Which is the best? We often take polls to find out which novel, which movie, or which restaurant in the neighborhood people think is the best. People compose their favorite “top ten” lists of all sorts of things. The top ten favorite dogs. Top ten favorite television shows of the season. The list could be endless. In today’s Gospel passage we read of someone who came to Jesus, asking what He thought was the most important of all of the laws of the Jewish people. Let’s take a look at His answer.
Throughout the last week of Jesus’s life before His crucifixion, the religious leaders from both the Pharisees and Sadducees had been trying to entrap Him with their trick questions. They wanted to trick Jesus into giving an answer whereby they might accuse Him of heresy, blasphemy, or even treason so that they could turn Him over to the Roman authorities. Today’s Scripture passage contains another attempt the Pharisees made.
A lawyer from their group came to Jesus with another trick question, asking which was the greatest commandment in the law (vs. 34-36). This fellow was not a lawyer or attorney as we would know today, but instead an expert in the Old Testament Jewish laws, a scribe or a “doctor of theology”. He was not honestly questioning Jesus, but wanted to trap Him with the Pharisees, and get Him into an argument with them. The Pharisees and religious leaders had over 600 laws they expected people to keep, and even they couldn’t agree among themselves as to which they felt was the most important. Various Pharisees and rabbis spent hours upon hours discussing, debating, and arguing between each other as to which was most important, which was next important, on down to the least important ones.
Jesus didn’t ignore his question, and gave an answer. His answer was “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” And then He added, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (vs. 37-40). Jesus quoted from both Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18. The first four of the Ten Commandments relate to our love for God. The last six relate to our love for others. Love for God and love for others is the backbone of all God says in His Word. Paul says that “love is the fulfillment of the Law.” (Romans 13:10). By keeping the two laws that Jesus quoted to this lawyer, a person keeps all of the others.
The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, and the scribes had all tried to trick Jesus into religious controversies in order to trap Him and then have the opportunity to arrest Him. Now Jesus had a test for them (vs. 41-46). Jesus asked them who they believed the Messiah was the son of. They answered that they believed the Messiah was the “son of David”. The term “son of David” was a popular term for the Messiah in Jesus’s day. They believed in a human Messiah, not a divine one. Their conviction was that the Messiah was no more than a man.
Jesus gave them a reply by quoting Psalm 110:1. All of the Pharisees believed that Psalm 110, which was written by King David, was a Messianic prophecy. Jesus then asked that if the Messiah was only human, and not divine, why would David call Him Lord? David would not have addressed a mere human descendant as “Lord”. Jesus was pointing out that the Messiah was not just a son or human descendant of David’s. The Messiah was also the Son of God and divine.
Jesus was giving them the opportunity to acknowledge Him, and also showing His deity. The Pharisees, and all the people there, had the opportunity to accept their Messiah, and the Son of God, but they rejected Him. Today we all have the opportunity to accept Jesus as our Savior, as well. Jesus is not just a good teacher who lived an exemplary life that we should try to copy. He is the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity. If you have not called upon Him as your Savior, accepting His substitutionary death on your behalf, please do so today.
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