The two great commandments

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” - Matthew 22v36-39

The Pharisees were still trying to trip Jesus up. One of them thought as sure way to do that was to ask Him which was the greatest commandment. Surely He could not answer this in a way that would keep Him out of controversy.

Jesus answer must have stunned them – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbour as yourself.” Short, sweet, and to the point. He didn’t teach any great theology, He didn’t get involved in the debate. He just drove the point home. He then said that all of the Old Testament hung on these two commandments.

The Pharisees the law was harsh, legalistic, and demanding. Jesus made it simple. It really is all about love – love for God and love for others. If we could ever cop on to this on our own lives everything else would fall into place.

I realise that there is a lot more to Christian life than just loving God and each other, but if we could just sort that out we would be well on our way.