Love God, Love Neighbor – Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 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. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." – Matthew 22:34-40

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" 29 Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." 32 And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. – Mark 12:28-34

Commentary for Matthew 22:34-40 37-39 – Jesus first quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 * From the viewpoint of biblical anthropology, “heart,” “soul,” and “mind” are not mutually exclusive but overlapping categories, together demanding our love for God to come from our whole person, our every faculty and capacity. * The second also concerns love, this time towards one’s “neighbor,” which in Luke 10:29-37 expands to everyone/anyone who needs our help. Scriptures Jesus quoted: * You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. – Deuteronomy 6:5 * You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. – Leviticus 19:18 Scripture explaining that a neighbor is anyone who needs your help: * 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" 37 He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise." – Luke 10:29-37 40 1. The two commandments, Jesus says, stand together. a. The first without the second is intrinsically impossible (cf. 1 John 4:20), and the second without the first – even theoretically – cannot stand because disciplined altruism is not love. b. Love in the truest sense demands abandonment of self to God, and God alone is the adequate incentive for such abandonment. 2. This passage is in keeping with prophetic tradition of the OT, which equally demands a heart relationship with God. (Deut. 10:12; 1 Sam 15:22; Isa 1:11-18; 43:22-24; Hos. 6:6; Amos 5:21-24; Mic. 6:6-8; cf. Prov. 15:8; 21:27; 28:9) c. Sterile religion, no matter how disciplined, was never regarded as adequate. 3. There is no question here of the priority of love over law – i.e. one system over another – but of the priority of love within the law. d. The two commandments are the greatest because all Scripture “hangs” on them; i.e. nothing in Scripture can cohere or be truly obeyed unless these two are observed. e. The entire biblical revelation of God demands heart religion marked by total obedience to God, loving him and love one’s neighbor. Scripture proving that one without the other is impossible: * If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. – 1 John 4:20 Scripture that demands a heart relationship with God: * 12 "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, - Deuteronomy 10:12 * 22 And Samuel said, "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord ? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. – 1 Samuel 15:22 * 11 "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12 "When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? 13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations-- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. 18 "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. – Isaiah 1:11-18 * 22 "Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel! 23 You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense. 24 You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities. – Isaiah 43:22-24 * 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. – Hosea 6:6 * 21 "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. – Amos 5:21-24 * 6 "With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? – Micah 6:6-8 Commentary for Mark 12:28-34 28 – Mark seems to suggest that the question asked by the teacher of the law, in contrast to many that had been asked by his colleagues, was a sincere one. * he had been impressed by Jesus’ answer to the previous question and so ventured one of his own. * The rabbis counted 613 individual statutes in the law, 365 which were negative and 248 positive. Attempts were made to differentiate between the “heavy,” or “great,” and the “light,” or “little,” commandments. * The question arose out of a works-righteousness understanding of the law and the keeping of its commandments. 29-30 – Jesus quotes two passages from OT (see Matt. Commentary section) * Deuteronomy 6:4 is central to the Shema, meaning Hear * Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is a confession of faith that is recited by pious Jews every morning and evening. It basically affirms two things: * The unity of God (“the Lord is one”) * The covenant relationship of God to the Jewish people (“the Lord our God”) * In telling this story only Mark included Deuteronomy 6:4 here. Its relationship to the words that follow is important: * God is to be loved completely and totally (v.30) because he, and he alone, is God and because he has made a covenant of love with his people. * In the covenant God gives himself totally in love to his people; therefore he expects his people to give themselves totally (“soul,” ”mind,” and “strength”) in love to him. 31 – Jesus brought Leviticus 19:18 together with Deuteronomy 6:5 to show that the love of neighbor is a natural and logical outgrowth of love of God. These two commandments belong together; they cannot be separated. Thus although the teacher of the law asked for the one more important commandment, Jesus gave him two. * In Leviticus 19:18 the neighbor is identified as “one of your people,” i.e., fellow Israelites. The Jews of Jesus’ day interpreted “fellow Israelites” even more narrowly than the OT passage; for there (cf. Lev. 19:34) it included resident aliens, whereas for Jesus’ contemporaries it included only Jews and full proselytes. * Jesus redefined the term to mean “anyone with whom we have dealings at all” (cf. Luke 10:25-27). * Mitton states: “all within our home, those we meet at work, in our church, and in recreations. And more than that: our employer is our neighbor too; so are our work people, all who serve us in shops, the men who empty our dust bins…” and those all over the world. 32-33 – Only Mark records the favorable response of the teacher of the law and Jesus’ statement that he was “not far from the kingdom of God” (v. 34) * The statement by the teacher of the law that love of God and neighbor are “more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” (v.33) is in keeping with the teachings of the OT prophets (1 Sam 15:22; Hos 6:6); but it is an advance on the teaching of Judaism in his time. * In Judaism the law and sacrifices are set side by side with love whereas the teacher of the law was declaring the superiority of love. 34 – The reply of the teacher of the law shows that what Jesus said was getting through to him and elicits the statement by our Lord that he was close to the kingdom of God – a statement no doubt meant to stimulate and challenge him to further thoughtful reflection and decisive action. * Whether or not he ever entered the kingdom is not stated. * Jesus had so forcefully demonstrated his ability to answer questions meant to trap him and turn such questions back on his accusers that from this time on “no one dared to ask him any more questions.” Commentary on the Pharisees: Who were the Pharisees? * The Pharisees were a generally popular and prominent group of laymen who sought to apply the Torah to every area of life. * Their primary domain was the synagogue, and their foremost concern was to create “a fence around the Torah,” that is, to explain what various Mosaic laws meant and how they applied so that devout Israelites would know exactly how to obey God in any situation they might confront. * The Pharisees’ popularity continued into first-century times, except among the upper classes who feared them because of their ability to sway the masses. * They remained staunchly anti-Roman but usually opposed violence as a means of ridding the land of its foreign oppressor. * Instead they sought to teach people to obey God’s laws so that God himself would provide a savior in response to his people’s obedience. * Christians, of course, know the Pharisees best as one group of Jewish leaders whom Jesus frequently denounced for hypocrisy and legalistic excess. * This is not the entire picture, even in the Gospels. * Luke presents the Pharisees in a more favorable light on at least a couple of occasions. * In John, Nicodemus is said to be a Pharisee * As a member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea may be have been one too. * Modern study of ancient Jewish sources has rightly stressed that the composite picture of Pharisaism is highly diverse. * Pharises were the upstanding “conservative evangelical pastors” of their day, strongly convinced of the inerrancy of Scripture and its sufficiency for guidance in every area of life, if only it could be properly interpreted. * Yet, it is precisely such an environment in which a balanced perspective on the Bible can easily give way to legalism.