28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[e] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[f] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[g] There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Question 1
What does it mean to worship something?
Question 2
Do you think it’s possible to love God and others in such an extreme way?
So far, all we have seen of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes is that they are jealous of Jesus and try to trick him in order to get rid of him. So when we hear this man’s words, it comes as a bit of a shock to realise that maybe he really wanted to hear what Jesus had to say.
Jesus was obviously quite impressed with the way he answered other questions, so the man asks what Jesus thinks the most important command of Jewish law is. He doesn’t say why he wants to know the answer – maybe he wants to make sure he’ll do that thing, or maybe he wants to see what Jesus’ priorities are, or it’s even possible he wants to see if Jesus agreed with what he already thought.
Jesus once again gives a startling answer. God had given his people a law that showed the perfect standard he expected of them. In a way, what Jesus is doing is summarizing all of this law into two commandments. First, one must acknowledge the true God and love him to the fullest. Secondly, we must love others as much as we love ourselves, and treat them as we would like to be treated. Surprisingly, the man agrees! He can see that both of these things need to be the foundation of our life, and that what God wants from us is for us to worship him and serve others in our heart – not just on the outside.
The question we must ask is what else did this man have to understand? Jesus recognises that he’s very close to the kingdom, but he’s not there yet. What needs to change? It’s not enough for us to realise what God is asking of us, if we don’t also realise that we’ve failed. Because we haven’t reached God’s perfect standard , we need someone who has succeeded in order to represent us – and that person is Jesus.
Question 3
Why do you think these are the most important things in God’s eyes?
Question 4
In what ways are we able to worship God?
Pray
that God will enable you to love him with everything that is in you, and that you will love other people as you love yourself.
