And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
How many laws can you keep? How many have you broken? Did you know it when you broke the law?
When the Pharisee in this passage (who was a lawyer) came to Jesus with the question, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” he was testing Jesus with a very difficult question. The rabbis found 613 commands in the Law. Of those, they were ranked as either weighty or less weighty with the understanding that all should be honored and carried out as the commands of God.* Asking which was the greatest would no doubt upset someone as much argument existed around this commonly asked question.*
Jesus draws from arguments and techniques of the time, combining two verses that started with the same Hebrew word, and citing the Shema. What was unique in Jesus’ argument was His authority to state that in loving God and loving one’s neighbor the entire Law was fulfilled. Jesus went further than this, however, even saying that the commands of the prophets were fulfilled in this as well.*
Maintaining the importance of all commands, Jesus does not do away with them, but introduces a profound implementation and application of love that fuels the proper practice of and understanding of the Law. According to Jesus, to earn right standing with God through performance misses the point. According to Jesus, to view the commands without seeing love as their motivation misses the point.*
If we love God, we will obey His commands; if we know that He is love, we will see that His commands are for us out of love. If we love our neighbors as ourself, we testify that we love God as well.
Growing up, I endured what felt to me to be a lot of rejection. I experienced rejection from other kids that felt unfair, and I couldn’t understand it. I felt rejection from members of my family. I felt rejection from coaches in the sport I loved. I seemed to find rejection everywhere I turned. In an effort to stop being rejected, I put up some severe walls to protect myself. Thus, I began rejecting others before they could reject me. I slowly hated people. I am ashamed to confess that the words, “I hate people,” escaped my lips with conviction.
Maybe it was all of this rejection and a painful desire to be accepted, but I began attempting to obey every rule I could find in order to please and be accepted by God. Fearing His rejection, and imagining that I was rejected by Him every time I messed up, I was a wreck.
This kind of life of performance is not what Jesus has in mind for you or for me. I had to come to understand that God loved me while knowing that I wasn’t good enough. I had to receive His acceptance in order to begin to heal my rejected heart. From this place of love, I began to experience the awakening of my soul to love others again.
Today, I’m not perfect. I mess up a lot. I judge. I overlook. I forget. I criticize. I stumble. God still loves me. I still love Him. And I love people so much it hurts. Jesus did this for me. Jesus did this in me.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to invite Him to heal the hurt places in your heart. Maybe God wants you to finally stop trying to earn His love and acceptance. Perhaps He wants you to receive His love today in a profound and honest way. Maybe God wants you to love your neighbor as yourself. Maybe God wants you to love yourself because He loves you.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 561–564, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 22:34–40).) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).