Staying on the path in our study of The Greatest Commandments, we pick up the context of Jesus' reference in Matt. 22. Jesus is being questioned. He has one more week to live. It's Passover time. The Passover Lamb was to be taken on the tenth day, examined carefully, observed and inspected for five days, then slaughtered on the fifteenth day. Here, we have the Pharisees, Herodians, Saducees,and Scribes examining and questioning Jesus. Of course, Pilate would conclude, "I find no fault in Him." The perfect Lamb of God would be found spotless, without blemish, to perfectly fulfill the requirements of sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Interestingly, in the story, we see enemies uniting forces against Jesus. Normally, these groups of people would be quite divided on issues, the very reasons for their distinct positions. We see the same Satanic unity mentioned in Revelation, where the armies of Satan gather to fight each other, then unite and turn to fight against Jesus.
So these folks are trying to trap and trick Jesus, but He amazes them with brilliant responses each time. After addressing questions on taxes and marriage/divorce in heaven, a Scribe (lawyer) poses a third question. Scribes studied the law. They were very knowledgeable about the laws. There were 613 total commands-248 positive ones dealing with those things you should do, and 365 negative ones to describe those things you shouldn't do. One for each day of the year? So which command is the greatest?
Jesus responds by quoting the Sh'ma of Deut. 6:4. Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love others as you love yourself. Now, this loving of God mentioned is not like dating someone every now and then. It is a full-time commitment to be a lover of God. The second greatest commandment is not second in order, but an extension of the first, and just like it. It's linked directly to loving God. Your neighbor is anyone God brings around you. He assumes you love yourself. If you are indeed human, you are indeed selfish, by nature. All the Old Testament teachings hang on these two commands. We mentioned God expressing love through His law. Here, we have God exhibiting love, fulfilling the law, with Jesus hanging on the cross. On loving others, John would say, "Little children, love one another." Jesus also said this was a new command from Himself -to love one another, as He does.
Why should we love God? Because He first loved us. If we don't love Him, we are unintelligent and stupid, like an idiot would be. It's not ignorance, because we know of His love. It is a sad choice to not love Him. But how can you love someone without knowing them first? Correct! We need to get to know Him first. We do that by reading His word and letting the Holy Spirit reveal His character to bring understanding. With other people, we have to ask questions to get to know their heart and mind. It's the same with Jesus. We need to ask questions and seek His Word for the answers. How do we pray? Part of our prayer stance should be asking what He wants for us instead of just going through our wish list of things we want. What is Your will, Lord? What do you want from me? What do You want to see in this situation? Pray that way. He knows our needs and desires. There's nothing wrong with asking Him to fulfill those. He loves that too. He longs to bless His children. And we should have confidence He hears our prayers immediately. We can trust Him to send His answers in His perfect timing. He may say "yes, no, or not yet". We have a responsibility to accept His answer and trust Him.
As we approach Easter, may we respond to His love for us with a whole-hearted love for Him, in thankfulness for who He is, for what He has done, for what He is doing, and for what He is going to do. May our outreach and interactions with other people flow outwardly from that source of love for God. He loves people. We are called to as well. He loves us. He proved it on the cross. Loving people is important to Him, so we adopt that same mindset. He wants everyone to be with Him in heaven. He prayed for that in John 17.
