Confrontation Is a two-way Street: Number 3
But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 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. Matt. 22:34-37.
This question, as with those of taxes to Caesar and the resurrection, was a major issue in the Jewish community of Jesus' day. Its legal scholars had concluded that Scripture contained 613 commandments, 365 prohibitions, and 248 positive injunctions. Among those 613 the rabbis differentiated between what they saw as the "heavy" and the "light" commandments. Jesus appears to have been alluding to that distinction when He said that "whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:19, RSV).
In that context the question about the greatest commandment focuses on which was the most necessary to be observed. But some Jews disagreed even with the idea that some things were more basic than others. To them, just as with some Christians today, every command had equal weight. And so did every sin. You were either for God or against Him. Such believers across time have tended toward behavioral perfection in their daily lives.
But others of the Jews disagreed and debated endlessly as to which was the most basic of all laws. The scribe in Matthew 22 belonged to the latter group.
Which commandment would you select if a person hostile toward your religion should raise that question? Some Jews of old might have selected the fourth, with its injunction to keep the Sabbath holy as a sign of the specialness of God's covenant people. Others may have chosen one of the other commandments of the Decalogue.
But Jesus bypassed the Ten Commandments for one of the most familiar Bible texts in Jewish culture--Deuteronomy 6:4, 5: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord your God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (RV).
That verse was part of the Shema. It opened every Jewish service and formed a part of their morning prayer. In effect, Jesus defined the heart of religion as loving God with one's total being.
From that love should flow everything else in a believer's life.
But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 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. Matt. 22:34-37.
This question, as with those of taxes to Caesar and the resurrection, was a major issue in the Jewish community of Jesus' day. Its legal scholars had concluded that Scripture contained 613 commandments, 365 prohibitions, and 248 positive injunctions. Among those 613 the rabbis differentiated between what they saw as the "heavy" and the "light" commandments. Jesus appears to have been alluding to that distinction when He said that "whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:19, RSV).
In that context the question about the greatest commandment focuses on which was the most necessary to be observed. But some Jews disagreed even with the idea that some things were more basic than others. To them, just as with some Christians today, every command had equal weight. And so did every sin. You were either for God or against Him. Such believers across time have tended toward behavioral perfection in their daily lives.
But others of the Jews disagreed and debated endlessly as to which was the most basic of all laws. The scribe in Matthew 22 belonged to the latter group.
Which commandment would you select if a person hostile toward your religion should raise that question? Some Jews of old might have selected the fourth, with its injunction to keep the Sabbath holy as a sign of the specialness of God's covenant people. Others may have chosen one of the other commandments of the Decalogue.
But Jesus bypassed the Ten Commandments for one of the most familiar Bible texts in Jewish culture--Deuteronomy 6:4, 5: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord your God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (RV).
That verse was part of the Shema. It opened every Jewish service and formed a part of their morning prayer. In effect, Jesus defined the heart of religion as loving God with one's total being.
From that love should flow everything else in a believer's life.
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