.
When I look at a passage like this, I can’t help but think about the people in my own life who have been blessed with access to the Scriptures, fellowship with the church, and accurate instruction to help them understand the teaching of God’s word, yet they remain distant from God. Why?
Some people are highly entrenched in the philosophies and zeitgeist of the age. They have bought into the values espoused in popular media and certain educational settings. They may not be doing much thinking for themselves and often may just parrot what they hear from those who influence them.
Some people have experienced severe trauma, and as they wrestle with their pain, they may not believe God can heal a hurt that reaches so deep.
Some are feeling shame because of bad decisions or mistakes they made at an earlier season of life. In the midst of their shame, they feel intense guilt and because they struggle to forgive themselves, they also struggle to imagine that anyone else, including God, could forgive them either. So they continue to live like exiles from God’s kingdom instead of experiencing reconciliation with Him through faith in Jesus.
Their attitudes remind me of a line in the song “Winter Winds” by the band Mumford and Sons. The song states, “Oh the shame that sent me off from the God that I once loved was the same that drove me into your arms.” The arms of whom? In the song, the artist speaks of a woman, but holding onto shame can drive us into the arms of all kinds of false gods.
What about you? Are you ready to honor the most important commandments to love God and love people? If so, you need to first accept the fact that you are loved more deeply than your human mind could possibly fathom. The love of God has been shown to you in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. As you trust in Jesus, and accept the atoning work He has done on your behalf, He will empower you to love God and love people like humanity was originally designed to do from the beginning.
© John Stange, 2024