When the Pharisees heard that He had
put the Sadduccees to silence, they gathered themselves together. And one of
them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great
commandment in the Law?” And He said to
him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul and with all your mind’ .This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it – ‘You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ On these two
commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:34-40
The
Pharisees and Saduccees were the elite religious and political leaders of the
day in New Testament times. The
Sadducees were aristocrats, tending to be wealthy and holding powerful
positions, including that of chief priests and high priest, and the majority of
the 70 seats of the ruling council called the Sanhedrin. They seemed to be more
concerned with politics than religion. Because they were accommodating to Roman
leaders and were the wealthy upper class, they did not relate well to the
common man, and vice versa. The common man tended to prefer those who belonged
to the party of the Pharisees who were mostly middle-class businessmen. This
group believed that the written Word (Old Testament) was inspired by God, but
they also gave equal authority to oral tradition which is forbidden (Deuteronomy
4:2). The Pharisees sought to not only strictly obey these traditions
themselves but also to hold such obedience as the standard for righteousness
for everyone. This was their ticket to acceptance by God.
The two
groups were largely opposed to one another…except in their desire to discredit
and eventually destroy Jesus. Scripture
shows us time and again how these people tried to trap Jesus by asking
religious questions that would inflame Roman leaders or give them grounds to
humiliate Him before the people.
The above
passage is one of those attempts.
Instead of
holding out one command or law as priority above all others, Jesus boils them
all down to two principles. He says that
everything Scripture teaches us is based on the preeminence of these
commands. Therefore it will serve us
well to see what He says…and to evaluate ourselves against His standard. His standard is LOVE… For today,
ask the Holy Spirit to shine His light into your heart. And to speak to us about LOVE.
How are we doing in the most important thing, the thing upon which all of Scripture rests? Loving God and loving others.
How are we doing in the most important thing, the thing upon which all of Scripture rests? Loving God and loving others.