Most of us have a favorite book, a favorite song, or a favorite movie. How many of us, though, have a favorite law? That may seem like a joke, however many of the Pharisees would debate among themselves as to which law of the many hundreds in the Pentateuch was the most important. If they included the oral law, which would entail all of their traditions, the list was countless. The scribes and Pharisees would often end up having a “favorite” or several favorites, which they would deem as most important, and they would debate among each other, and push what they thought were the principle laws. Our Scripture passage today recounts just such a discussion. Let’s see what Jesus has to say about the “favorite law debate”.
As our Scripture opens, the Pharisees were still seeking a way to trap Jesus in His Words, to find some way to discredit Him among the people. On this occasion, a lawyer came up to Jesus to try and draw Him into the favorite or most important law debate (vs. 35-36). In the Gospels, “lawyers” were sometimes also called scribes, and their specialty was interpreting the Mosaic Law. They were frequently in association with the Pharisees. This man would most likely have frequently taken part in these debates.
As the lawyer approached Jesus, he asked the Savior which law was the greatest, the most important of the many hundreds, which one was His favorite. Some people might say the dietary laws were the most important. Others might say that keeping oneself free from contamination by foreigners was. And certainly most felt that stringently keeping the Sabbath was very important. These were some that the Pharisees were very particular about observing at this time in history. What did Jesus think?
Jesus didn’t waste any time in giving the crowd His answer. He clearly stated that the most important law was to love the Lord God with all one’s heart, soul, and mind. Then Jesus immediately added a second important law, that we are to also love our neighbor as ourselves. If we are obeying both of these laws, then we are following and obeying all of the Mosaic laws in the Scriptures. Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5 when He stated the first and greatest commandment. We are to have a complete love for God. The second law He stated as being of great importance was a quote from Leviticus 19:18. It contains, in different words, the Golden Rule. This prompts believers to measure their love for others by what they wish for themselves.
How do we love God with all of our heart? Do we value something more than God? If we do, then that thing we love and value has first place in our heart, not God. Yahweh is a jealous God, and we are not to have any idols, either literal or figurative, in our lives. Loving someone or something more than Him is setting them or it up as an idol, as first place in our life, a place which only Yahweh should have (Exodus 20:4-5). We need to separate ourselves from that which is not of God, and get the ungodly things out of our life.
We are to love the Lord with all of our mind. We should not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by renewing our mind (Romans 12:2). Think about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). Then allow God and His word to cleanse our mind.
To give God top priority means loving Him wholeheartedly, denying ourselves, and following Him. Then we are to treat others the way we want to be treated. That is following the example of Jesus, who loved us even though we do not merit it.
Mankind’s whole moral duty falls under these two categories - love for God, and love for our neighbor. The Ten Commandments are summed up quite well within these two. The first four commandments speak of our duty to love God with our whole heart and mind. The last six commandments illustrate our love for our neighbor.
How well are we keeping either of these two laws in our life? If we are faithfully following these, the ones that Jesus said were the greatest, we will be obeying all of the Law and the Prophets.
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