The Greatest Commandment

Reading: Matthew 22.23-46
Much of our shopping tends to regulated by our budget. Now matter how much the new car impresses us, can we afford it? That lounge may be more comfortable, but the price!

Even in our grocery shopping we are less committed to top brand names if the cheaper generic variety seems to have the same quality.

I recall a little ditty from childhood days - perhaps you know it too.

I have no idea where it came from, or whether your version is exactly the same as mine. It fits with someone else's comment that the good can often be the enemy of the best. Do you agree?

Last week we were talking about how the Pharisees and the Herodians were trying to trap Jesus with their question about paying taxes to Caesar. Whichever way he answers, they expect him to be in trouble - either falling out of favour with the people or running into conflict with the government. But his unexpected answer completely floors them - "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" (Mt. 22.21).

The Resurrection

The next question is posed by the Sadducees. This group within Judaism didn't believe in any resurrection - as against the Pharisees who did. Their anecdote about the woman who was childless after successive marriage to seven brothers may well have been one they would pose to their rivals.

But Jesus is very clear in his answer. The Sadducees are in error not to believe in a resurrection. They have failed to grasp the meaning of the Scriptures or to understand the power of God (v. 29).

The Old Testament Scriptures, Jesus says, clearly imply resurrection again and again. For example, God's statement, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" carries with it the implication that these people, long since physically dead, will be raised to life since he is "not the God of the dead, but of the living."

They do not understand the power of God. The Greeks thought the body was a hindrance to true life and looked to the time when the immortal soul would be free from its shackles. They strongly rejected ideas of resurrection - as is evident from Paul's reception in Athens (Acts 17.32). The Jews believed in the value and importance of the body and looked for the body to be raised - exactly the same body. Christians also thought of the body being raised, but transformed so as to be a suitable vehicle for the life of the age to come.

In another place, Jesus called himself "the resurrection and the life" - "whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies" (Jn 11.25). On another occasion he said, "It is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day" (Jn 6.39). Jesus is talking about the divine power which will raise the dead to life.

It is good to keep moral precepts, but they were missing out on the best - a relationship with God now and for eternity.

The Greatest Commandment

Now it is the Pharisees again. "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" This was certainly a great question among them. One writer notes, "The scribes declared that there were 248 affirmative precepts, as many as the members of the human body; and 365 negative precepts, as many as the days in the year, the total being 613, the number of letters in the Decalogue. Of these they called some light and some heavy. Some thought that the law about the fringes on the garments was the greatest; some that the omission of washings was as bad as homicide; some that the third commandment was the greatest. It was in view of this kind of distinction that the scribe asked the question…" (M.R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament).

"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 commandment is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Mt. 22.37-40).

These two commandments, by the way, are found in Deut. 6.5 and Lev. 19.8. Jesus brings them together here as the essential positive summary of the whole Law. They have been somewhat cheapened by the slick saying, "Love God and do what you like" - as if all the other requirements may now be ignored.

The problem is a very shallow view of "love" combined with our self-centred desire to "do our own thing." If our love of God is an all-absorbing commitment, it might be a different matter. Once again, God is calling us beyond fulfilment of a set of rules or fulfilment of ourselves, to the best - a relationship with God which reaches out into our relationship with other people.

What about the Messiah?

Now Jesus poses them a question. "What do you say about the Christ? Whose son is he?"

They answer, "The son of David."

"How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'? For he says, "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."' If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?" (vv. 43-45)

And they can't answer him. To suggest that he is both David's son and David's Lord is to assert that he is both human and divine. They have never faced such a question or problem before - the reality of just who this Jesus is.

After the resurrection, when Thomas said to the risen Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" (Jn 20.28), it wasn't the conclusion to an academic debate, but a confession of faith and a pledge of allegiance. That's why Thomas didn't take it lightly at all - why he hesitated until he had the evidence.

Who is Jesus? That's a good question. Probe it. Think deeply about it. Read through the gospel records for yourself. That's all basic and good. The Christian faith does have foundations that can be probed. Yet such probing too often falls short of the best. Jesus put it to his opponents this way, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life" (Jn 5.39-40).

Study and probing is good, but don't miss out on the best. When Thomas said, "My Lord and my God!" it wasn't just the conclusion of his fact-finding, but the commitment of his life in faith, love and service.

Have you come to that conviction about Jesus and that total commitment of your life to him?


© Peter J. Blackburn, Home Hill and Ayr Uniting Churches, 27 October 2003
Except where otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New International Version, © International Bible Society, 1984.

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